Pete's BLOG-Day 26,406. Medical bills - they're scary

Today is Wednesday, March 6, 2012. My stats today: 10 minutes of yoga, 10 minutes
of lifting weights and 45 minutes of walking = 2.5 miles for a March total of 12.5 miles. My weight was 163.4 pounds.

QUOTE from Jim Doyne: "It was not the apple on the tree, but the pair on the ground that caused the trouble in the Garden of Eden."

My THOUGHTS have to do with medical bills in America. Last week TIME
Magazine had a 25,000 word article about medical care in the USA. It was written by
Steven Brill who spent 7 months researching this story. I want to share some of his
findings about the outrageous costs of medical care in America.

The author's first story was about Sean Recchi, a 42-year-old man from Ohio who, last
March, was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. His wife Stephanie decided to
take him MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. There own insurance only covered
$2,000 a day for hospital care. She called for an appointment and was told the
following by a billing clerk at MD Anderson, "We don't take that kind of discount
insurance."
- Then Stephanie was told that the estimated cost of Sean's visit for 6 days, in which a
treatment plan  could be devised - would be $48,900, payable in advance. Stephanie
got her mother to write a check.
- A week later, Stephanie had to ask her mother for $35,000 more so Sean (her
husband) could begin the treatment the doctors had decided was urgent.
- Nonetheless, Sean was held for about 90 minutes in a reception area, because the
hospital could not confirm that her mother's check had cleared. Then Sean was allowed
to see the doctor only after he advanced $7,500 from his credit card.
- The total cost, in advance, for Sean to get his treatment plan and initial doses of
chemotherapy was $83,900.
-MD Anderson communications manager Julie Penne, said "Asking for advance
payment for services is a common, if unfortunate, situation that confronts hospitals alkl over the U.S."

This is just the beginning - I'll have several more horror stories in the coming days.
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