FrankTalk.org

oldbeek wrote:

DaveKell wrote:Ha. I just recently got bills for my spinal fusion as a result of a car wreck. The neurosurgeon was $62,000 and the week hospital stay was $280,000. Out of that our part is a little less than $1,800. The surgeon' bill came out to $7,750 an hour, not bad for an 8 hour day. I have no idea how the hospital justifies their astronomical amount. By contrast, my implant was a total of $160 out of my pocket.

They see big dollars from (car wreck) that is why auto insurance is so high.

My law firm is in Houston, four and a half hours from me. Plenty of good lawyers in Dallas area but this firm holds the record for largest settlement amounts from State Farm. Fortunately the guy at fault had extremely high personal injury coverage which I've been assured I'm getting the maximum amount of. Lawyers are always the winners though. My health insurance will get a negotiated reimbursement and I'll get the leftover change. If it doesn't suit me I'll take my chances with a court setting. Of course that'll mean an additional minimum two years, added to the fact it'll be in Illinois where the wreck happened. I live in Texas. I still might take my chances and just go stay in an RV park for the trial. Either way, I'm never going to get adequate compensation for what was done to me.

oldbeek, that's an interesting theory. I'll have to Google the name of the assistant. Jennifer Zazuetta, CSFA.
I really don't believe she's a doctor and probably some one he throwing a bone to.

I dropped off my "not so nasty" gram at the doc's today
The receptionist said what the paper said; that an assistant surgeon isn't covered under Medicare.
She said she would give the letter to her office manager and we'll see where this goes.
I wonder if $500 is worth losing a pretty good customer.

My damned scanner isn't working and I just bought a new one that hasn't been hooked up yet.
When it is, I'll attach a copy of the bill to a post.

Googled it and it says surgical assistants aren't Medicare covered except when their company meets certain pre-requisites.
Whatever, I don't like surprises and I'll stand by what I said.

interesting. Well anyway how does the implant work? My wife said I was to old to get mine and I am 77. Got it for myself.

oldbeek, I feel my implant is about all I hoped for.

My wife never said I was too old. I don't believe she actually knows were old chronologically.
She doesn't feel we should have sex every day, but doesn't give a reason except that we never did do that except when we were dating. I'll give it a rest on golf days though lol.

We'll see how that turns out. I do have big problems reaching orgasm and hope that improves. Feeling is fine and no problems with any parts of the assembly.

I'm starting to wonder if I overreacted to the billing surprise? I should have been warned beforehand though.
Maybe my uncommunicative doc didn't realize it?
If they would pay half, I'll call it good enough.

I don’t believe you overreacted, it should have been explained up front. However, that rarely occurs except buried in the fine print of the consent. I would insist the assistant bill Medicare first and then see what Medicare says you must pay as it may be less.

That's a very good idea. I hope they don't bill the full $3K and it's rejected, but I guess I still have the bill to fall back on?
I dunno, it will probably end up the same way.

tomas1 wrote:That's a very good idea. I hope they don't bill the full $3K and it's rejected, but I guess I still have the bill to fall back on?
I dunno, it will probably end up the same way.

Are you guys telling me that while you are asleep, people can just come in to the OR and work on you and then bill you for it weather you knew and agreed or not??

Larry

Larry,
I don't know who it was, but a woman did some prep work before I said goodbye.
I know I should try to get the surgical notes which I haven't seen.

On a side note, I'm not happy with the RTE I ended up with.
Even my wife finds the hinge effect annoying.
I see other guys here with the same or even longer RTEs and even more outer length.
Haven't heard anyone complain about the hinge though.
All-in-all, I was sized to perfection, but should have got the 21cm job.

From what I can tell this CFSA is a physicians Assistant specializing in surgery. The surgeon had to bring her in to assist or do some of the surgery herself to speed things along. He absolutely should have told you who else would be performing the surgery and that it would be private pay out of your pocket. I would be outraged myself.