It’s looking like lumbar ADR isn’t shaking out to be a viable option. My surgeon said there have been some problems with implant failures as they bear pretty much full body weight. The cervical ones, OTOH, only bear the weight of your head - about 10 pounds. Interestingly, my insurance company willfully coves cervical ADR, but denies all lumbar ADR as “investigational.”
Last I looked, Blue Cross won’t have anything to do with artificial discs. As it is, the insurance I had last year (United Health Care) decided to cover cervical ADR only as of October 1, triggering a slightly frantic change of plans as I was originally slated for an ACDF (fusion) but my insurance changed to Blue Cross at the start of the new year.
As for how much, I don’t know yet, but the hospital has submitted charges of more than $56,000 to UHC, and nothing has come in yet for the surgeon or anaesthesiologist. I’ve asked for a detailed statement because I just can’t imagine how it comes to be more than $8,000 per hour.
I just looked now, and it does look like Blue Cross / Anthem is starting to cover cervical ADR in some states: http://sites.synthes.com/na/prodisc/Patients/WorkinWithYourInsurer/Pages/Are-you-covered.aspx
The hospital just sent me the detailed billing. :eek: :eek:
The surgeons’ fees came to $7400, plus $2100 for the anaestheologist. Add that to the just shy of $51,000 for the hospital, and it comes to $60,500. Needless to say, I’m very happy that United Health Care started covering cervical ADR as of last October. Before we even got to the point of deciding on ADR or ACDF, there was also roughly $10,000 of diagnostics - MRIs, plain x-rays, steroid injections, nerve conduction tests, etc., so in round numbers, this adventure was billed out at $70,000.
I recall seeing somewhere in the past that a person could do a little medical tourism and pay about $35,000 total, including a short vacation in Germany, for this if their insurance won’t cover it at all. You may be able to negotiate a “cash - no insurance” deal for about the same, if you don’t feel like traveling, but you’d have to do a bunch of calling around to hospitals and doctors to find ones willing to bargain.
Details, details… The device itself was $18,317.25, plus $322.40 for the burr used to mill out the “keel” slots that anchor the implant into the vertebrae. It’s astonishing to read through all the charges. Apparently, I was in the recovery room for 165 minutes, billed at $14.52 per minute. But, if they describe it as the Post Anaesthesia Care Unit, then it sounds like a bargain, no?
You can fly to Germany and have this same procedure (with an arguably better artificial disk) for under $10,000. The figures that gotpasswords cites only reflect the pure insanity of the American system of health insurance which has resulted in astronomical increases in health care unrelated to the actual costs incurred by the hospitals, doctors, etc. We have to pay for those insurance company CEOs $12 million annual bonuses somehow I guess.