Health Care

A friend got admitted to the hospital a few days ago and she got a big surgery this afternoon. Tentatively, she'll end up there for another week or so IF she gets better. The day she was tranported to the hospital, she went by the ambulance. I talked to her this morning, she had a tube down her throat. Normally, she should have been worried about her health and how her life is going to be, eh?

Instead, she's been worried about the bill....to be exact...the bills. Here, we are talking about hospital bill, MD bills, surgery bills, medical equipment, anathesist and so forth. She does not have a health insurance.

I'm not kidding. She is so screwed. No insurance = being so screwed.

Last September when I had my ear surgery, I thought the total cost of it would be somewhere around $3000 or so. My surgery lasted about 30 minutes. I was walking in and out within 3 hours. I didn't even stay there that long. A few weeks later, I got bills--one from MD, one from surgery location I used, one from the sedation guy a.k.a. anathesist, one from where MD practices, and lastly from medical equipment use. Total cost of my 30 minutes surgery (excluding prescribed medications expenses I gotta pick up at Walgreen) ended up about $17,000. Lucky me, I had an insurance, so I only had to pay like $1,300.

Think about her who does not have any insurance. Now, she's probably more worried about money more than her tummy.