You sound like some of the attorneys that I've worked with. I don't know how they get away with it, but they charge for everything.

 

https://www.gocomics.com/pearlsbeforeswine/2007/08/21

 

Rob and Gene, please send me a ten dollar bill for reading your posts.
My new "reading fee".
Thank you.

 

Pretty low hourly rate! BTW, don't know if you are aware, but the author of Pearls Before Swine was a lawyer before he started drawing Pearls.
He also resides in NorCal.

 

It's in the mail. You should be receiving it any day now.

 

Prior to retirement I got a lot of exposure to the hospital's "revenue cycle" workflow and rules. Our hospital is not getting rich, although some of the physicians are. At any rate, the facility fee is just one example of the web of complex set of rules surrounding Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements to providers. Like the tax code, this can of worms has evolved a little at a time over the years as CMS has tried to address rules for reimbursement in the rapidly changing field of healthcare. And like the tax code, it is probably time to tear the whole thing down and start over.

Diagnosis and procedure coding however, is a pretty good system, but it is fairly technical and the supply of good medical coders is not keeping up with demand. This is a real problem for independent clinics and physician offices. But the benefits of the ICD-10 coding system are huge, as it provides critical data to public health organizations, researchers, healthcare providers, pharmaceutical and medical equipment companies, insurers, and many other segments of the healthcare space.

 

Gene, do you think it took an hour to read your post? Oh nay nay. It works out to an hourly rate of $825.00, which, by the way, works out to the rate of an attorney I worked with in 2013 when most attorneys were still around 300-400 per hour. I was shocked.

 

That is pure BS. Reminds me of the extra fees hotel charge and the extra crap they try to sucker you into when you buy a vehicle. I agree our health care system sucks as well.

 

I got screwed when I had my broken humerus surgery in Colorado because some of the services were not in with Kaiser's insurance dance club. Whatever. I was pissed but eventually paid off two bills Kaiser Permanente of Southern California refused.

On the other hand, my Enbrel shots are over $5,000 for a 4 week supply. I pay $35. I also pay $849 per month for the insurance which is a lot but I'm getting my money's worth. My every three month CBC and other blood tests cost me $10 each time.

I'm not sure what happens when I'm 65 years-old. I don't know if I'm forced to go on Medicare or if I can just keep my own plan.

 

I was once working on an estate together with an attorney. I probably did more work than the attorney. After I submitted my bill which was about 1/3 as big as the attorney's bill, he had the nerve to call me and ask me why I charged so much. He said, "After all, all you accountants do is to put numbers on a line."