Medicare Supposedly Pays $17,000 For A Knee Replacement, Only Paid $5,596 For My Knee Surgery.

by Anura Guruge

Click to ENLARGE and read here. From ‘The New York Times”.

My Bill for Knee Surgery.

Click to ENLARGE and STUDY.

I had my quadriceps tendon repair surgery,
at ‘Frisbie Memorial Hospital‘ —
performed by Dr. Charles Blitzer
of ‘Seacoast Orthopedics‘
on Thursday, March 7, 2019.

There was no pain to talk about
— throughout, from surgery to now.

Knee replacement, of course, is a much more involved procedure with expensive hardware involved. In my case they only had to insert 3 small ‘fiber’ plugs. So, there was no hardware costs. But, it just goes to show.

Yes, I know of doctors that will NOT accept Medicare patients just for this reason. The lower reimbursement. Not sure whether this applies to surgeons, especially orthopedic surgeons. They must get most of their business from old codgers like I who need knee and hip replacement — though I was, of course, different.

That huge 100% price differential is NOT RIGHT. It is worse if you don’t have insurance. Hospitals really rape you. I know. Dartmouth-Hitchcock raped me — anally at that.

There has to be a middle-path. Between the Medicare amount and what other insurances pay.

This is why the U.S. healthcare system is so screwed up.

I am sure glad I have Medicare — with the Humana Advantage overlay on top of it (which costs me NOTHING).

Related Posts:
Search ‘knee’ & ‘quadriceps‘.

by Anura Guruge