Most hospitals send a summary bill (for example pharmacy: $5,000) hoping you’ll panic and just pay it. These are usually full of errors or huge markups. Before you pay anything, call the billing department and ask for an itemized bill with CPT codes. This will not only force a human to review it, but it also gives you the ability to spot BS. I tried this last year and the bill dropped by about 30% literally just because I asked, so don’t let them rip you off.
Completely opposite to the finnish experience.
When I broke my ulna and dislocated my wrist, I took an ambulance ride to the hospital, got three xrays, a cast, and two doses of fentanyl.
Told to return the next morning for post-cast xrays of the damage, by the end of that I was scheduled for surgery 8 days later. Sent home with a prescription for some non-opioid painkillers. Picked those up for around 20 euros.
Received four hours of hand surgery. Over a dozen titanium screws and a titanium plate put in. Given three pills of an opioid based painkiller for sleeping through the worst of the post-surgery pain. And another prescription for more non-opioids.
Weeks later, removal of the surgery bandages, stiyches. Xrays of how the bone was healing, followed by a consultation with a hand surgeon, and then a physical therapist on recovering motion in the wrist and fingers.
Months later one more round of xrays, and two more consultations with the physical therapist, and some follow-up with a hand surgeon due to the therapist noticing a lack of motion in my thumb, resulting in the discovery of some nerve-damage from the surgery (which I thankfully ended up recovering from).
By the end, I was sure I would max out the healthcare billing limit. This was the most expensive recovery from an injury I’d ever suffered. Finnish public health care is only allowed to bill you up to a maximum yearly amount, so as to never overload any one individual with debt. But it would still be a lot for me.
When I finally got an un-itemized bill, I was sure it was only the first of many.
Nope. It was the total. 87 euros and 40 cents.
That shit would bankrupt you here in the US.
Here in Canada, I recently took a big stumble while snowboarding, and my ankle hurt a lot. I went to the emergency room at the nearest hospital, got X-rays, and they confirmed I had broken my left inner malleolus. They referred me to the specialist clinic, and sent me home with a boot and crutches.
Next Monday, the specialist clinic tell me to show up the next morning (so on Tuesday). I waited pretty much the whole morning for the specialist to see me, he confirmed he needed to operate and put 2 screws in my ankle. The surgery happened later that evening.
Got a follow up 2 weeks later to remove the cast / surgery bandages, more X-rays and they put me back in the boot until the next follow-up a month later, after which I’ll probably start physiotherapy.
All of this cost me about 4$ in EV charging while I was at the ER, and maybe 20$ in medication (painkillers and Tylenol)? And I don’t think it could’ve been any faster. People love to shit on our healthcare system here, but in my experience it’s been amazing.
Same.
But in terms of quality of care, I have no complaints. The opposite. The nurses and doctors I interacted with were wonderful, and I made a point of telling them that. My surgeon in particular fought like hell for a result that would fully restore function in my hand. I was conscious for the surgery, so I got to sit in on the whole process.
Ulnar plate - and a dozen screws - from a fight, so somewhat like yours without the wrist damage.
X-rays and a cast, but since I brought no ID with me they needed me to call back with my health numbers for charting. Walked out without paying.
Back after a few weeks, and it’s not healing well. And that’s when they booked the surgery. They’d removed the cast for the x-rays so they sent me home with a sampler of T3 or so to get me through Christmas. Plate implanted on 28dec but in the hospital for a while because of really bad rejection and infection (almost lost it). Finally until control, I was sent homenwith a prescription for painkillers.
$0 aside from those meds (c$20). 🇨🇦
Australia is some weird kind of limbo in between.
An electrophysiology study, cardiac ablation and a couple of carioversions cost $0 as a public patient but I could have gone private (I pay for private insurance) and it would have cost something.
We do have that, too. (Private insurance and healthcare, I mean)
But most services even as a public patient do cost something here. Small stuff is usually a pittance, and if you say you can’t pay, they’ll either waive it or put you on an extremely generous payment plan. I know stuff like asking for painkillers in a waiting room is free though. Just the work of keeping track of that type of thing to charge for it, isn’t worth it.
But the more expensive stuff can add up. That’s why the maximum exists, but apparently even the extremely complex repair of my wrist, barely dents it.
What’s the max yearly amount?
Here in Norway it’s ~340$. I usually blow through that in 1.5 months, so most of the year it’s “free”.
I think I’m half way through that already, but it doesn’t show up immediately on Helfo so I don’t know for sure.
Just under 800 euro iirc.