Four weeks later, after my joyous exposure to life’s tenuous grasp on existence, we get to see what my mortal coil is worth, monetarily speaking.
All told? About $90,000. Below is the bill from the second hospital. The first hospital, the one through which my original insurance is through, has yet to send us all of the damage reports. Talk about one HOT weekend. The hotel room was ta-rashed!
Dwell on those cardiology charges. $22,400 for a “Revasc Acute Mi W Des/antherectomy/pcta Single – C9606 (HCPCS).” Damn! I’m glad I didn’t need like a dozen of whatever those are. And remember, I was on the Cardiologist’s table for maybe an hour. Wow, that’s the business to be in. And you know, business is booming. Something like 7 million people die every year, on the planet, from coronary heart disease — leading cause of death.
Last point: I had a followup Virtual Doctor’s Appointment today. The thing the doc drove home? I am permanently broken (my word). For the rest of my life I should be mindful of any little butterfly kisses that land on (or inside) my chest. Oh, and make sure you ALWAYS carry one (or three) nitro glycerin pills with you, ‘cuz, you never know.
Fuck Me, Alex!
Anonymole - apocryphal agitators 
Damn, man, what you have been through. I need to get my ass to the doc … I’ve probably had a half dozen “check-ups” or less my entire life. What, praytell, would I ask of them to … you know … ensure they check me right? 🤔
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And therein lies the conundrum. Heart disease is not easy to detect. An Echo Stress Test can detect about 70% of blockages or reduced flow. The next one is a CT Angiogram; more $ but more accurate. The last, and I can’t believe they even have this, is an invasive catheter inspection.
Warning signs: odd heart fibrillation, unexpected angina (chest pain) that is not gastro-induced. You have those, then get a test. EKG, low cholesterol, low BP will not show signs.
Luck.
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Thank you, AM! I promise to get a thorough investigation into my bodily functions ASAP. Hope you’re doing/feeling better, my man!
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A medical bill like that is an Echo Stress Test in itself. I’m sorry to say that I find your medical industry to be hilarious (although our NHS certainly isn’t perfect).
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Do you actually have to pay this?! Sorry, I’m Canadian so this is something I never encounter!
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And then you wonder how it is possible that such things are free of charge elsewhere.
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I’ll take Medical Expenses for a Million, Alex.
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Filing BK sounds like a business plan here…
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We’ll see what insurance has to say about the $70k gap.
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Jesus!!
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It’s incredible what they charge. My SO got a bill for an MRI for $9,000. $9,000 to be in a magnetic tube for an hour. They wanted the full sum, but they did offer an easy monthly payment plan of $3,000/ 3months. It was one of those things where the insurance expired and changed over to something else, so it was fine, but still, that’s what they would charge out of pocket.
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My SO is an adverb 😁
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? SO is significant other… I’m not sure what you mean to say
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Pink, I didn’t know what SO was either… Or maybe you already knew… Beep beep beep — backing up and turning right.
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I did not know. I thought it might be one of these odd modernities like when Trump capitalises the word crime in the middle of a sentence. There are too many abbreviations now. Considering we have much more time than our ancestors and no need to hunt or gather, we should probably be able to type out groupings of 5 to 10 letters without exhausting ourselves.
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Hetty’s a millennial, bless her soul. They communicate on a different level.
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SO a tweezer pulling bread
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Exactly!
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Now I’M confused
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