A Slight of Hand Trick

My daughter broke her hand a couple weeks ago.  We took her to the ER.  We were told the break was so bad they couldn't set it then-she had to see an orthopedic surgeon.  She ended up needing surgery for two broken bones and a torn muscle.

We just got the first of the insurance statements.  It made me sick to my stomach- literally.  For just the ER visit and the pre-operational physical and blood work, the bill to our insurance was $3000.  Plus another $1000 for the anesthesia for the surgery.  But those bills don't even include the consultation with the surgeon, the actual surgery and the follow up care she's needing- those we have yet to see.

Now at the ER they took x-rays and gave her pain meds- and those costs seem within what I would have expected.  But on the bill there's an item marked "surgery," we looked up the code- it's basically the cost for the doctor to take a piece of cloth, wet it so it becomes stiff, place it under her hand and arm, and then wrap everything with an ace bandage to immobilize it- a splint.  That "surgery" which took less than 5 minutes cost over $200.00.  And then prior to surgery she needed a physical with her pediatrician.  She had been getting some bad bloody noses, so her doctor ordered some blood work to make sure her white blood cell count, etc was OK.  One test alone- over $400.00

I am going to be writing Scott Walker, Mary Lazich, Paul Ryan and Ron Johnson about this issue- this slight of hand trick that politicians are playing on us hard working middle class people.

We all know how these magicians- I mean politicians- work. They distract the American people by causing all this commotion over here.  "It's those greedy, lazy public workers who are causing your life to be so bad.  Let's get 'em."  Meanwhile, over there, the other hand holds the real "trick-" our dysfunctional health care system.  "Don't let the people see the reality of what's causing their problems, because then we'd actually have to go back to talking about health care reform."

I am not fooled by their slight of hand tricks- and I know neither are many other Americans.  Yet here we are, watching the same stupid magic trick over and over again and never calling their bluff.