People with personal injuries large and small will likely have to deal with medical bills. Some medical bills are understandably higher than others — without a doubt, taping a sprained ankle costs a little bit less than neurosurgery. As such, a new survey sponsored by America’s Health Insurance Plans was given to insurers to find out some of the highest bills of 2008. Their findings add to the controversy about government health care which would help many pay medical bills.
Our firm’s experienced San Diego personal injury lawyers can sometimes help you get medical treatment for many injuries. If you are in a car accident, for example, the amount of medical bills can be very high if head injuries or spinal cord injuries (i.e. paraplegia & quadriplegia) occur.
According to information provided by the survey, a patient in Illinois was charged over $12,000 for cataract surgery, while Medicare pays $675 for the same procedure. In California, another patient’s knee operation cost over $20,000 — Medicare pays $584. And a New Jersey patient paid $72,000 for a surgery (Medicare covers for a little over $1,600).
The graph below displays how many people in the United States have problems paying medical bills for hospital treatment of injuries or illnesses.
“It’s the wild, wild West when it comes to prices of anything in the U.S. health care system, whether for a doctor visit or for hospital charges,” said Jonathan S. Skinner, a health economist at Dartmouth.
The survey looked at ten companies that insure patients in the 30 most heavily populated states. Their prices were the highest in 2008. Researchers excluded two types of charges likely to have errors, though: charges that were higher than 10,000 percent of Medicare’s fees for a procedure (or more than 2,000 percent of Medicare’s fees) and also charges that were more than 50 percent higher than the next-highest bill for the same surgery.
Getting help paying your medical bills is difficult because of the high cost associated with them. These expenses are making it more difficult for a new government healthcare plan to get pushed through the Senate and Congress. Insurers claim that high doctors costs are also part of the problem and needs to be addressed as well.
Personal injury lawyers, like us in San Diego, are committed to helping you afford your medical treatment. While the rising cost of medical bills can make that more difficult, we are still committed to helping our personal injury clients get as healthy as possible after their injuries.
Call us now at 1-800-655-6585 or click here for a free consultation with an experienced personal injury attorney and find out how we can help you. We speak English and Spanish, and we look forward to providing advice for your case. No fee if no recovery.
About Michael PinesMichael Pines is a former insurance company attorney who specializes in car accident injury. While he was an insurance attorney, he learned from behind the scenes on how insurance companies work and how they decided to pay injured people. Now that he works against insurance companies, Michael's inside knowledge has resulted in significant benefits to his clients injured in car accidents.
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Tags: health care, medical bills, medicare
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