Unbelievable

[artfan]

OK so I know my family has more health issues than most (One of my sons and I have Crohn's disease and my husband has cancer). I have good insurance and am used to getting bills in the mail but every once in awhile it really hits you how easily a family can be destroyed by a single 'incident'. In January my son was hospitalized for a week and we just got the bill. It was 56,313.20. At this moment he is once again inpatient and has been for over three weeks. I do not see how anyone could afford being sick. Hell we can barely make the co-payments.

[madmax]

1. In additon to the stress that illness takes on

each memeber of the family, money matters makes it worse. :hug: Hang in there.

[SheilaT]

2. Keep in mind that the insurance

companies would love to have the Crohn's and the cancer reclassified as pre-existing conditions so then they wouldn't have to cover you at all.

Worse yet, there are a lot of people out there who think that denying health care to all sorts of people is just dandy.

[artfan]

3. I know

In fact my son who was only 15 when diagnosed was worried about his being able to get insurance coverage when he gets older. No one who is ill should have their first concern be if they will be able to get care now or in the future.

[customerserviceguy]

4. Is this just the hospital bill before the insurance DOB?

Medical prices are a stupid game that gets played with the public, they quote fees that are from beyond the stars, then when the insurance company settles with them, they back down the fees to something reasonable, and take what the ins. co. pays them.

I think it's designed to 1) Inflate their 'losses' for those without insurance who do not pay, and 2) Help the insurance companies make you feel that they 'did' something for you.