SOC
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A question for anyone else currently receiving IVIG -- are you willing to share roughly what you are paying?
When I looked up the cost online, it looked like the average cost was about $3000 - $5000 per infusion. I just got my bill and the latest charge for IVIG was about $15,500, well over three times the amount reported in a number of sources -- and I'm not up to full dose yet, so the blood product cost should increase with future infusions. This is not a horrible burden for me personally because at that rate I went over my insurance catastrophic limit with the first infusion, and I have good insurance, so my annual out-of-pocket will be no more than it would have been if they had only charged me $3000 per infusion. The catastrophic limit is the same either way.
Still, I'm upset that my local medical monopoly seems to be grossly overcharging for everything. Or is it now typical for a normal <10 minute office visit for a uti to cost $350? My insurance company doesn't think so because it will only pay $160, so my $20 doctor visit copay becomes $190 due to what the insurance company considers overcharging (as do I). My ME/CFS specialist visits don't cost that much, well maybe they do, but they spend an hour or more with me, not less than 10 minutes, and my insurance company considers that a reasonable charge for the time allotted. Imagine if my ME/CFS specialist charged me the same per-minute rate as my local medical monopoly!
To add insult to injury, when I see the hematologist, they charge me for 30 minutes because I'm talking to some staff member -- a nurse, the scheduling person, or the billing person during that time, even though the doctor only talks to me for 5 minutes, and really about nothing since I'm only there for the infusion. "Hi, how are you feeling? Your last labs looked better, let's keep doing what we're doing. Bye." He's a nice guy and all, but I don't need a $400 visit for that. We could just call that one in, thanks.
Am I just hopelessly out-of-date regarding current medical costs in the US? Or does this sound crazy to anyone else?
When I looked up the cost online, it looked like the average cost was about $3000 - $5000 per infusion. I just got my bill and the latest charge for IVIG was about $15,500, well over three times the amount reported in a number of sources -- and I'm not up to full dose yet, so the blood product cost should increase with future infusions. This is not a horrible burden for me personally because at that rate I went over my insurance catastrophic limit with the first infusion, and I have good insurance, so my annual out-of-pocket will be no more than it would have been if they had only charged me $3000 per infusion. The catastrophic limit is the same either way.
Still, I'm upset that my local medical monopoly seems to be grossly overcharging for everything. Or is it now typical for a normal <10 minute office visit for a uti to cost $350? My insurance company doesn't think so because it will only pay $160, so my $20 doctor visit copay becomes $190 due to what the insurance company considers overcharging (as do I). My ME/CFS specialist visits don't cost that much, well maybe they do, but they spend an hour or more with me, not less than 10 minutes, and my insurance company considers that a reasonable charge for the time allotted. Imagine if my ME/CFS specialist charged me the same per-minute rate as my local medical monopoly!
To add insult to injury, when I see the hematologist, they charge me for 30 minutes because I'm talking to some staff member -- a nurse, the scheduling person, or the billing person during that time, even though the doctor only talks to me for 5 minutes, and really about nothing since I'm only there for the infusion. "Hi, how are you feeling? Your last labs looked better, let's keep doing what we're doing. Bye." He's a nice guy and all, but I don't need a $400 visit for that. We could just call that one in, thanks.
Am I just hopelessly out-of-date regarding current medical costs in the US? Or does this sound crazy to anyone else?