Thursday, March 21, 2013

Things I Actually Said

So I need an MRI of my head*, and my health insurance isn't being very helpy.  I find myself calling around town and talking to various MRI-scanners asking for price quotes, and they range from about $520 all the way to $3982.  Needless to say, I don't need $4000 pictures of my head.

Anyway, I'm on the phone with the last place (the $4000 place) and I said, "I've called you, and Open MRI, and IU Health - are there any other places in town that do MRIs that I should try?  I see that St. Elizabeth's has a breast center, but my breasts are fine.  Actually, they're fabulous..."

Pretty sure she's still laughing.



* My migraines which have always been very predictable, are suddenly LESS predictable and more frequent, and they've changed where they happen and when they happen, and while the doctor is fairly certain that <Arnold> **It Is NOT a TUMOR </Arnold> he still wants me to go have exceptionally expensive pictures taken of my head.  Just in case.  I am cheap, though, and I do not want to pay $1000 (which is the amount of my deductible) for pictures that aren't even suitable for framing, which is why I'm cracking jokes to poor unsuspecting MRI center phone answerers all over town.

On the phone with the last option as I'm writing this.  Their cost?  $5129.  10 x more than the cost at the Open MRI place.  THIS IS THE BROKEN HEALTH CARE SYSTEM.  (Click through, great article, I'd probably understand it more if I didn't have this giant tumor**...)  If I were sick, would I really be able to call all over town and find the lowest price available?  NO.  I would go to the nearest hospital, and pay the highest price. UGH.  So frustrating.

By the way, our health insurance for our healthy family of 5 costs our small business $21,245.64 per year.  And apparently that and a buck will get you a cup of coffee.


1 comment:

Shannon said...

I read part of that article in Time. I had to stop before I threw my tablet across the room in anger. I get migraines pretty frequently and I've mostly been told to suck it up. The meds I do have knock me out for 12 hours and make me all wonky for the next 24 hours after that. I know how frustrating it can be. I used to go to the imaging center near toys r us, but that was when I had good insurance and it only cost me $25 out of my own pocket. I don't know how much it is without the insurance.