There are a couple of things in life that I am just absolutely paranoid about, like not having health insurance.
I’m the person who would always pay COBRA if I needed to, despite the insanely high premiums. I know that the day I let my health insurance lapse is the day I will get into my very first car accident or find out I have a strange terminal disease that requires daily treatment at the highest cost possible.
Despite my paranoia, I’m fairly lucky. I’m in excellent health and although I’ve had health coverage every day of my life thus far, I fear the day that I really have to use it. A routine, basic procedure I underwent in February made my fear even worse.
Last week I received my explanation of benefits for my 30 minutes in the operating room — and I’m puzzled by the $6,500 price tag.
What went on in that operating room that could have cost more than my first car did?
At first, I blamed it on the anesthesia, figuring that had to be a considerable cost, even though I was only knocked out long enough to miss a “Seinfeld” rerun.
That bill, a separate one, arrived Saturday.
Lab work? Nope, I have at least six other bills attributing $80 here and $150 there to lab charges.
Totaled up, between the OR, anesthesia and the lab, my 30 minutes is costing my health insurance company and me (you didn’t think they’d foot the whole bill, did you?) nearly $8,000.
I know that my doctor’s time is valuable, that he went to school for years to be qualified even to be near an OR. But I can’t think of anyone who deserves to be paid that much for that short of a time period.
Yes, there was a small staff of nurses in the OR and recovery rooms. I’m sure their time was factored in, as was the basic use of the room and its equipment.
I’m left with only one possible answer. My doctor’s malpractice insurance is so exorbitant that he must charge a small fortune to not only cover his time but his premiums, as well.
Across the country, doctors and hospitals are feeling the squeeze of higher and higher malpractice insurance costs. And why? Because we’ve become a completely litigious society that tries to capitalize — financially, that is — on anyone’s mistake or accident.
I’m not saying people shouldn’t get what they deserve. If a doctor makes a mistake, paralyzing me for the rest of my life and leaving me unable to work and earn a living, then yes, I should receive compensation.
But some of it is just ridiculous.
Politicians love to talk ad nauseam about health care reform. I’ve yet to see it in my lifetime, and I’m starting to become doubtful that I ever will, because two types of reform have to happen first — insurance and tort reform.
It’s a vicious cycle. Frivolous medical torts and their subsequent payouts or settlements force doctors to carry more malpractice insurance, charging medical insurance companies and patients more for services. This increases the cost of minimal coverage for employers, who, because it becomes cost prohibitive, might put an end medical benefits for their employees.
I know it’s a simplistic view of a complex system but something has to change eventually, otherwise no one will be able to afford to practice or receive medical care.
Like I said, I’m lucky. I can’t even imagine what position I’d be in if I didn’t have health insurance to cover one simple, 30-minute procedure.
Email Maureen Raitz at maureen.raitz@doverpost.com.
