"Is a $469.00 office visit reasonable?" Topic

My 35 Y/O son developed an ear infection and was recommended to see an ENT specalist. He has no insurrance but needed help. He was charged $260.00 USD is a new patient. He was prescibed two nasal sprays (he was already on antibiotics frim the ER he went to first) one of which is $100.00. I feel 469.00 for a half hour visit is rediculous. Our only recourse is to report this ENT guy to someone but who? AMA? Or is that kind of a visit the norm for specialist? My own G.P. only charged $150.00 USD which included a boat load of labwork at the most. AM I out of touch with the real cost of health care in this country? Moost of the time now I go to the VA.

Yes – 30 minutes on a new patient consultation is a moderately expensive bill. Lacking an insurance company to cut a deal with the doc is also going to allow the MD to stick your son with the full charge.

If you drag your feet paying, they will be likely to cut you down to the negotiated rate to get the bill off the books. I have used that one myself to negotiate with those pirates. In a couple of instances, I had to wait for them to threaten to turn me over to collections before they would lower the rate. It is the only thing I found that gets them to cut the price.

Never pay at the office, once they have your money they win.

LLC aka Ron

It seems fairly normal to me. I've had a $100 USD nasal spray as well. Bloody expensive spray it is. I can say that it was 100's times more effective than the over-the-counter ones.

Well, here in Belgium he would have paid €21.50 EUR for the doctor visit to a regular GP and probably a max of €50.00 EUR for the medication. Sometimes, a little government regulation actually helps.

Government regulation almost never helps, that is nearly mathematically provable.

The price seems high but not unreasonable. I pay $100 USD a month for my health insurance, so think about it this way, your son this year, since it is the 5th month, has actually paid less for his health insurance than I have.

Just tell him to pay the bill and get himself some health insurance in case he really gets sick.

"Government regulation almost never helps, that is nearly mathematically provable."

Well, I have lived in Belgium for 12 years and do not know of one person who cannot afford health care or one family that has been financially ruined by health care costs. I hurt my back in January and had an MRI, ultrasound, and a bone scan at a top hospital with three visits to a specialist. All told it cost me around 650 euros (and my insurance paid 90% of that). Belgium has one of the highest doctor to patient ratios in the world (and they still make house calls). Prescription medication prices are regulated, and Belgium has a strong, innovative pharmaceutical industry (they invented Zyrtec/Ceterizine for example).

I lived in the US for 16 years and know several families (who had health insurance) destroyed by health care bills due to long-term illness. I'll be the first person to say that Belgians are heavily taxed, but they get a lot out of their government for it.

If you have insurance, you are likely being charged the negotiated discount rate. Doctors have different rates depending on who you are as in:

With Insurance: $150 USD
Without Insurance: $260 USD

I don't want to be rude, but this is NOT a forum to discuss government healthc are vs private health care. Those boards have been banished! BANISHED, I SAY!
:-)

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It sounded a little steep to me. Have your son look into a Wellness Program. Those are usually cheaper and include a handful of doctor visits per year at a negotiated, lower rate.

"All told it cost me around €650.00 EUR"

No it didn't. It cost you a damn site more than that in taxes.

Type in whispers. It almost sounds like a controversy. Our new advertising masters won't like those.

"They have bleed us white, and what have they ever given us in return…"

link

LLC aka Ron

Further to Pictor's response, American drug costs are higher in the U.S. because many European countries create artificial ceilings for what governments will pay. That also limits the amount of treatments and drugs that are available in those countries and thus the amount of dollars that goes back into research and development.

nycjadie is right, of course. Without Americans footing the bill a lot of the drugs that we have we wouldn't have.

$260 USD for 30 minutes, $520 USD per hour is not an unusual rate for many professionals. Attorneys, Accountants, Engineers and all sorts of specialty licensed types routinely charge between $300 USD and $1,200 USD per hour depending on location, demand, special skills, experience and reputation/professional standing.

$100 USD for a good nasal spray is not unheard of. What did your son get for the $260 USD visit? Any tests? Those can quickly up the bill to something ridiculous. I'm not surprised at what specialists get these days.

Never be afraid to ask questions. How will this help me? What does it cost? Is there an alternative? It's estimated that 40% of the US is without health insurance. Doctors are slowly getting used to the fact that patients will make financial decisions regarding their care.

If your son is 35 and in reasonably good health he can get his own insurance relatively cheaply. (relative to those of us who are older, with families, that is) Shop around online.

Our new advertising masters won't like those.

What is more galling is that (presumably) supporting members like us support the site, yet, somehow those wishes don't matter.

I don't understand why some people can't tell the difference between "controversy" and "politics" and feel the need for us to sit in a circle singing Kumbaya all the time.

Just part of the old double standard my good fellow.

"We have joined with the fellows at Atarashi Games, and are producing a line of 28mm Japanese School Girls for use with Atarashi's Panty Explosion…"

The advertising overlords are immune to their own rules. I suppose removing a board you have to subscribe to because some members were offensive in their discussion of school girls is cricket, but if the overlords profit by such behavior, say manufacturing a line of games and figures based on school girls, that have offended people, posting that front and center where all entering the site can see is okay.

Lucky the emperor is well clothed.

LLC aka Ron

In Canada the doctor's visit would have been free but you probably would have had to wait a while to get an appointment. No walk ins you are referred by your GP or clinic.

The medicine would have cost about the same. Drugs are not covered by the government health plans ( seniors excepted) and a lot of people have to have supplementary insurance for prescriptions and other traetment material.

A few years ago, I had a surgical consult that lasted 2 1/2 minutes. It cost me $220, which was the negotiated rate with my insurance. More irksome was I was kept waiting over an hour. I felt like asking them to deduct -my- hourly rate from the bill!

"No it didn't. It cost you a damn site more than that in taxes."

No, it didn't. I'm an underworked, overpaid international civil servant. I don't pay taxes. To be fair, some poor Belgian tax payers helped subsidise my treatment, and I thank them. As I said, Belgians are heavily taxed, but they get a lot back in terms of health care, education, and infrastructure. I'm dual national American/British and I've lived in the UK (12 years), US (16 years), Germany (1 year), and now Belgium (12 years) and the one thing I've learned is that no system is perfect (and I'm sure that some our Flemish members would complain bitterly about the amount of their taxes that go to support Wallonia).

Don't be foolish, of course you pay taxes for it. Businesses pay taxes, but you don't think that they actually pay taxes. They pass whatever taxes they have to pay along to you in the form of higher prices on goods.

So not only are you paying taxes, you don't even know you are doing it. Never mind the fact that you are, in essence, stealing from everyone else by accepting the health care without paying for it.

"So not only are you paying taxes, you don't even know you are doing it. Never mind the fact that you are, in essence, stealing from everyone else by accepting the health care without paying for it."

Your assumptions about what I do, or do not, know are incorrect. Your world must be a woderful one of black and white. Good luck in your endeavours.

Make that "wonderful." We still need an edit button Mr. Editor.

You should words like ""stealing" with more care.

While he may not be "stealing" He is of course adding the to the burden of those people that are paying taxes of course people who do get these services for "free" are the ones that most loudly proclaim "their" system is the superior one for all those people being crushed under the taxes freeloaders impose upon them well they may have a different perspective.

Yes, it's a lot of money.

No, I'm not surprised.

I guess the question is, was it something you could do yourself, and is it better than the alternative?

I used to do my own dentistry, when I had no insurance…
-Kle.

"While he may not be "stealing" He is of course adding the to the burden of those people that are paying taxes of course people who do get these services for "free" are the ones that most loudly proclaim "their" system is the superior one for all those people being crushed under the taxes freeloaders impose upon them well they may have a different perspective."

Sigh…. Ok, while I do not pay income tax on my salary, that is a perk that is agreed by the host nation (obviously!), Belgium. I still pay for my healthcare (as I noted) and pay for health insurance (as I noted) so I don't think I count as a "freeloader." Also (as I noted) I am American/British, not Belgian, so it is hardly "my" system. I also fail to see where I "loudly proclaimed" that it is superior. In fact, I believe what I actually said is "the one thing I've learned is that no system is perfect." Reading comprehension is a wonderful skill.

"Reading comprehension is a wonderful skill."

Now that was FUNNY!!!! :)

That's hideous. Then again, I live in a place where such costs are defrayed by our taxes and not the individual requiring the service.

Belgium is great.

"Belgium is great. "

Belgium actually is pretty nice, and so are Belgians. My guess is they would probably even welcome you.

Read "Belgians", I have no idea who Beglians are (perhaps disciples of Ed. Begley Jr.?). We still need that edit button.

Stealing?!? Freeloaders?!? No wonder some wanted CA gone, now they get to pontificate their biases to contentment.

Health and Fitness. The new CA.