The Cost of Healthcare

A quick addendum to the previous post…I was reviewing my health insurance account and a few of the claims had come through from this event. The hospital stay at Methodist Mansfield (which I assume to be all-inclusive but may not count the ER visit) ran up a bill of ~$33K. In the normal nebulous policy of insurance payouts, Tricare paid them ~$2.5K for the total amount. It looks like we’re on the hook for $73, which again, may be for everything or just the hospital stay. We paid a similar amount for the ER evaluation at Medical City, so who knows?

Suffice it to say that the cost of healthcare in this country is so beyond the pale it’s hard to fathom. We feel very fortunate to not only have medical insurance, but affordable insurance compared to many people. I think our yearly fees are equivalent to what many people pay each month. This was only an acute event and my total hospitalization was only about 36 hours. Granted, there were some expensive diagnostic studies included, but I can only imagine a long-term stay or the cost of a chronic disease with recurrent hospitalizations or expensive interventions.