I realized today that I have not received a medicare Summary Notice for the time period from my surgery in June till now. Furthermore that summary is usually just medicare Part B. I don't know what I will receive from medicare Part A. I haven't been an inpatient in a long time. So I decided to look it up on line.
Three or four years ago I signed up with my medicare.gov so I decided to go there if I could remember how. It took a while but I finally figured out my user name and password and logged in. It was all there, names, dates and amounts. Part A charges were mixed in with Part B charges. I continue to be amazed at the negotiated amounts medicare pays for procedures. Everything I've read has suggested joint replacement surgery would run in the neighborhood of $50,000.00. Certainly, considering my additional six days in the hospital due to pneumothrorax, my bill would be exorbinate.
Total approved charges came to about a third of what I expected.That included doctor fees, hospital fees, tons of xrays and a handful of cat scans and MRIs. There were outpatient doctor visits, radiologists who read the scans, and a few doctors I never heard of. I am still stunned. I continue to read how doctors and hospitals are under great pressure due to cuts in fees by managed health care. It has to be true.
I have heard, don't know if it is true or not, that in big cities many specialists will not see Medicare patients because of the low reimbursement. I can believe that if there is a patient base of working age clients, patients with private insurance or even those who pay personally, enough to fill a doctor's schedule, that the physician would choose to not accept Medicare patients. I feel fortunate to live where, if a doctor didn't see Medicare aged people, he wouldn't have anyone to see at all.
I just know I need to bake and take more cookies! Or is it kookies?
http://youtu.be/MT9QZBGyXjU
Archive timeline: 2014: May and June - preparing for surgery, July - surgery and post op problems, August - recovery and physical therapy, September - thinking medically, Octobe
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