Dry with no lube, It’s on premise
So yesterday the bill came for my stay at the ER for my Bell’s Palsy onset at the beginning of the month. I knew it’s arrival would carry some sticker shock but I wasn’t quite expecting it to be this degree. The total amount that was submitted to my insurance for my roughly two hour stay was $7121. Holy shit.
The bill I got from NCH had no line item breakdown, it just showed the total number, what insurance paid, what the “contractual allowance adjustment” was, and what I was on the hook for which is close to $1000 dollars. In order to find the detail regarding these charges I had to log into my insurance portal, what I found is the breakdown in the picture to the left.
The first feeling I get is like you are being worked over by a car salesman. ( a non-Tesla one of course). It’s like they show you the “list price” for procedures but then act like they are doing you a favor by discounting the grossly inflated number. When you drill into the line by line charges the biggest expense was the cat scan at a whopping $3918. The $2000 for two hours in the ER seems insane as well. $1000 an hour is the industry standard?? This one really gets me, $750 for pharmacy. They gave me three prednisone pills and one anti-viral pill. 10 prednisone pills from a pharmacy are normally less than $5. The anti-viral is cheap as well. Once I was out of the ER I got a prescription for the rest, which I paid for already.
So anyway, I already know I will be on the hook for a good chunk of change but I do plan to call NCH to ask them to back up these numbers. As I was reviewing my health insurance claims I saw one that made no sense, an “office/outpatient visit est” for my thyroid. I havent had anything done with my thyroid yet, I have an ultrasound scheduled for it on Monday. This charge was submitted on 4/1 and already paid by my insurance. What in the hell is going on? Well I plan to get a clearer picture today.
I got a voicemail from the Dania Beach Tesla store that my vehicle was on premise. In the message she asked when I wanted to take delivery which I thought was odd because I had been told the delivery was set for 2PM Saturday for nearly a week. The woman also followed up with an email to me. In the email I asked if an earlier delivery was possible, maybe earlier in the day on Saturday or even Friday night if at all possible. We will see what sort of response I get.
It seems each day I am finding yet another cool thing the Tesla can do. Yesterday that thing was Sentry Mode. If you have a USB drive attached to the car this mode can be enabled after you park the car. If close motion is detected or if the car is bumped a warning flashes up on the screen that sentry mode is active and that the individual is being recorded. I saw multiple examples of the mode in action, capturing idiot door dingers in all of their moronic glory. In at least once such case, the door slammers license plate was captured which eventually lead to that person being forced to pay for the damage. When combined with the built in dashcam that captures not only from the front camera but also the two side units, the car is a surveillance collecting beast.
This weekend of course will be all about the Tesla acquisition but there is another huge event on the docket, Avengers Endgame. I have been anxiously awaiting this date ever since Infinity War and it’s infamous “snap” occurred. The movie has an incredible amount of hype behind it but the good news is, at least from early screeners, is somehow it manages to surpass the hype. It is supposed to be a great movie. There are so many story lines and character arcs that are in many ways culminating that the film is an unheard of three hours long. I can not wait to buckle up and enjoy the ride.