Friday, November 30, 2007

Cost of Baby, Part Two

Today I got an itemized bill for a particularly large portion of my hospital stay. Some notes:

Although I was given a manual breast pump along with a diaper bag, with the nurses acting as if they were both free, I was charged $72 for a breast pump that was exactly like the one I had at home... which cost me $35 at Babies'R'Us.

Each dose of 400 mg of Ibuprofen cost $15.36.

I shouldn't complain - my insurance paid for almost all of the $16,000 bill (96.5%, for those of us who are quantitative). And as a former medical social worker, I shouldn't be that surprised about charges that seem ridiculous to me. But geez! what a messed up system. I think health care will probably be the issue that influences me most in the upcoming presidential election.

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