$728,500? Did I get a discount?

Denesdia

So, out of nothing more than morbid curiosity, I added up the invoices from my insurance carrier (Blue Cross/Blue Shield) from my hospitalization with PTL and the NICU stay (96 days).  This is the total I came up with.  I guess I am surprised because my DD had three surgeries (PDA ligation, NEC with bowel resection, and ostomy reversal) and had a pretty complex stay.  Does this sound right to you guys?  Oh, and we just got word that our Medicaid (for Disabled) application for her was approved (a year later).  This will hopefully pick up anything our insurance did not during the NICU and 30 days post-discharge.  Thank God for insurance.

AFwife1106

We were billed about $450,000 for my hospital stay, her NICU and her doctors.  No surgery but in the NICU for 62 days.  Our insurance paid like 30 - 40%, but I don't even want to know what that added up to.. we didn't have to pay anything.  so far.  ha ha

KLyn

I hear ya - between the NICU and a follow up surgery the boys' bills totaled about 800K.  I added up our medical expenses for tax purposes a few weeks ago and we only paid $4400!  amazing!  thank god for insurance is right!

ETA:  they were both in the NICU for 38 days. 

Heather1979

My LO was in the NICU for 2 weeks and I was in the hospital 3 days. I was billed $24k for my delivery and $76k for LO.

It was a lot cheaper than I thought for LO, and a bit more than what I thought for me, but they billed me as a "high rish" delivery so maybe that's why.

TriciaJoy

How long were you guys in?

I'm trying to remember what mine was.. I can go look it up later for sure. I know for 2009 (he was born may 31) we were billed 2.1 million, insurance paid about 450,000. He was in the NICU for 96 days and had 1 surgery. His stay otherwise was probably somewhere in the middle. We had lots of scares, so more bloodwork and x rays than average, but beyond that, probably fairly average for a 26 weeker (5 weeks of intubation, plus a few more days after his surgery etc) 

He did have a 2nd hospital stay that year, but it was only 3 days and just a regular peds room for an IV for dehydration (his reflux got the better of him.) so really, most of that money was the NICU stay. 

 

Denesdia

Thanks, ladies.  I am beginning to wonder if there are more bills out there waiting for us.  I know we have only just begun.  I wonder if I can just ask the hospital how much I was charged?  Anyway, 3/4 of million is still a pretty decent amount. 

TriciaJoy

Can you look at your EOBs on your ins. website? That's how I figured mine out. The only bill I actually saw was from the hospital itself. I'm trying to remember now.. I think it was close to 500k. But that was just the hospital. The neos all work for a company and contract to the hospital, so they were all billed seperately and I think a lot of the lab & radiology stuff was seperate, too. I don't fully understand how it all operates.

borc0080

Wow, these stories are making DD's 23-day, $90K NICU stay seem like a bargain!