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The New Coffee Room

  1. TNCR
  2. General Discussion
  3. Pretty soon you're talking about real money

Pretty soon you're talking about real money

Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved General Discussion
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  • Doctor PhibesD Doctor Phibes

    It's unbelievable that we have to live with this shit.

    You get a bill for $100K, and are told 'not to worry, it's an administrative error'.

    Yeah, that just fills me with confidence. I really hope the same people doing the accounting aren't the same ones wielding the scalpels.

    Catseye3C Offline
    Catseye3C Offline
    Catseye3
    wrote on last edited by
    #68

    @Doctor-Phibes said in Pretty soon you're talking about real money:

    I really hope the same people doing the accounting aren't the same ones wielding the scalpels.

    OR SURGEON to nurse: "Remind me again, which side is the appendix on? Left or right?"

    (With apologies to Bach. 😬 )

    Success is measured by your discipline and inner peace. – Mike Ditka

    RainmanR 1 Reply Last reply
    • Catseye3C Catseye3

      @Doctor-Phibes said in Pretty soon you're talking about real money:

      I really hope the same people doing the accounting aren't the same ones wielding the scalpels.

      OR SURGEON to nurse: "Remind me again, which side is the appendix on? Left or right?"

      (With apologies to Bach. 😬 )

      RainmanR Offline
      RainmanR Offline
      Rainman
      wrote on last edited by
      #69

      @Catseye3 said in Pretty soon you're talking about real money:

      @Doctor-Phibes said in Pretty soon you're talking about real money:

      I really hope the same people doing the accounting aren't the same ones wielding the scalpels.

      OR SURGEON to nurse: "Remind me again, which side is the appendix on? Left or right?"

      (With apologies to Bach. 😬 )

      Why are you apologizing to Bach?
      Don't tell me he did it again!

      1 Reply Last reply
      • bachophileB Online
        bachophileB Online
        bachophile
        wrote on last edited by
        #70

        Situs inversus.

        Look it up

        George KG 1 Reply Last reply
        • bachophileB bachophile

          Situs inversus.

          Look it up

          George KG Offline
          George KG Offline
          George K
          wrote on last edited by
          #71

          @bachophile said in Pretty soon you're talking about real money:

          Situs inversus.

          Look it up

          Ever seen it? We had one for a CABG - really screwy from what I understand (I wasn't the gas passer on that one).

          "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08

          The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.

          1 Reply Last reply
          • HoraceH Offline
            HoraceH Offline
            Horace
            wrote on last edited by
            #72

            Yesterday I had a followup appt with the doctor, but ended up only seeing his physician's assistant. We got to discussing the next surgery and I asked where it would be done, and mentioned my issues with the previous place. He was pretty shocked to hear of the 98k bill my insurer received. As always, nobody on that side of the issue ever knows about the money issues. (One of the many symptoms of the total lack of market forces in these transactions.) Apparently what I told him got back to the surgeon, who then apparently called the surgery center and gave them a dressing down. The surgery center then called me to try to smooth out any issues I may have had. This doctor and his group is an important customer of theirs and they can't afford to be pissing him off, so all of a sudden it became priority to make sure I'm happy. The surgery center told me that even though they're out of network, they check with the insurer and only charge the patient what the in-network charge would have been. Since I was allegedly below my out of pocket limit for the year, they charged me 1400. I asked whether that 1400 contributes to my out of pocket total, since that payment was made without my insurer's awareness, and she said yes but maybe she'd double check anyway. I let her know that the whole system of billing as out of network and charging the patient separately as if they had paid in-network, did not fill me with confidence that my expenses were being properly tracked and accounted for. Today she called back and told me that I had been overcharged for my previous surgery, and that my out-of-pocket actually had been met, so sorry, so she'll be giving me my 1400 back. My next surgery will be at this same place, and I am to disregard any bills I may see on my insurer's website, because for some reason my insurer lets me know whenever a provider bills them for services provided to me. Imagine that.

            My wife sometimes asks me how the insurance system works for health care in America. I try to convey that it's a chaotic mess that must be negotiated anew every time you need medical services, and if you don't pay attention, you get screwed.

            Education is extremely important.

            1 Reply Last reply
            • JollyJ Offline
              JollyJ Offline
              Jolly
              wrote on last edited by
              #73

              I once paid for a high-deductible Blue Cross policy on my son. Not because he would probably need it, since 20-somethings don't usually meet $10k deductibles.

              It's because even if you haven't met your deductible, you pay the network negotiated price.

              “Cry havoc and let slip the DOGE of war!”

              Those who cheered as J-6 American prisoners were locked in solitary for 18 months without trial, now suddenly fight tooth and nail for foreign terrorists’ "due process". — Buck Sexton

              1 Reply Last reply
              • HoraceH Offline
                HoraceH Offline
                Horace
                wrote on last edited by
                #74

                If your provider is in-network. Otherwise you're subject to the whims of the billing department of the provider.

                Education is extremely important.

                1 Reply Last reply
                • 89th8 Offline
                  89th8 Offline
                  89th
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #75

                  Thanks for the update @Horace !

                  1 Reply Last reply
                  • taiwan_girlT Online
                    taiwan_girlT Online
                    taiwan_girl
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #76

                    @Horace How is your thumb doing? Any improvement?

                    1 Reply Last reply
                    • HoraceH Offline
                      HoraceH Offline
                      Horace
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #77

                      You're welcome 89th.

                      TG it's way more scarred up and way less sensitive to touch and still completely non-functional. Best case scenario is getting worse and worse. I'll know more after this next, last surgery. They may attach a different tendon to the thumb, or they may fuse the thumb at a slight angle so at least I'll have some gripping functionality even with no movement.

                      Education is extremely important.

                      taiwan_girlT 1 Reply Last reply
                      • HoraceH Horace

                        You're welcome 89th.

                        TG it's way more scarred up and way less sensitive to touch and still completely non-functional. Best case scenario is getting worse and worse. I'll know more after this next, last surgery. They may attach a different tendon to the thumb, or they may fuse the thumb at a slight angle so at least I'll have some gripping functionality even with no movement.

                        taiwan_girlT Online
                        taiwan_girlT Online
                        taiwan_girl
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #78

                        @Horace said in Pretty soon you're talking about real money:

                        You're welcome 89th.

                        TG it's way more scarred up and way less sensitive to touch and still completely non-functional. Best case scenario is getting worse and worse. I'll know more after this next, last surgery. They may attach a different tendon to the thumb, or they may fuse the thumb at a slight angle so at least I'll have some gripping functionality even with no movement.

                        WOW!!! I feel bad for you. Sending the good thoughts to you!!!

                        1 Reply Last reply
                        • HoraceH Offline
                          HoraceH Offline
                          Horace
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #79

                          Thanks TG. It's ok, I'm already used to it.

                          Education is extremely important.

                          1 Reply Last reply
                          • RainmanR Offline
                            RainmanR Offline
                            Rainman
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #80

                            Horace, I forgot. How did you initially injure your thumb, and is it your dominant hand?

                            Hate to be pushy (not), but are you sure that there isn't a surgeon out there somewhere that could pull off a miracle and fix it back to almost normal? Another state, another country, somewhere where the procedure reflects the latest and greatest?

                            If I were in your situation, I'd be devastated, given that piano thing I've got.

                            Best Wishes from the Thin Man.

                            1 Reply Last reply
                            • HoraceH Offline
                              HoraceH Offline
                              Horace
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #81

                              I cut the tendon at the inside crook of the thumb, on some broken glass. The repair is time-sensitive. If the first surgery had worked, it would have been fine and more or less back to normal. For some reason the repair did not take though. The tendon just fell apart again immediately after the surgery. I don't know how or why. After that, there was a very long waiting period where the surgeon and physical therapist were wishfully thinking the thumb to start moving again. That did not work, and I got a second opinion. The second doctor had an ultra-sound machine (the first did not) and was able to verify the discontinuity of the tendon. We scheduled a surgery quickly but by then there was too much scarring for a "tommy john" surgery where he would have used another tendon, a spare that God put there for this reason, to splice into the ends of the ruptured one. So instead, he put a synthetic sheath in there, and that's been healing there for a couple months. The next surgery, he will attempt to use yet a different tendon, detach it from where it's supposed to be, and attach it to my thumb. Failing that, he will fuse the joint.

                              It's not really a downer. It hasn't changed my life much. I now hit the space bar with my left thumb rather than my right thumb. Lucky they make them so wide, under my thumb. There are times in my life where I would have been more depressed about it, such as when I had piano aspirations. When I can get back to lifting weights I'll have as much function as I need.

                              Education is extremely important.

                              1 Reply Last reply
                              • jon-nycJ Online
                                jon-nycJ Online
                                jon-nyc
                                wrote on last edited by jon-nyc
                                #82

                                There’s some fun left hand piano repertoire out there since right hand injuries are not uncommon among pianists. Some of it was written for or commissioned by Paul Wittgenstein, brother of Ludwig, who was a concert pianist who lost his arm in the war to end all wars.

                                Some of my favorites are Scriabin Op 9, especially the prelude, some of the Godowsky/Chopin etudes, and of course the Brahms/Bach Chaconne.

                                Only non-witches get due process.

                                • Cotton Mather, Salem Massachusetts, 1692
                                1 Reply Last reply
                                • HoraceH Offline
                                  HoraceH Offline
                                  Horace
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #83

                                  I struggle to love much of the classical repertoire as it is. I suspect I would be batting zero in an attempt to love the left handed stuff. If I do play again, it will be with both hands, trying to work around a compromised right thumb.

                                  Education is extremely important.

                                  RainmanR jon-nycJ 2 Replies Last reply
                                  • HoraceH Horace

                                    I struggle to love much of the classical repertoire as it is. I suspect I would be batting zero in an attempt to love the left handed stuff. If I do play again, it will be with both hands, trying to work around a compromised right thumb.

                                    RainmanR Offline
                                    RainmanR Offline
                                    Rainman
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #84

                                    @Horace
                                    Makes me wonder if playing piano might be the best thing for getting your thumb as good as you can get it. In time, of course.

                                    I had a friend in grad school that had a devastating wrist injury from a car accident. He could play piano remarkably well, as somehow he found ways to compensate for wrist movements he could no longer do.

                                    1 Reply Last reply
                                    • F Offline
                                      F Offline
                                      Friday
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #85

                                      Horace, best wishes for your upcoming surgery. Hope this attachment works.

                                      Aqua LetiferA 1 Reply Last reply
                                      • HoraceH Offline
                                        HoraceH Offline
                                        Horace
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #86

                                        Thanks Friday! Rainman, that's a good idea, maybe piano would be great physical therapy.

                                        Education is extremely important.

                                        1 Reply Last reply
                                        • F Friday

                                          Horace, best wishes for your upcoming surgery. Hope this attachment works.

                                          Aqua LetiferA Offline
                                          Aqua LetiferA Offline
                                          Aqua Letifer
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #87

                                          @Friday said in Pretty soon you're talking about real money:

                                          Horace, best wishes for your upcoming surgery. Hope this attachment works.

                                          +1. Please provide updates.

                                          Please love yourself.

                                          1 Reply Last reply
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