The reason that “incidental” appendectomy is not usually billed for is that insurances will not pay for it. Traditionally, if surgery was done in that area, the appendix was also removed so that if further problems arose, appendicitis would not be missed because of an assumption that a scar was due to appendectomy. Also, preventative care undertaken by the military is different from that covered by other insurances. Preventative wisdom tooth extraction is not covered under most health plans unless there is a medical reason for it. Therefore please put me on the side on not having insurance pay for a purely elective procedure. Circumcision is elective and whether done in the hospital or during a religious ceremony, IMO the parents should pay.
I was under the impression (although I have no cite to hand) that people who are about to set off to Antartica in order to work there for several months often have their appendix removed beforehand, even though it is perfectly healthy.
The reason being that they may develop appendicitis out there. If the appendix were to burst (and they develop peritonitis), they would not be able to make it back to a hospital in time and could die.
In this case it is justifiable removing a healthy appendix (in terms of cost/benefit analysis).
Apart from exceptional circumstances such as this, I think they tend to leave appendices alone on the basis that “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”.
I’ve been waiting for Female circumcision to come up, but it’s taking a while. Is it conceivable for this monstrous procedure to be made legal, let alone be paid for by medicare (in Canada) or insurance? No. It is horrific, I don’t care who’s culture’s toes I’m stepping on. Male circumcision is seen horrific, too, by some people, including doctors (there’s even a group called Doctors Against Circumcision). Have you ever seen a photo of a baby getting circumcised- or the real thing? It’s only logical that it will reduce pleasure later on (for him and his partner)- millions of sensitive nerve endings are being removed.
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Let’s just keep in mind that Africa is a CONTINENT, not one massive country. Policy and beliefs vary enough from state to state, let alone from Egypt to Somalia.
(Of course by “who’s” I meant “whose”. Natch.)
So if everyone around here agrees that it shouldn’t be covered… why do most private insurance plans (and some Medicare) pay for it?
Because they didn’t consult us… 
Zev Steinhardt
Yeah, but it seems like insurance companies are always looking for ways to cut costs. This is an obvious one.
I looked on the web to see how much it costs, and this site says “HCIA-Sachs reports that the total cost of an in-hospital non-therapeutic neonatal circumcision in the United States has risen from $1154 in 1992 to $1869 in 1999, an increase of 62%”
That’s a lot of money!
Hmmm… maybe it’s not so much. Another web site says "Average circumcision fees in each of ACOG’s nine geographical districts range from $204 in the middle-Atlantic states to $98 in the West. " This doesn’t have a date on it so maybe it’s old info, or maybe the other site was including costs of staying in the hospital during the proceedure.
Even so, in my experience insurance companies fight tooth and nail over every penny, so why do they willingly pay this?
It sounds like one is the hospital charge for supplies, room, disposal of the foreskin, etc, while the lower figure is for the doctor who actually does the procedure. Most doctors are not hospital employees; they belong to private practices and can bill accordingly.
Insurance companies pay for this because there’s a demand for the procedure, and because they’ve always covered it. Just because circumcision has been declared unnecessary doesn’t mean people don’t want to have it done. In any case, if you think insurance companies pay $2K for this, you’re nuts. The actual figure is a LOT less, because it’s based on “reasonable and customary” charges.
I also found out that my insurance company will cover routine circumcision done on an outpatient basis. Maybe I’ll submit the bill for my son’s bris. 
Robin
Medicare should not pay for circumcision. The doctors should work for tips.