Cost of surgery.

I thought I had seen a thread about the cost of surgery treatment here before, but not sure.

I now know the total of my RALP, well most of it. Still more to come I'm sure.
Surgeon and hospital bill is in, or I should say, submitted to insurance. My cost is $0.00 as I have met my yearly 6K deductible.
There is a difference between what charges are submitted and what insurance negotiates and pays, but it is still up there!

I don't know how people with no insurance could ever be treated, because of the cost. It's unreal!

Doctor & Hospital so far.
$75313.00
More to come I'm sure. :-\

Yikes.

People without insurance do usually get treated somehow and they pay pennies on the dollar,

i have a friend who was diagnosed stage 4.  his prostate was completely cancerous and he has extensive mets.  he was homeless and a bit 5150 a few years ago and he's being treated at the county hospital.  i know he doesn't have the options i have but he is being treated. 

they recently pulled what few teeth he had left and started him on zometa.  i know he has to pay for his own dentures or at least more than he can now afford. he went refractory in less than a year and now they want to neuter him.  the guy is very upbeat and involved in several service groups. 

he says the news from his doctor is always so bad that he feels like curling up in the corner but he won't do it because it won't help him.  needless to say he's a huge inspiration to me.

ed

My surgery, Nov. 11, 2011, came to about $32,000. I am on Medicare, so my out of pocket portion was about $1,800.

Chuck

Resident of Highland, Indiana just outside of Chicago, IL.
July 2011 local PSA lab reading 6.41 (from 4.1 in 2009). Mayo Clinic PSA Sept. 2011 was 5.7.
Local urologist DRE revealed significant BPH, but no lumps.
PCa Dx Aug. 2011 at age of 61.
Biopsy revealed adenocarcinoma in 3 of 20 cores (one 5%, two 20%). T2C.
Gleason score 3+3=6.
CT of abdomen, bone scan both negative.
DaVinci prostatectomy 11/1/11 at Mayo Clinic (Rochester, MN), nerve sparing, age 62.
My surgeon was Dr. Matthew Tollefson, who I highly recommend.
Final pathology shows tumor confined to prostate.
5 lymph nodes, seminal vesicles, extraprostatic soft tissue all negative.
1.0 x 0.6 x 0.6 cm mass involving right posterior inferior,
right posterior apex & left mid posterior prostate.
Right posterior apex margin involved by tumor over a 0.2 cm length, doctor says this is insignificant.
Prostate 98.3 grams, tumor 2 grams. Prostate size 5.0 x 4.7 x 4.5 cm.
Catheter out in 7 days. No incontinence, occasional minor dripping.
Post-op exams 2/13/12, 9/10/12, PSA <0.1.
Semi-firm erections now happening 14 months post-op & slowly getting a bit stronger.

Surgery, 4 days/nights in hospital, all the prep and blood work and pathology = $75,000

My copayment (kaiser) = $300



Pat

Many insurance plans will cover ED pump under durable medical goods.

My experience, similar to some of the above with, both my prostate cnacer treatments and my wife's breast cancer is that the "sticker price" is never actually paid.

If you have money, but no insurance, you negotiate up front about costs and go to different providers to work one against another, somewhat like buying a car. You also look overseas at places like Bangkok Baumrangard Medical Center that provides US quality care at about 25% the cost. A good friend of mine is the administrator and reports that the large majority of patients are from the US and from countries with national health care that don't want to wait in line for care or who have been denied care.

No insurance or money....a tough situation. My retina specialist sees 5 pro bono patients a week and somehow finds the funds to treat them. As an example, the treatment I have several times a year is an injection in my eye that costs $3,000. He administers a generic version of the drug to those who can't pay, but there is still a significant cost to him to do this.

Uninsured and medicaid people overuse the emergency room, they get treatment they can't pay for then dodge the collections....not a good situation. But find a doctor that takes medicaid, and it will only get worse as millions more are going to be put on medicaid in the next few years.

My Urologist was the chief resident at Grady hospital here in Atlanta and has told me stories of inner city the men he treated with very advanced prostate cancer. They all received care and none were turned away. So it is possible for the uninsured to get care.

Free not a penny thanks National Health.
English Rodger.

I am still working on the insurance for the pump. Apparently a battle of wills between the company my Uro suggested and BCBS of SC. From what I have been told, BC is turning down all claims to this company and I don't fully understand the reasons because all sides are telling a different story. I have sent a request to BC to provide me a list of approved vendors and my Uro said he will write a script to whoever BC suggests. BTW, I was thinking about a jar of vaseline and my vacuum cleaner if all else fails. LOL! In the meanwhile, the Uro gave me two months of Cialis so I am hoping to bring the old boy back to life.....slowly but surely.

My RALP was about three years ago.

"Retail" for my 31 hour hospital stay was $53,000.

I had met my deductible earlier in the year so it was all N/C for me, other than this $300 fee the hospital charged me.

But I do remember that the negotiated, reduced payment the robotic surgeon got was $2800 and the other surgeon at the table got $1500. A bargain at twice the price.

But the guy who made the most per minute was the respiratory therapist. He came in watched me breathe once into the Spirometer, said OK and left. Total time in my room was 1 minute. Charge $175. That works out to $10,500/hr (I know he won't see 60 patients in an hour but was still surprised at how much the insurance company paid him)