Reform School
Here's a suggestion for health care reform: don't reimburse the hospital or doctor more for an item than they submit, just because an item could be reimbursed for more. The bills from my surgery are beginning to come in and I like to see how ridiculously expensive things are. There are two columns on the statement; "Charges Submitted" and "Charges at Our Agreed Prices." This second column is what generally makes its way in to the "Paid by Plan" column and theoretically, the first column is larger than the second. So when I noticed that there were entries where the second column was actually larger than the first, I paid more attention. I can't tell what the items are yet, but basically the hospital said something cost them $2300 and the insurance company said, here, take $2500 for your trouble. At my surgery in March, the hospital submitted a charge for $119 and the insurance company paid them $4229. Maybe in the end, this is how the hospital makes back the money it "loses" when the insurance company gives them $1500 for something that cost $4000 (yes, there are several of those on the bill, too). The whole thing just screams "racket."
I'm now about ten days out from surgery and I'm not sure what to feel or think. I felt great for the first few days. I was annoyed by the drains, but not in much pain. I was pleased with the way the foobs looked when the bandages came off. I even thought they were kind of cute. But the past couple of days I have been really sore. The incisions itch like crazy and hurt some, too. The drains have really got to go, but now I'm worried I might have an infection. Also, one foob seems to be growing (I hope it's swelling) and the other seems to be shrinking. I hope all of these things are "normal" and won't impact how the foobs will look in the long term. I have to wear any Ace bandage type strap around the top to keep things in place and that's wearing on my nerves, too. I haven't had a good night's sleep because I'm stuck on my back, so that only fuels the crankiness. I have an appointment Monday morning to get the drains out and see how she thinks things look. The steri-strips haven't come off yet, so I imagine she'll take them off on Monday, too. I'll let you know how it goes.
I'm now about ten days out from surgery and I'm not sure what to feel or think. I felt great for the first few days. I was annoyed by the drains, but not in much pain. I was pleased with the way the foobs looked when the bandages came off. I even thought they were kind of cute. But the past couple of days I have been really sore. The incisions itch like crazy and hurt some, too. The drains have really got to go, but now I'm worried I might have an infection. Also, one foob seems to be growing (I hope it's swelling) and the other seems to be shrinking. I hope all of these things are "normal" and won't impact how the foobs will look in the long term. I have to wear any Ace bandage type strap around the top to keep things in place and that's wearing on my nerves, too. I haven't had a good night's sleep because I'm stuck on my back, so that only fuels the crankiness. I have an appointment Monday morning to get the drains out and see how she thinks things look. The steri-strips haven't come off yet, so I imagine she'll take them off on Monday, too. I'll let you know how it goes.
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