For fun, I threw in one of the 12 pages of itemized charges to give you an idea how much individual things cost. Like for example, the Ventilator charge per day. Or how much the continuous nebulizer costs for the first hour, and then how much it costs for each additional HOUR. (Remember, I was on a continuous neb for 48+ hours!)

The cost of inpatient hospital care is just mind boggling.

Yes, I have medical insurance ( at least for now)

Did you know , that a single day in the Intensive Care Unit at UCSF medical center in San Francisco, now runs almost $16,000. For that price you get the Nurses, Physicians and a monitored bed.  Everything else is charged separately! Even If you’re lucky enough not to need the ICU, a bed in the step down unit will still cost you $5,000 a day.  I think a regular semi-private room on the medical ward goes for around $2000. I’m not sure , because Ive never actually stayed in a regular hospital room. They always put me in ICU or TCU (whether I think I need it or not.)

I’m extremely fortunate (at least for the time being), that I have good medical insurance and don’t have to pay the bill. But, looking though the itemized charges, I quickly found over $50,000 in billing errors and/or charges for stuff I never received!   For example…$150 for a pediatric airway adapter?? ( I don”t even know what that is) How about $600.00 for Bipap masks when I wasn’t even on Bipap? One of my favorites though , is $ 900.00 for a bottle of Flonase. You know…nasal spray? And how about the legitimate charges; $190.00 for a single nebulizer treatment. $500 per day for Oxygen, $200 for a single blood gas, or how about $3000 per day if you need a ventilator? I wonder if the insurance companies ever bother to scrutinize these line- by- line charges? I know they have contracted rates with the hospital and end up paying less than 10 cents on the dollar anyway, so maybe it doesn’t matter to them. I’m just floored every time I receive a hospital bill.

How on earth do people with serious health problems survive without insurance?

PS…As of Oct 1st 2009, the average cost of an ICU bed in San Francisco is $19,000 per day..and that doesn’t include any extras.

What really errks me though, are the items I found and circled below.(click) It would be laughable if this was a mistake, but it’s not…..They intentionally did these tests.

Why on earth would they do a drug tox screen on me? Was I acting stoned or something? I OD’d on asthma… not pot or cocaine! This one test alone cost over a thousand bucks.

I was so concerned about this, that I contacted the patient relations dept at the hospital. They told they thought it was probably standard procedure for patients who are intubated, to avoid possible drug interactions . So, let me get this straight…… If I was an 80 year old that needed to be intubated, they would test me for marijuana? Hmmm.

Hospital fees are out of control , but what’s really outrageous, is that individuals can’t negotiate for discounts on their hospital bills like the insurance companies can. Because my insurance company has a contract with this hospital, they only have to pay about 7 cents on the dollar for my claim (which in this case is less than 7 grand.) But, if I didn’t have insurance, I would be responsible for the entire $97,968.05 bill.
The system is messed up.

I don’t think I’ll leave a tip.

Of course I didn’t pay that amount and the insurance company pays about 20 cents on the dollar but still….this figure only represents 14 inpatients days. That averages out to $12,000 per hospital day.