No~~body~~ kidney wants to work anymore
I do have government funded insurance so I will pay less than $200. Which I will only be able to afford if I pass Go.
this post was submitted on 25 Sep 2024
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That Looked Expensive
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The line items look like a pretty standard "workup", as they call it. The blood and urine tests are probably a fishing expedition to make sure you don't have some other bizarre disease. If it turns out you did have this hypothetical bizarre disease, I'm sure you'd be disappointed if the emergency department missed it.
$7k CT seems pretty steep, but CTs are also a marvel of modern technology. I know MRIs have a price floor because they need medical grade liquid helium for cooling, which is thousands per liter. I don't know if CT has a similar consumable item or not.
I would hazard a guess that most real kidney stones would be revealed by x ray. But it's also possible that x ray would not reveal other physiological abnormalities that could be causing your symptoms.
In Poland if you pay out of pocket in a private clinic an MRI is around 500USD and a CT scan costs around 300USD, so the price floor is something lower than that. This is a country that will have a higher minimum wage than the US from January 2025.
This is fair. I think the prices I am most annoyed by are for the pregnancy test and the ondansetron. But you're right, I am very glad it wasn't something serious (especially since they ruled out a kidney stone - that's not something I want to deal with again lol). The one thing I am grateful for is that I don't have to pay before they will help. I don't think it's like that everywhere and it's definitely not like that for my pets either, which I could also spend time complaining about but I will refrain lol