Anyone Break An Arm Lately? (OT)

[Norm's Coupe]

Recently I got a box of old photographs from my mother. In the box I found a receipt from the old St. Joseph Hospital in Louisville, KY dated May 30, 1953. The receipt covered a broken arm my older brother got playing ball if I remember correctly. Anyway I thought the cost was very interesting. Here's a breakdown of the charges.

Room Charge = $10.50

Operating Room = $7.50

Outpatient Charge = $1.00

Pharmacy = $1.50

X-Ray = $11.00

Total Charge for fixing the broken arm = $31.50

Wonder what the same procedure would cost today? I can picture around $700 or more. Use of the emergency room alone would probably be around $200 or more.

Anyone broken an arm lately to compare those charges?

[Plymouthy Adams]

Norm..tell the wife all that is on tv is dust and you may find out first hand today's cost

[Norm's Coupe]

Tim,

I have a better idea. You tell your wife that, then you can tell me the cost. My wife would just tell me to clean the dust.

[Plymouthy Adams]

my wife would tell me that dust is my friend...

[Norm's Coupe]

In that case maybe we can get Coatney to say it to his wife. Then he can tell us the cost.

[Plymouthy Adams]

After being at Don's house a few times now..trust me..with Lisa...there is no dust..now I know what may get his arm broken but I will keep my mouth shut...lol

[Norm's Coupe]

Tim,

Even better if there is no dust in Lisa's house. If Don says there is, it's all the more likely he will be able to tell us the cost.

[Don Coatney]

In that case maybe we can get Coatney to say it to his wife. Then he can tell us the cost.

Norm;

Suggest you break your arm and then report the cost to us.

Speaking of dust...... Lisa thought she would do me a favor and paint my "man cave" home office while I am on the road. So she tried to move my puter desk away from the wall today. In doing so she did not disconnect any wires and both routers on my desk hit the floor. Of course when they died it cut the TV, phone, and computer connections all over the house including her computer remotely connected in her upstairs office. So as she was trying to reconnect everything she called me on her cell phone and suggested she send me a picture of the mess so I could better direct her on repairs. I asked her how she planned on sending me this picture with no internet nor e-mail. If I were not on the road I would have bills to post about my broken arm and other as of yet un-named body parts. Good news is she called me a couple of minutes ago and told me she finally figured out how to re-connect the power supply to the routers and she is back on line with everything.

[rustbucket]

Broke my leg in '83, mom spent $13,000 to get me a couple screws installed. Pricey as hell, but they have not rusted yet.

[Olddaddy]

My ankle has cost $2800 to date for the hospital visit. I can't begin to think what the Orthopedist will cost. Interesting thing about the hospital visit. I went there feeling pretty sure it was broken. They took down a lot of info, and took an x-ray. Confirmed it was broken and told me I had to go to an Orthopedic specialist to have it cast. I said, "you don't have one here?" I mean I went to the hospital, it's where you go! I was informed that the hospital was a sort of hospital lite, they only do limited care and refer most things to outside specialists. Thank goodness I did not have a flesh wound!!!!

[PatS....]

No bills here, but he may still be in the waiting room!!!

[JIPJOBXX]

Just had carpal tunnel surgury and no bills yet either. I expect it to be around 5,000 or so but my health insurance will pick up most of that!(Thank god for health insurance)

[Norm's Coupe]

Don,

I can't bring myself to break my own arm on purpose because it might hurt. Ya think? That's why I suggested you or Tim do it, then tell us about it.

Charlie,

I had forgotten all about your ankle, hope it's on the mend now.

Anyway, I just thought posting the amounts on that receipt would really show how medical cost have gone up over the years. You can't walk in a Hospital or doctors office today for only $31.50. I can still remember a doctors office visit in the late 60's and early 70's was only about $5 and $10. Today, ours runs about $175 for the doctor to sit there and ask you, "What seems to be the problem"? Usually I just say, "How do I know, that's why I'm paying you the big bucks, for you to tell me!":rolleyes:

[RobertKB]

My wife has had two full hip replacements and two full knee replacements (I blame the bad Polish genes) and total cost was nada, nil, zip. Some waiting time but not terrible. We maybe pay higher taxes in Canada but I do love the free health care.

[martybose]

My ankle has cost $2800 to date for the hospital visit. I can't begin to think what the Orthopedist will cost. Interesting thing about the hospital visit. I went there feeling pretty sure it was broken. They took down a lot of info, and took an x-ray. Confirmed it was broken and told me I had to go to an Orthopedic specialist to have it cast. I said, "you don't have one here?" I mean I went to the hospital, it's where you go! I was informed that the hospital was a sort of hospital lite, they only do limited care and refer most things to outside specialists. Thank goodness I did not have a flesh wound!!!!

Not too surprising. My mother-in-law is a Kaiser Permanente patient, and went to a Kaiser Cardiologist to check on her heart. She had a heart attack right in his office, and there was no one in the entire building of health specialists who could do anything for her! She had to wait 40 minutes for an ambulance, which then transported her to a Kaiser hospital where she waited another hour! The joys of modern healthcare!

Marty