It is sad story of my wife falling and dislocating her elbow .
On a wintry sunny day march 8th my wife was coming back from shopping and snow was melting and freezing in the process a slippery surface has formed in our yard .In the enthusiasm brought on by the warm sun and hope of breaking the ice my wife with several grocery bags in her both hands and 2.5 inch healed shoes was breaking the ice with both feet and slipped and dislocated her elbow.She was in extreme pain and she was making noises i had not heard of.as i went out she screamed her arm was broken and to call for 911.She was complaining of pain as she could not move her fore arm as it was loose and painful.She feared the worst and did not want me to touch her.In no time .fire dept was there with the paramedics .I had helped her up and we had walked to the ambulance .Paramedics diagnosed the situation and she was put on a stretcher with a splint to hold her arm and we were on our way to the hospital.We were glad and i had gone inside to get info on my wife's prescription and the paramedics called in to the hospital emergency room while they created her medical history.
I traveled with the driver of the ambulance to the hospital.
Soon we were in the hospital.It was about 12:30 they took her X-ray of the arm and we were in for a long wait.Doctors suggested some pain killers she refused and later she agreed to take a strong pain medicine when pain had become totally unbearable.
After inspection by emergency room doctor I thought he would relocate the elbow .No such luck he showed us the x ray and she became aware of the reason for the extreme pain.Now we were in for the wait of Bone doctor to come and relocate the elbow.In the mean time her arm had swollen making it much more difficult to relocate the bone in the slot.
They had to block the nerve to relocate the arm.In less than five minuites after pushing pulling her arm was in place . Another x ray was taken to verify doctors work.
She was released from hospital at around 8 P.M
Her arm was put in an open cast so that it may heal and instructions were given not to move arm and it was projected that she would be back to work in about six weeks if everything went well.She was not happy about the loss of mobility and was afraid that she may loose her job for this injury.She was also afraid of income loss as she may have to wait for TDI( temporary Disability insurance).If one is out of work for injury many things happen.
1.In spite of income loss health insurance weekly payments keep coming ,which in our case with employer contributions for a family plan are about 120 dollars per week.
2.Hospital emergency room co-payment is Hundred dollars.
3.Doctor visits co payments are 30 dollars per visit
4. Physical therapy co payments are also 30 dollars .Three times a week that is 90 dollars.
Not only these payments are extra from weekly insurance they are also stress on people with limited incomes or high responsibilities.
So these are knowable and hospital bills put extra stress on finances .Soon we got a bill stating hospital had charged 7200 dollars for that days services and with our co payment dollars and Insurance paying about half of it ,it seems half about 3500 dollars remain hanging on our head .This is after we have made several hundred dollars of co payments and paying 6000 dollar a year part of our premiums .Other co payments fro drugs and physician payments are additional 1500 dollars per year.
I thought we were doing OK till we got balance of payment notice from the xray shop connected to our orthopedic doctor whose helper a younger physician had put elbow in place.This xray shop has billed four hundred or so dollars and insurance had paid three hundred dollars and this poor doctor was insisting that we pay the balance of 106 dollars.
Seems like a big machinery is in operation in the hospital system just to bill and harass the patients their job is to squeeze every penny of nourishment from the rocks.
I am sure they have forgotten the oath not to do no harm.
I remember that when my daughter had a major operation in Boston Children's hospital they took our insurances and never billed any excess fees for any of the services provided.We were not asked to pay even when she had gone to give her blood in case of the need.
It is time somebody makes such an approach.One of the richest groups in society should become part of the cost containment need where we can deliver great care at reasonable cost and without driving the customers crazy.
It is time cost containment was implemented in health care. Patients co payments must be limited and insurance policies with high co pays should be prohibited with no more than 10 percent of the annual premiums.
continues
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