I can beat that. My wife took a tumble trying to avoid tripping over the dog. She konked her head fairly good but didn't even really exhibit any concussion signs. But she had a small 3/4 gash in her hairline and I knew we needed a stitch or 2. After 2 minor emergency clinics said no go to the hospital because she hit her head, we went to a major private hospital here in Atlanta. She was given a CT scan to confirm she had no issues and 2 stables by a Nurse PA. The bill was $5500. We have an Anthem BCBS- HSA high deductible plan ($6k) while we wait out Medicare in 7 yrs. After Anthem BCBS negotiated rates and $200 of coinsurance. We had to pay $400 for the Radiologist and $2600 to the hospital. Mostly for the CT scan and what they called a Level 3 trauma visit. I'd love to know how the heck we could have avoided that cost or even received an estimate upfront?? We can afford to pay it, but so many people would not be able to afford $3 to 5K for 2 stitches...
Thanks John - great to learn about this and see you on CNBC's Squawkbox this morning. I'm sitting on cash in taxable accounts and I'm not sure what the penalty is for withdrawal inside 1 year but a safe 7% for the next 6 months for a slice of cash had me sold in the 1st minute of hearing about it. Just an FYI note - I attempted to create accounts today on https://treasurydirect.gov/ for both my wife and myself. Both times after completing the application screen I got an error message - "TreasuryDirect is unavailable".I won't say I'm surprised at this problem but it doesn't make it an easy process.
Comments:
I can beat that. My wife took a tumble trying to avoid tripping over the dog. She konked her head fairly good but didn't even really exhibit any concussion signs. But she had a small 3/4 gash in her hairline and I knew we needed a stitch or 2. After 2 minor emergency clinics said no go to the hospital because she hit her head, we went to a major private hospital here in Atlanta. She was given a CT scan to confirm she had no issues and 2 stables by a Nurse PA. The bill was $5500. We have an Anthem BCBS- HSA high deductible plan ($6k) while we wait out Medicare in 7 yrs. After Anthem BCBS negotiated rates and $200 of coinsurance. We had to pay $400 for the Radiologist and $2600 to the hospital. Mostly for the CT scan and what they called a Level 3 trauma visit. I'd love to know how the heck we could have avoided that cost or even received an estimate upfront?? We can afford to pay it, but so many people would not be able to afford $3 to 5K for 2 stitches...
Post: My $6,100 Surgery
Link to comment from August 3, 2022
Thanks John - great to learn about this and see you on CNBC's Squawkbox this morning. I'm sitting on cash in taxable accounts and I'm not sure what the penalty is for withdrawal inside 1 year but a safe 7% for the next 6 months for a slice of cash had me sold in the 1st minute of hearing about it. Just an FYI note - I attempted to create accounts today on https://treasurydirect.gov/ for both my wife and myself. Both times after completing the application screen I got an error message - "TreasuryDirect is unavailable". I won't say I'm surprised at this problem but it doesn't make it an easy process.
Post: Price Protection
Link to comment from November 30, 2021