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Getting prices on medical case(surgery in this case)

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Lyme Disease
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Posted 6/16/2010 2:23 PM (GMT 0)
As is the case with me, a lot of people are currently without health insurance.   I need to get a minor surgery done(lipoma that is probably a feature of lyme); and I, of course, will have to pay out of pocket.  I *believe* that it's within budget but I have no medical knowledge to base that on so...do any of you have any experience with getting cost information from doctors for this kind of thing?   Were they willing to give you some idea on the phone; did they insist on having you come in(and ostensibly, paying for that first visit even though you may learn that what you are looking for costs too much)? 
Posted 6/16/2010 3:39 PM (GMT 0)
wow, I called the hospital, and they would charge 3700 and that's just the portion of the cost for "use of hospital facilities", and doesn't include anesthetic and what the surgeon himself would charge!

I wonder if this could be done by a plastic surgeon in their own office come out cheaper without sacrificing safety...because I'm assuming the other charges will come out to at least $2000...
Posted 6/16/2010 6:08 PM (GMT 0)
I'd recommend finding out what Medicare pays for this procedure, including paying the anesthesiologist, the surgeon, and the facility fee. Then use that dollar amount as a basis for negotiation of the cost with the business/billing offices for each (doctors, facility). Also ask about charity help (many hospitals have moneys available for this but you have to ask - they won't volunteer this info). Also ask about interest-free payment plans.  See the following link for more info:

http://www.king5.com/health/TIPS-Negoitating-medical-bills-96433679.html

Take care,

Posted 6/16/2010 8:09 PM (GMT 0)
I called a dermatologist(one with in-office surgery facilities) and the Dr. was out but the receptionist thought they could do the surgery and would find out. I was kinda hoping it would be less than $3000 total, maybe that's wishful thinking...

Though I obviously don't know anything from a medical training standpoint, I would describe it as completely subcutaneous(within the skin or grown outward away from the body) so I can't imagine any reason that it can't be done under local anesthetic. No "anesthesiologist is required for that, surely?? Granted, they were much smaller than this lipoma, but I've had skin lesions cut out before and the dermatologist that did that didn't have anesthesiologist just to apply some local anesthetic.
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