Englishmum

.....my son has put MSN as the homepage on our PC (he likes to send/receive Instant Messages from girls LOL!) but this interesting article is highlighted today:

http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/...lth/P74840.asp

It's all a bloody nightmare isn't it?

Angry White Pyjamas

"I've seen $90 charged for a 70-cent I.V. How about $129 for a mucous recovery system? That's a box of Kleenex," Johnson adds. She's also seen charges for ordinary supplies, such as towels and sheets, that should be included in the room charges.

Johnson says some overcharges are mistakes, but many are deliberate. "Hospitals are huge moneymakers," she explains. "Their executives enjoy big bonuses."

No surprises to me Im afraid. All that bollox we get about medical care being so great in the US is just that...bollox. With both my wife and me working in it we know its bollox and we know where we'd rather be if we were to fall seriously ill.

As with everything Stateside...caveat emptor, take nothing at face value where money is concerned, question everything, triple check everything and demand and throw your weight around if you have to. Or you WILL be relieved of your readies.

ladylisa

What gets me is the charging for things that you wouldn't even think about, like tissues for instance. Unfortunately us Brits are very green to all this which makes us even more venerable to getting caught out.

Very interesting article.

geordiegirl2

I work in a hospital and it used to amaze me that people took things like soap and their plastic bowl, tissues etc home with them on discharge, It took me a little while to understand why.

Chorlton

Anything thats not nailed down is fair game in these places.

Thydney

Makes my wife sick charging people for tissues when their relative has just died.

My daughter had a UTI a few weeks ago and we had to go to the hospital for anti biotics the cost to our insurance? $1,050

geordiegirl2

I think they just feel like they've paid good money for these so we're taking them, my tech was also told last week when she asked someone to get washed that she was costing him so much money that she would wash him!!! needless to say there was a little dispute, which ended with his family 'firing' her!!!