$224 toe taping
As I’ve mentioned several times in prior articles (like this one near the bottom), I fractured a toe in late December. I recently got a bill for their services. The Urgent Care place I’ve now gone to twice is much cheaper/quicker than going to the emergency room, but it is also out-of-network. On this night, they X-Rayed my toe, diagnosed a fracture, and then put a cotton ball between the fractured toe and the next one and taped them together. And they gave me a an orthotic rigid shoe. The physician exam came to $127; the X-Rays to $66; and the toe taping/shoe to $224.
I called my insurance company to ask whether the amount they charged was reasonable. The guy on the phone couldn’t/wouldn’t tell me what was reasonable. I’m not sure if the failure to communicate was on my side. The guy kept insisting that I’d have to call the health provider to see if they charged the right amount. Which made no sense to me. I call the person who is billing me $224 to tape my toes together to find out if that was a reasonable amount?
I really hate health insurance. Fortunately, I make a fairly large amount of money, but with my high-deductible plan, I’m writing a check for that entire sum. Bah. And of course I did it on 12/29, which falls under last year’s deductible, instead of this year when I’m actually hitting the deductible with my surgery… Nope, wait, that doesn’t actually matter, because it is out-of-network, and I’d be paying it anyway. Refer back to the part where I hate health insurance.