cost of a CT scan?

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badboob67
badboob67 Member Posts: 2,780
edited June 2014 in Stage IV/Metastatic Breast Cancer ONLY

I just received a rather confusing explanation of benefits from my insurance company for the CT scan I had done in September. The usual radiologist charges were listed separately: head CT, chest CT, abdomen CT, pelvis CT. The scan itself was listed as "chemotherapy" and not broken down into sections. The cost was $10,000! The last scan I had like this was over 18 months ago and I can't find the EOB for that one. Is $10K really what it costs? I know they aren't bundling in "chemo", because 1) I don't get chemo and 2) I do not receive any treatments at the facility that does my scans.

I am afraid to call and ask about it. It would be just my luck to have them correct a mistake and leave me responsible for the $10K.

This facility has never really been very good in the billing department. They are also the facility that lost the films from all of my previous scans. Yesterday, an OR nurse left a message for me to call her. She was calling to talk to me about "my" surgery today. The only problem is that I am NOT having surgery...today or anytime soon and none of my doctors are affiliated with this hospital! She couldn't explain how she got my name and number. VERY STRANGE.

How much do YOUR CT scans cost? 

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  • AliceJean
    AliceJean Member Posts: 625
    edited October 2007

    Wow that's scary. I would see if your insurance company has a web site, often you can go online and get old eob's and print them out.  Then I would call the facility that scanned you and ask to speak to a supervisor in the billing dept. The only reason I can imagine to list "chemotherapy" on an eob for a scan is they were billing separately for the cost of the contrast media or whatever you were injected with. Is there any chance you could go somewhere else??!!

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  • badboob67
    badboob67 Member Posts: 2,780
    edited October 2007

    AliceJean,

    Boy oh boy, do I wish I could go somewhere else! The one good thing about it is that my rads onc has great respect for the radiologist that reads my scans. We tried another facility at the beginning of this year and it was a real mess. I am in a rural area without many options.

    I am torn between calling a supervisor and opening up a can of worms (and ending up with a bill I can't pay!) and fighting to get the bill corrected. I know that $10k goes against my lifetime limit of coverage. How much out of whack is that cost for a CT scan only (not including the radiologist's charge). The last time I got into a "battle" with this facility, the head of the billing department assured us their error would be taken care of; we received no more communications or bills, but found a charge off on our credit report when applying for a mortgage. They also packed on several thousand dollars of charges for services and drugs when I had my son several years ago. When I notified my insurance company that the billing was incorrect and they had overpaid, the insurance representative said, "No, it's not. I'm looking right at it!"  Um..DUH! How did HE know what services I received? I gave up that time, too. 

    As if it's not hard enough going through this garbage. UGH.... 

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  • AliceJean
    AliceJean Member Posts: 625
    edited October 2007

    I know, trying to keep up with insurance mess is such a huge pain in the butt. I too am watching my lifetime benefits go down...I am off Avastin now but when I was getting it, the charge was over $25,000 each time...twice a month. And it will be a while until I'm eligible for Medicare. The damn insurance companies determine whether we live or die, and the drug companies have abslolutely no incentive to find a cure if they are getting that much money from their evil drugs. It sucks.

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  • Watson
    Watson Member Posts: 1,490
    edited October 2007

    Bad,

    That all sounds crazy!  I hope that poor woman having surgery today didn't end up with someone else's surgery! 

    I would have that hospital look in her file to see if they can't find your records that were lost.  Sounds like they merged you two.

    If the 10K is coded as chemotherapy and you're not currently on chemo, the insurance co will probably notice.  You will hear from them if there is a problem.

    Take care,

    Watson

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  • ozzie2
    ozzie2 Member Posts: 1,271
    edited November 2007

    OmG...and we think we have probs here in Aust...yikes...

    a Ct scan of full body cost about $499 so that is nowhere near the cost in the US ..good heavens who is having a lend of who?surely there is something that can be done? a PET scan here in Aust cost nearly $1000 but these two test cost are only if u are a private patient and so if u are on a pension there is no cost to you..

    Hope this is fixed up ASAP it must be a worry to you and gosh as if u need more to worry about ..shocking..

    hugs

    oz

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  • LuAnnH
    LuAnnH Member Posts: 8,847
    edited November 2007

    Diane,

    I would contact the insurance and tell them you had a CT scan and not chemo.  That is insurance fraud on the part of the hospital.  If they continue to do this then report them to the state insurance commission.  That is one reason insurance premiums get so outrageous!

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  • Sam91
    Sam91 Member Posts: 193
    edited November 2007

    I didn't want to start a new thread - but was wondering how long it takes for any of you to get the results back from a CT Scan.  I had one done on Tuesday.  I called today and they said it would be several more days.  I have an appt on Tues with my onc and I guess that is when I will get the results.  I hate the waiting.  I have had abdominal pain since June, had a CT in July which showed an 8 mm nodule and numerous tiny non specific defects on my liver.  He wanted to wait 3-4 months to scan again.

    By the way my abdominal CT was $1912 including the charge for the doc who read them.  I also had a pelvic scan which was another $1879!!! 

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  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Member Posts: 1,376
    edited May 2008

    I get full set of ct scans every 6 months and the most I have ever seen charged was $2600 of which the insurance company pays a discounted rate of half that.  I think $10,000 is excessive and I don't think it would hurt to call and ask for a detailed list.  You might also call your insurance company first and check with what they were billed for.  They will be happy to tell you what was billed.

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  • LuAnnH
    LuAnnH Member Posts: 8,847
    edited November 2007

    Sam, I usually get my results in about 2 days.  My onc office is hooked up with the hospital computer and they get the results as they are posted in the system.  All places are different though, you can call where you had the scans and request a copy of the scan. 

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  • Buzz
    Buzz Member Posts: 137
    edited November 2007

    CT scans don't cost $10K. It's about $300 for each section. So Chest, Abdomen, and Pelvis would be about $900. Then there is a charge for the radiologist to read it, but that's a couple hundred. Your bill is clearly a mistake. Call the place that did the scan and tell them they incorrectly billed it, and tell them to submit a new claim. Then call your insurance company and ask them to return the $10K claim for resubmittal.

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  • Buzz
    Buzz Member Posts: 137
    edited November 2007

    It seems very strange to me that some providers are charging $25,000 a month for Avastin. I was on it for over two years and the charge was $2,200 per dose, which makes $4,400 a month, not $25K. Somebody is getting ripped off somewhere.

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  • badboob67
    badboob67 Member Posts: 2,780
    edited November 2007

    Thanks all for the info! I thought the $10k was waaaaaaaaaaay too high. I was inclined to let it go if it was closer to the "right" charge for the scan. I honestly don't know if I'm up to arguing with them about this. The billing dept. at that hospital is just so messed up! I'm still wading through my medical records from my previous onc, correcting and clarifying. I have an appointment with my new onc on Tuesday and want to have the summary ready for him. I'm not going to bother with the personally insulting and "cya" things that are in the file (if any of you remember, I was shocked at the innacuracy of my records and the way that my questions/concerns were just plain ignored as they continued to write how things are just peachy in my chart). I just don't understand why everything has to be so hard! The incompetence is astounding. My new cancer center seems to be more organized and methodical; I sure hope that's the case! I have had more stress over mistakes like these than I have had with the stinking cancer!!!

    Is it like this everywhere? Since the beginning of 2007, nearly every appointment, scan, referral, or bill has had at least one problem. I'm beginning to feel picked on! 

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  • mthomp2020
    mthomp2020 Member Posts: 1,959
    edited November 2007

    Hospitals screw up on billing pretty often.  When my husband's father died, we got a bill for physical therapy for the day after he died!  As he was only in the hospital for a day or 2, and they knew he was dying, PT wasn't something they were going to do anyway!  My husband had to call and raise hell with them.  I guess they figure a lot of people don't check, and they can sneak it by you.

    And I agree - $10,000 is definitely an overcharge.  I usually see about $900 for the three I get done. 

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  • drray
    drray Member Posts: 2
    edited November 2007

    In the UK we can do a CT chest/abdo/pelvis for £300(about $620) including a specialist report. (www.uk-radiology.co.uk). Other places charge more and it could cost up to £1000-1500 but nowhere near the $10000 figure.

    I suspect there was a screw up in the billing. The problem is that there is no-one interested in keeping the price low in the USA. I worked in a hospital in NC many years ago and when I tried to introduce a single fee for abdominal ultrasound and bill as u/s gallbladder rather than bill separately for GB, kidneys, liver, pancreas etc I got investigated by the insurance company fraud department because I billed for so many u/s gallbladders. I had to stop doing this and patients opted for CT abdo which was cheaper than billing for each organ- mad or what?

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  • mthomp2020
    mthomp2020 Member Posts: 1,959
    edited November 2007

    Don't you just love it?  Here you were actually saving the insurance company quite a bit of money, and they investigated you for fraud!  Gee, do you think the insurance companies get some kind of kick back?

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  • drray
    drray Member Posts: 2
    edited November 2007

    Not a kickback as such, but costly claims make more people want to take out insurance and this increases the insurance company profit. You see this after natural disasters-the insurance companies more than make up for the hit over the next few years. If you could get a scan for a couple of hundred $ (which should be possible) most people would opt for just paying when they need one.

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  • AliceJean
    AliceJean Member Posts: 625
    edited November 2007

    Yeah, somebody's getting ripped off, and it's us! If we use up our benefits what do we do??? This is why this country needs universal health care for everyone, there is no reason some of get to live and others don't, while the drug companies, insurance companies, and hospitals make the profits. 

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