Re: speaking of health insurance

In the Miami area an MRI is only around $800, but some places are not as
good quality as others. My ortho specifies the machine he wants--will not
accept MRIs done on inferior equipment. There's a lot of competition here,
though.

Barb C.
"Sarah Kanary" <skanary@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:476309a7$1_3@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Where does an MRI cost only $1800? Here in the suburbs of Pittsburgh, one
costs $4400! When my husband started having tingling and numbness in his
arms and hands, we had no insurance, so we got the cheap tests done first:
a chest x-ray ($45) and routine bloodwork ($500). Of course, the tests
showed nothing wrong. As his symptoms worsened and spread, we inquired
about the price of an MRI, and stopped right there. We didn't have $4400
laying around to even *find out* what was wrong, let alone treat it! Not
until he started literally falling down on the job and dropping things did
he go in the hospital and figure we would run up a bill high enough to get
Medicaid. We hated to do it that way, but we had no choice.

Then the MRI showed the ruptured disk in his cervical spine (between C-5
and C-6) which had ruptured into his spinal canal and was compressing his
spinal cord. We were told he had to have neurosurgery to pick the pieces
of the disk out of his spinal canal and have the two vertebrae fused
together to relieve the compression. He got Medicaid. Meantime, he
applied for SSDI.

Now he has SSDI and will have Medicare in Jan 2009. But since his SSDI
benefits make us 'too rich' for Medicaid, he has no health insurance until
then.

Looking back, I can see that if he had had health insurance all along, he
would have gone to a doctor when he first started showing symptoms, which
was about two years before his symptoms prevented him from working. His
condition would have been treated early, and he never would have needed
Medicaid. Never would have needed to stop working (and stop paying
taxes). Never would have needed to go on SSDI. Never would have needed to
go on Medicare.

Did I mention that, around the time my husband started showing his first
symptoms, the PA state health insurance, AdultBasic, booted us off their
program? See, they decided that because both our kids are disabled and
get SSI, that they no longer count toward our family size, so now we're a
family of two, not four. And the $15 per hour my husband earned made us
WAY to rich for a family of two, we should be able to buy our own health
insurance.

Didn't they save a LOT of money?


"Chris" <chrissypete2@xxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:222e3a45-009b-4ffa-8fd3-e5043af2d630@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I know that the situation exists and the fact that it doesn't for me
doesn't change that, but from what i've been seeing in reports lately
pertaining to the numbers of people dying waiting for their first
appointment with specialists in government-run healthcare, I say no
way. Apparently, if you need to see an oncologist, you have a huge
wait time in line behind the others also referred there before you,
regardless of your circumsances, as in 6 months to a year. DH talked
to a guy from Canada the other day who also told him that you don't
get squat unless you are on your death bed and it was the worst. I
have family members without insurance and really wish they had it. I
don't believe for one minute that an ultrasound machine should cost
say $300,000 when the ultrasound techs crank in 50-100 patients a day
on one machine at $300/pop. If you pay cash, you pay less, so does it
cost $1800 or $800 for the stand-up MRI procedure? The answer, $1800
if you go through insurance, but only $800 if you pay cash.




.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: speaking of health insurance
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  • Re: BUSH IN ISREAL
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  • Re: BUSH IN ISREAL
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  • Re: BUSH IN ISREAL
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  • Re: So, who are the uninsured?
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