The $12,000 Ironman. (Page 2)

That's what I expected. 

Here's the deal for all the folks who still bash on US's (admittedly flawed) health system. Even though the bills look astronomical, the vast majority of people (well over 95%) pay nowhere near list price. I'll be that even for those $20,000 medical bills, very few people paid more than $5000, even even half that.  

<$2500 out of pocket for emergency care in the US with ambulance, xrays, possibly CT scan, and labs, is still a good deal.  For most cases, even if the bill goes up to $100,000 due to surgery, as long as you're insured, you're still paying well <$5000.

Uninsured people don't get completely screwed in general either - they generally can work out payment agreements that work out to similar or just slightly more than the insured amounts (it just takes a lot of painful paperwork and phone calls.)

My concussion was "severe" in the sense I don't remember anything 5 minutes prior to impact or a few hours afterwards being knocked unconscious with no after-effects :P It really wasn't that bad, and I didn't NEED to be flown out but they did anyways. Maybe they didn't trust their orthopedic surgeon? Also, I wasn't awake and the few blurry moments I do remember I was under so much morphine I couldn't even think. Didn't really have much a say in it.

Do we get to find out the rest of the story? 

Sounds like maybe the hospital wanted to get you to a place where they could better evaluate, and operate if necessary, for the concussion.  Permanent brain injury=big lawsuit, so the hospital is motivated to get you the best care possible.

This is something that hasn't been addressed in the "Affordable" Care Act; liability reform.  It's estimated that several hundred billion/year is spent on what's called "defensive" medicine; tests and procedures performed to keep the doctor/hospital out of the courtrooms.  I understand that this was what the UK did a few years ago to help lower medical insurance; they adopted a "loser pays" system for lawsuits.  Whoever loses the lawsuit must pay ALL the court costs.  So now a plaintiff has some risk; that reduces frivolous lawsuits.

Back to the OP, I thought at first it was some kind of budget IM plan; if you add up the costs to train for an Iron Man, along with equipment, registration and travel, it would probably be tough to stay UNDER $12k.  I'm talking everything, starting fresh, no bike or other equipment.

Mmm...

2000 for a bike, 2000 for extraneous stuff (repairs, tubes, helmet, apparel, etc. Being very generous) 500 for swim equipment, 600 registration, 700 for 3-day travel (gas, rooming, food), 300 for running stuff...

I think you can do an ironman for about $6000 very safely

I work in medical imaging...........wait until she receives a separate charge to have the x-ray film read/dictated by a radiologist. Total just went up.

Hope she is ok.  :-)

That's usually what ends up happening for non-wealthly people stuck with the $50k bill. They don't want to publicize it, but they'll usually lower that rate WAY down so that they can get anything back rather than nothing from you. (It'll cost you a ton of headaches from collection agencies for a long time, though.)

Still a much better idea to be insured - with an HSA, which has HIGH deductibles, you're off the hook after $6000 for a family, less for a single. This is why I don't get all these people who criticize the US system about their insane hospital bills - when in reality, almost all insured people are paying well under $6000 per year even if they receive $50k+ of medical care that year.

Only to the degree you let it bother you.....once they accept a penny from you it all becomes a civil matter....as long as you send something on a regular basis they'll come around and play ball.

Not to completely hijack this post, but I need to hear this story!

Socks, you are way too optimistic.  I agree it will get worse.  Sadly, I don't see it getting better.

And that long of waits are definitely not always the case - my mom had non-emergency surgery last year- we thought it was a long wait for four months.   Many of the provinces are taking big steps to do what they can to reduce wait times.  And when they found a small amount of cancer during that surgery she was immediately priority one after that.  It was relief to know we didn't have to worry about the costs of the surgeries and chemo - the drugs were expensive enough.

Here's an example: It isn't perfect, but it's being put out there as a big strategy to improve. As it is healthcare is nearly 50% of the provincial budget. But most of us are like Americans with guns - we will defend it to the very last breath!   http://www.waittimes.net/Surgerydi/en/PublicMain.aspx?Type=0...

That's just crazy.  I know my mom just had a minor outpatient surgery to remove a couple screws that had dislodged from an old break she had.  Total surgery was like 10 minutes, but she was billed close to $30,000 which all went to medicare.  I'm sure much less than that was actually paid, but it's just ridiculous.

Not to sidetrack the thread too much, but I think this is a great example of where the real issues with healthcare in the US are.  The costs are so ridiculously high that insurance rates keep going higher and higher.  The Obamacare stuff does little to reduce the costs (the real problem) and just gives everyone government insurance.

It is colder.