health care and the cost

i've been away for a bit. learning about organic foods, spring water, and BPA(nasty stuff).

at the moment, i've just finished a letter to go to numerous government officials. we elected them to take care of our issues. i certainly hope they will earn their paychecks doing the best for us. i have shared an important issue with them that goes right along with health care. it's billing for health care. we pay into health insurance and medicare so that we can receive good(i mean excellent) health care.

excellent health care is debateable. from my career as a nurse, i do know when ill people aren't even receiving adequate care. i'll talk about that another time.

what is really bugging me right now is inappropriate and erroneous billing for health care. maybe the erroneous billing was meant to happen to receive maximum payment; reduce the loss financially. the prices charged for tests, care, and specific monitoring are outrageous. who set those prices? i can lay in a bed in the ER code room for 3 hours d/t a lab error and be charged to medicare & me $13oo. this total doesn't include the ER doctor or the radiologist. i was on a cardiac monitor, with an IV site available, and pulse oximetry(monitoring oxygen level in the blood, a clothespin thing on my finger) with the crash cart right there in case my heart stopped beating, but not a body in site most of the time. yes, medicare & i got to pay for that lab error.

my big beef has to do with improper billing. the hospital wants as close to what they charge for a health care service as they can get. my allergist is supposed to be paid thru the hospital for his services. the hospital does the billing for this office because this office is a part of the hospital's business. my bills for this are supposed to be covered by worker's comp., but the hospital has billed & received payment from medicare & comp. they also repeatedly bill me for the slack. they haven't corrected this problem in a year. i am in the process of pursuing a solution further.

what really concerns me are the people, not in health care, who are billed improperly and have no idea that they should question the bill.

sal