I had a root canal done (under a crown) a few months ago. It cost $375.

Every time I see my dentist for a check-up, I hope that he is still happy with the Lexus that I bought him.
If he decides he wants a new one, I could be in for some more root canals and crowns!

My daughter just had a root canal and it was $995....for crying out loud, why didn't he just charge $1000 and get it over with

Now that the specialist has finished the root canal she'll be returning to her regular dentist for a couple crowns More $$$$$$

Edit: My actual cost of the root canal was $199 as my dental insurance paid the remainder. The crowns are only 50% covered so they'll cost me more.

I'm one of those "problem" patients that *isn't*. I question it all and if I don't understand what they are doing and how it has to do with my visit I won't do it.

If they make me wait too long in the waiting room for my appointment, I complain on my way out and refuse to be billed. I shop for Doctors like I shop for auto mechanics. I'll pay for good quality and good service, everybody else gets fired.

I have my teeth cleaned every 6 months. I haven't had a cavity in my life. I tell them I'll do an xray series every other year or whenever I think I need it.

All service and goods suppliers get the same treatment. They all have to convince me that they have earned my business and charge a fair price, otherwise we part ways.

Doctors, Plumbers, Barbers, Auto Mechanics; everybody has to remember which one of us is the Customer.

Your lucky, my "insurance" company would not pay the $1500 MRI bill for my knee.

While on the subject, the whole system is upside down when they refuse to support preventive medicine and then pay up after you get sick.

[QUOTE=solveg;6899882]Well, I'm almost 50, how much does a colonoscopy cost?

$1800.
My Doctor, with NO Insurance charges $67 for a visit.
Your bill is Way to high.

Want to know what's really funny? That was the original concept behind HMOs.

HMO stands for "Health Maintenance Organization". The whole idea was to stress healthy lifestyles and preventive medical care rather than cureing illness.

colonoscopy in my neck of the woods is just under $1000, and well worth it.

to the OP, the doctor interviewed you, examined you, and treated you.

i'm curious, what do you (or anyone else who would like to chime in) believe to be a reasonable charge for that service?

No doubt about it, that's worth $2 million. Easily.

I'm the OP, and I say a human general doctor visit is worth 2-3x a dog's general vet visit, so $70-$100 here in the cities.

They have some kind of clinic in Walmart or Target stores, where people can go for strep throat cultures and real basic clinic needs. If it costs $50, I now see the value in that.

I have people with stomach cancer and colon polyps on both sides of my family. But if it costs me that much to have a colonoscopy, I know that I'll wait longer than I should to have one. What I will probably end up doing is getting everything done in one year, so the insurance kicks in.

The thing about doctors is that once you get something worth checking out, you get sent to a zillion other people, and suddenly you have doctors appointments every single frigging week. I've seen it happen to my parents.

I'll bet all the money in my pocket that nearly 100% of us agree with this sentiment. Most of us have been taught that preventing something is always more cost effective than dealing with the thing after it's gotten bad.

While this is almost always true for individuals, the facts change when dealing with large numbers of people. I heard a podcast on "The End of Medicine" and the author explained why it was cheaper for the "Third Party Payors" to only pay bills for people that actually "get sick".

There is currently imaging technology that can detect just about anything that ails us. The problem is that it costs so much (e.g. a $1500.00 MRI on a knee). If you look at all of the people any particular insurance company covers, some number less than all (100%) of them will "get sick".

So what does a whole body scan cost? I don't have current figures, but let's say it's only twice the cost of a knee at $3000.00. If a particular insurance entity covers 100,000 people, that's $300 Million dollars for the scan *plus* they then have to pay for everything that is found.

According to the American Cancer Society the lifetime probability of a Man developing all types of cancer is just under 45% (for Women it is slightly lower at about 37.5%). A statistically important number of us die for other reasons whether we have cancer or not; like getting run over on a bicycle. (SEE I'm ON TOPIC!!)

The way the third party payors look at it, more than half of the lifetime full body scans were unnecessary; and at current costs it is cheaper to treat the cancer patients (that survive to diagnosis) even if half of them survive to file another claim (depending on what it is).

The actual incident rate in 2008, age adjusted for Men and Women is even worse at .47%. That means only about 470 of the 100,000 people will be diagnosed this year. Cancer is expensive to treat, but it's going to have to cost well over $600,000.00 each before preventative care begins to break even. If I'm off on the cost of the scan (I'm probably too low) the break even point moves with the cost. How often did you want to get this scan?

It's a heartless attitude, but the numbers don't lie. It's cheaper (for the third party payors) to treat you when you get sick.

Now, if we can get the full body MRI (and other scanning technology) down to the cost of my 6 month teeth cleanings, then the world will change; but as long as the state of the art starts with a rubber hammer, a stethoscope, and the question "What *seems* to be the problem?", big improvements in cost and effectiveness will not be soon forthcoming.

And Preventative Medicine will never be cheap enough until you can afford it with, or without, a third party to pay for it.

The next time your in your doctors waiting room look around at the other people there and ask yourself what you would charge to see them with some or all of there clothes off.Then think about touching and examining them closely.I think I would have to get about $100,000 for prostate exams and a colonoscopy would require a second mortgage.

Try the "Sports Medicine" clinic sometime.

Ain't no one happy with the system, that's fo' show.

I'm guessing my take-home on a colonoscopy is around $125. I'm not complaining but it's not going to pay off ny Maserotti. The facility cost is of course much higher. Americans want a pretty clean facility with well-paid unionized nurses who can read and speak English. They also want that wonderful sedation.

You could trim a lot of money off the whole thing by having it done without sedation in the doctor's office, and by paying him cash. That's the way the rest of the world does it. It's also why you have to force most of the rest of the world to get these studies at gunpoint.

You might reach a different conclusion but these are the facts.

My colonoscopy was about $3000. The insurance paid all but the $20 office copay. While the procedure is almost universally accepted as a great preventive tool, I doubt I'd have had it done if I had to pay the full amount myself.

[QUOTE=WalterMitty;6902698And Preventative Medicine will never be cheap enough until you can afford it with, or without, a third party to pay for it.[/QUOTE]

So how much does Polio vaccine cost?

About 10 bucks, why?

It still smells like a scam somewhere, though.

I was talking to my dental hygenist today and she had a cyst removed from her back. She pays $25 copays and she had $600 out of pocket by the time she was done. Every person she saw, or every person who did something got $25. I don't remember that when I had sinus issues in my early 30's. The only time I payed copays was when I checked into the doctor's office, and then it was $10.

Anyway, to remove the cyst, it was $3000. She finally became furious at the last appointment, post-surgery, when she had a follow up visit to see how it was healing. She flat out refused to pay for a visit to see if it was healing OK. It was a minor incision, and almost anyone can see if it's red, puffy or oozing. How much would that visit have cost the insurance company? $200, probably.

To sum it up, anyone who charges $200 to see if a 1/2" incision is healing cleanly is fleecing the customer.

If you're in the business you probably also pay more in malpractice insurance than most folks make in a year. That's buying some nice cars and houses somewhere...

Or a two-legged horse on the rampage?

You said preventive medacine will never be cheap enough to be affordable. I'm thinking that's a prefect example that proves that sometimes it is.

Probably an infected pool boy hickey.

Ditto, but mine is covered at 80% dental insurance.

Don't ask how much the insurance costs.

I hate it when the dentist starts telling me about flying his own private plane to some Caribbean Island where he goes scuba diving.

But, OTOH, he does really excellent work. We left a previous dentist because he didn't.

Yes, a great concept.

Now the whole idea is to make the management gurus rich.

Even "non-profits" contract with "management companies" to provide "management services" - which are, of course, not included in the salary figures of the non-profit sent to the IRS in their 990's. So, therefore, they don't have a problem with the IRS and unreasonable compensation.

I once worked for a NP, and this was their whole plan. Minor problem, though. The NP went bankrupt!

Insane! I went to the podiatrist to have a ingrown toe nail removed. A month later I receive a letter from a law firm wanting to know who the third part provider was that it should be billed to for an accident. I threw the letter away. Next month same thing. Threw it away. Third month I receive a letter from another attorney stating if I do not tell them who the third part that should be billed for the accident then they will cancel my insurance.

I looked up the attorney's name on the internet, called the number I found and "He" answered his own phone. I explained why I was calling and wanted to know what accident he was talking about. I had an ingrown toenail removed which was a result of living, which I was not going to quit doing anytime soon and therefore it was no accident.

I then asked what kind of idiot thinks that an ingrown toe nail is a result of an accident? I wrote a definitive letter to the insurance company and the law firm that they used as a subcontractor and demanded they quit harassing me for a ingrown toe nail.

All the attorney wanted to know was how I got his direct telephone number. My response: "I have my sources, which you would find absolutely unbelievable." I told him that he should probably call his local police department and ask them if they knew how I might get it.

Got a letter of apology from the insurance company who had made a mistake and coded the bill as "An Automobile Accident".

They would also go around in circles telling me that the doctor was out of network when it was the same Doc they had paid for in the past. I would have to take them out to their own web site, show them the Doctor in their "In Network Provider" list. I figured it was just a ploy to avoid paying for a bill and that most people wouldn't put up a fight.

Insurance companies are the worst!