The High Price of Low Cost Health Care

We are not a rich family. We don't officially qualify as a poor family, either. Yet month after month. I find myself borrowing from Peter to pay Paul because of one thing-health care. I am told we are lucky because we do have health insurance. Yet year after year the premiums have risen and the the coverage has lessened. It appears our policy has been denigrated to what amounts to major medical coverage. But since the language is ambiguous, i am not sure. We haven't had any major medical problems to know what the definition of "reasonable and customary" is in the medical arena.

The first event was my husband had some minor surgery done on his elbow. It was outpatient surgery with a total of four hours in the hospital. Forty-five days after the the surgery, I had received 7 different bills. The doctor, hospital, lab, nurse, anesthesiologist and others all bill separately. I noticed a lot of transcription codes for services I guess were provided. But how would you know? Prices are all over the place. There's the "retail" price that is assigned to a procedure that I guess they charge those they can figure out how to gouge. Its like paying the rack rate at a hotel because everything in town is full. Then there's the a predetermined contract price that medical personnel or procedures are allotted. Then there's an amount that is "written off" I haven't' received the final bills yet!
It appears that we owe nineteen hundred dollars for this four hour surgery. Is that reasonable and customary? I don't have a clue. I think the medical profession counts on that or at least their billing departments. I can't go price all the services that ere provided. I don't know if all of them were necessary. For that matter I can't even pronounce several of them. The bill seems substantial. Money has been set aside for continuing orthodontia, glasses, and about five hundred for medical expenses this year. We are way over budget, nobody had been actually sick. The year is not over.