$317 Huh?

So I had my one year labs (at 14 months) and they were perfect except for slightly high cholesterol though much better than pre wls. I have health insurance but it has a $5000 deductable so I shopped around as best I could for lab pricing though its hard to get that information and even harder to find out the discount the ins company gets. I know Labcorp is good but its 150 miles away and doing that drive while fasting without a cup of coffee is beyond me.

So I settled on Quest labs.Total was to be about $2200 so I set aside money in my medical savings account. I knew it wouldn't be that much out of pocket because insurance gets a discount. Boy was I surprised to get the bill today for $317.  What the ??? The Anthem discount was some $1700!. This seems so bizarre but I will take it. Was expecting to pay $1000 or more and pushed the labs into this year so it would apply on this year's deductable. Near as i can tell its the whole bill from all the stuff listed.

Insurance "discounts" still floor me. My vsg hospital bill was close to $150K for a one night stay but the discount was such that Anthem paid something like $14 K.  Even self payers get a package deal.  Health care pricing is way more bizarre than plane tickets.  diane

That's just insane Diane!  I'm glad you got a break,  Happy dance!

Doesn't it just seem like one heck of a racket?  You know, the whole medical billing thing?  It's so messed up. 

Great news that your labs were good.  My cholesterol was higher at my 3 month check-up than they were  pre-surgery and the 6 week check-up.  My surgeon said that I was the third WLS patient that had a higher than before surgery cholesterol that he saw that morning.  Weird....I wonder if anyone else is having cholesterol spikes.

Disclaimer for tonights posts:  I have the flu and am on some good pain meds for my fire engine red efudex face.  Feeling a little better. Can't seem to form proper sentences.

Hell Blog:

http://efudexexperience.blogspot.com/

interesting about the cholesteral being up for some wls patients. mine was lower after surgery but higher than a few months ago though it was the hdl that was up - the good kind. I am wondering if for some people its up because of eggs. Eggs are a staple for mushy stage patients and for quite a while i ate two eggs for breakfast most mornings while in the losing phase. since they have 200mg cholesteral and 300 is daily limit if you are watching it, i decided to stop eating them. would have been tough earlier on though.

Hope you get over your flu and enjoy the pain meds. diane

Well, I hate eggs and only ate a half of one once post op......but, interesting theory since so many do eat eggs.  I'm not sure why mine spiked.  My pre-surgery cholesterol was 229, at 6 weeks, I was at 199, and at 3 months I was at 244, my bad and good had gone up.  This may sound dumb, but I was wondering if a person could have a higher cholesterol reading if they were dehydrated at the time of the test.  I mean, wouldn't the cholesterol be more concentrated in thicker blood?  It took 8 sticks to get my blood that day becauseI'm a hard stick and I was dehydrated  I do have trouble with dehydration, as many VSGers do, especially early out.  Just a thought.  Next lab draw, I won't be dehydrated!!!

Thanks, I hope I get better soon.  I was prescribed Tamaflu and loratab.  The loratab is working, my face feels better....what a relief, and I'm not as crabby as I was before taking it.

well we focus on protein and that means meat for many of us so increases may be understandable. i started taking red yeast rice again recently and so far no issues. had problems with statins in the past. making an effort to cut back on the red meat and eggs. thats about all i can do. But years ago pre wls my cholesteral was 300 and most was the bad kind. so i am better than i was. and yeah, don't be dehydrated for that draw. not a good thing. eat tofu only for 3 days before ! lol. then run home and eat cheese. diane

I believe (and hope!) you can have black coffee while fasting for labs. I did.
 
my second post op labs (about 2 1/2 years) were not complete, but I paid about $50 at a healthfair for general stuff and then about $248 just to have my vit D and B12 checks. no insurance sucks.

That's just craziness!  Glad you didn't get hosed though!

I go for my 1 year post op visit the 23rd and had blood work done last week for it.  I haven't gotten the results back yet.  My cholesterol was never high.  (I know, weird).  It ran in the 160s when I weighed 306 pounds.  I don't remember what it was at my 6 month post op, but it hadn't gone down much.  Since I eat mostly meat, it will be interesting to see if it has gone up. 

Makes me think I'll call my doctor's office tomorrow and ask that they FAX me the results.  Now I'm curious.

Since this was my first doctor appointment of the year, I'll have to pay out of pocket too toward my $1,000 deductible.  I'll be interested in seeing how much it will be.  We pay SO much for health insurance and still pay out the ying-yang for deductibles and co-pays.  Something just isn't right.

So I wonder who pays full freight, if insured get a discount and self-pays get a discount...  Med pricing is ery weird, like they're pulling the full price straight out of the air (or somewhere with less sunshine).

yeah i really was tempted to ask for an itemized copy of that hospital bill and see where the heck they came up with that number since it was like $4000 per hour for me to be there. can't imagine anyone paying such a price but wls is always elective and planned ahead. pity uninsured folks who have serious emergency needs. no wonder medical bills cause so many bankruptcies. diane