Why a hospital billed $1,877 for an ear piercing
When Margaret O’Neill brought her 5-year-old daughter to Children’s Hospital Colorado in Aurora for an outpatient procedure to snip some tissue around her tongue, the surgeon made an unusual offer to pierce her ears while she was under anesthesia.
O’Neill assumed it would be free. Instead, she received a bill for $1,877 for “operating room services” related to the piercing that her insurer wouldn’t cover. When O’Neill complained, the hospital and the surgeon, Peggy Kelley, MD, told her to either pay up or the bill would be sent to collections.
Situations like these, ProPublica reported, are part of the reason why healthcare has become so expensive.
“Providers are getting constant messages from superiors or partners to maximize revenue,” said Vikas Saini, MD, president of the Lown Institute, a non-profit organization focused on medical overuse and underuse. “In this system we have, that’s not a crime. That’s business as usual.”
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John joined TriMed in 2016, focusing on healthcare policy and regulation. After graduating from Columbia College Chicago, he worked at FM News Chicago and Rivet News Radio, and worked on the state government and politics beat for the Illinois Radio Network. Outside of work, you may find him adding to his never-ending graphic novel collection.