frozen yogurt in a small bowl is now $13

Measured w same methodology as European inflation, US core PCE is currently under 2%.

Price levels absolutely are brutal. Even during Volkers reign price levels were up close to 60%.

Inflation is slowing quite quickly and we're likely headed for a disinflationary recession.

Anyone wanna guess what a 45 minute visit to the ER for no tests and 4 staples cost us* tonight?

Medical costs were cartoonishly high already. But think they've dramatically outpaced 19%

BenTheGoodAg said:

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Anyone wanna guess what a 45 minute visit to the ER for no tests and 4 staples cost us* tonight?

Medical costs were cartoonishly high already. But think they've dramatically outpaced 19%

---

Enough that you're probably thinking next time a trip to Walmart for a staple gun is worth a shot first.

BenTheGoodAg said:

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Anyone wanna guess what a 45 minute visit to the ER for no tests and 4 staples cost us* tonight?

Medical costs were cartoonishly high already. But think they've dramatically outpaced 19%

---

$1,500?

Other half visited the in-network ENT earlier this week. 40 min visit to hear them say she probably needs an outpatient surgery and to remove wax from one of her ears.

$980.

Gah, that's the truth.

They said we owed 10% tonight, so $1050 of our $10,500 bill. Of course there will be some insurance processing and we won't pay that amount in the end on this one visit. But ****, that's criminal.

And that's just the hospitals fee. Doesn't include whatever else they try to slip in there.

BenTheGoodAg said:

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Gah, that's the truth.

They said we owed 10% tonight, so $1050 of our $10,500 bill. Of course there will be some insurance processing and we won't pay that amount in the end on this one visit. But ****, that's criminal.

And that's just the hospitals fee. Doesn't include whatever else they try to slip in there.

---

And still, I don't know the hospital you went to , but there is a good chance that it is struggling financially.

Your outrageous bill helps makes up for the losses that the hospital is sucking up on medicare/medicaid/uninsured patients. 10 million or so illegal immigrants over the past few years don't really help much either.

BenTheGoodAg said:

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Anyone wanna guess what a 45 minute visit to the ER for no tests and 4 staples cost us* tonight?

Medical costs were cartoonishly high already. But think they've dramatically outpaced 19%

---

That cost me around $900 with insurance in College station back in 2017

I had a 30 min colonoscopy procedure; two doctors and three nurses. Hospital billed $8200.
Medicare and I paid a total of $335. None of these numbers make sense. Explanation was "contracts."

We hit the 9K out of pocket max every year. Get put on an expensive drug or treatment and what you pay for anything is irrelevant. Gonna hit max out of pocket every, single, year

Some times the drug company pays some or all of the out of pocket max on our behalf but there's no way to know till January so you gotta plan for it

BenTheGoodAg said:

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Anyone wanna guess what a 45 minute visit to the ER for no tests and 4 staples cost us* tonight?

Medical costs were cartoonishly high already. But think they've dramatically outpaced 19%

---

My sense is the ER is going to try to charge at least what is remaining on your deductible.

At least 30% for me.

3.4%? People believe this?

https://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm

Deflationary period Based on what?

Went to CFA with my 2 adult kids and spent $40 on 3 meals. That's crazy!

McDonalds exec on CNBC today stating their prices have had to increase 40% since 2019

halfastros81 said:

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Deflationary period Based on what?

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Deflation is possible I suppose in the realm of maybes....but I highly doubt it.

Disinflation, when I posted at the time, is the trend I thought we'd stay on. Following the Truflation metric, last April we were just under 5% and at the time I posted, 2.5% - It looked like we were going lower but the trend has flattened for all of May implying stagflation. The relative strength of the job market had been something the Fed could hide behind on their rate prognostications (Powell doesn't want to cut in my opinion). Powell essentially drew a line in the sand of 4% UE where he said he would look at easing if we hit that mark. Unless a whole lot more people drop out of the labor market, we're going to get to 4% pretty soon as far as I can tell.

Then, we'll have to see if the job losses are more disinflationary than the Fed stimulus response (rate cuts).

Ok. I misunderstood you . Didn't read your words carefully enough . My bad.

jamey said:

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We hit the 9K out of pocket max every year. Get put on an expensive drug or treatment and what you pay for anything is irrelevant. Gonna hit max out of pocket every, single, year

Some times the drug company pays some or all of the out of pocket max on our behalf but there's no way to know till January so you gotta plan for it

---

Well, you may not want to hear this, but it's hardly irrelevant. It's very relevant to me and others, as we are part of the risk pool that has to subsidize the rest of your annual medical expenses. You have no disincentive to spend on medical issues, and that's fine, because that's how the flawed system works. To make it less personal, it's relevant when:

- An uninsured person goes to the emergency room for a scratched knee ...
- The hospital does X-rays and draws blood for that person, knowing they will not get paid for it, because ...
- The hospital is worried about being sued for missing something, but ...
- The hospital/doctor gets sued anyway for some other sort of malpractice, and ...
- Their insurance rates go up even further ...
- Causing my zero-claim self to have to pay ever-higher premiums.

I know a hospital CEO, who told me years ago that every time someone visits their emergency room, it costs them $5000-6000 before even dispensing treatment. I can't imagine the costs have declined in the past few years.

Here's a secret: We have socialized medicine in this country. No one is turned away at a hospital if they can't pay. We just don't call it socialized medicine. I think we should fundamentally re-think the medical system of this country, and there is enough money in the system to make it happen. Obamacare was flawed, but can be re-worked to make sense, providing a basic health safety net for all, and bringing back some semblance of rationality for basic care, while offering optional higher levels of care for those willing to pay for it. This will involve politicians getting off their high horse, and turning their backs on lobbyists for big pharmas, hospitals, trial lawyers, insurance companies, and the like, so it will probably never happen.

I bleed maroon said:

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jamey said:

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We hit the 9K out of pocket max every year. Get put on an expensive drug or treatment and what you pay for anything is irrelevant. Gonna hit max out of pocket every, single, year

Some times the drug company pays some or all of the out of pocket max on our behalf but there's no way to know till January so you gotta plan for it

---

Well, you may not want to hear this, but it's hardly irrelevant. It's very relevant to me and others, as we are part of the risk pool that has to subsidize the rest of your annual medical expenses. You have no disincentive to spend on medical issues, and that's fine, because that's how the flawed system works. To make it less personal, it's relevant when:

- An uninsured person goes to the emergency room for a scratched knee ...
- The hospital does X-rays and draws blood for that person, knowing they will not get paid for it, because ...
- The hospital is worried about being sued for missing something, but ...
- The hospital/doctor gets sued anyway for some other sort of malpractice, and ...
- Their insurance rates go up even further ...
- Causing my zero-claim self to have to pay ever-higher premiums.

I know a hospital CEO, who told me years ago that every time someone visits their emergency room, it costs them $5000-6000 before even dispensing treatment. I can't imagine the costs have declined in the past few years.

Here's a secret: We have socialized medicine in this country. No one is turned away at a hospital if they can't pay. We just don't call it socialized medicine. I think we should fundamentally re-think the medical system of this country, and there is enough money in the system to make it happen. Obamacare was flawed, but can be re-worked to make sense, providing a basic health safety net for all, and bringing back some semblance of rationality for basic care, while offering optional higher levels of care for those willing to pay for it. This will involve politicians getting off their high horse, and turning their backs on lobbyists for big pharmas, hospitals, trial lawyers, insurance companies, and the like, so it will probably never happen.

---

The hospitals treat the patient because they're required to. Don't feel too bad for them, as they make 2-3x in reimbursement vs. a private practice because of their hospital status. This is the give and take of providing indigent care.

In the grand scheme, that's the bigger issue. Cost of care at a hospital is huge and they're typically a bloated mess. To your point, if we just expanded the coverage for indigent/uninsured patients and instituted payment neutrality (where the reimbursement is the same no matter the site of service) it would bring down total costs.

The system now is a series of bandaids and it's a convoluted mess. That's all by design.

northeastag said:

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BenTheGoodAg said:

---

Gah, that's the truth.

They said we owed 10% tonight, so $1050 of our $10,500 bill. Of course there will be some insurance processing and we won't pay that amount in the end on this one visit. But ****, that's criminal.

And that's just the hospitals fee. Doesn't include whatever else they try to slip in there.

---

And still, I don't know the hospital you went to , but there is a good chance that it is struggling financially.

Your outrageous bill helps makes up for the losses that the hospital is sucking up on medicare/medicaid/uninsured patients. 10 million or so illegal immigrants over the past few years don't really help much either.

---

Recently got my bill for my ER visit 2 weeks ago.
IV, some pain meds in the drip, and a CT scan.

Hospital billed over $14K. Unreal

Make them send you to collections. Dispute every bill.

That's a great suggestion if you want medical costs to go even higher.

Surprise: My auto policy renewal notice for June 24-25 arrived. I have comp, collision and $300,000 liability. No coverage change in decades. Premium for renewal increased exactly $1. It went from $1400 to $1401. And, 9 months ago I bought a new car with book value over twice that of my trade-in. Insco did not increase my premium when I reported the trade. No tickets or at-fault accidents in decades.

Sims said:

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Measured w same methodology as European inflation, US core PCE is currently under 2%.

Price levels absolutely are brutal. Even during Volkers reign price levels were up close to 60%.

Inflation is slowing quite quickly and we're likely headed for a disinflationary recession.

---

PCE just reported over 2% today

Yeah, in our terms. My point was if you include the same metrics as how the EU does it. Essentially, CPI doesn't consider rural populations and the price pressures they're facing.

A lot of inflation is in metros related to housing, transportation, fuel, tax burden etc. You don't see that to the same degree as rural populations.

So for a lot of the country, CPI/PCE are measuring (or attempting to measure) their economic realities. For the rest, a much larger group by land mass at least, CPI ignores what I think is an economy that is slowing and more depressed than what is seen in urban areas.

And if you have decent insurance, you likely shouldn't pay anywhere near that.

A hospital ER also has significantly higher overhead than a private practice office. It makes no sense to reimburse those different sites of service the same amount.

You're correct. ER is always going to be billed at a higher rate. That doesn't mean that those costs couldn't be reduced if they weren't being compensated for uninsured patients.

the 2-3x I was referring to is what a hospital makes is on outpatient vs private practice/ASC (and that's a conservative estimate)

There's a reason why a lot of outpatient procedures are being moved to ASC's.

Pro tip: call and ask for a cash discount if you owe a decent amount.

Last week I called and got a 50% discount on a surgery my daughter had.

Also did the same for all 3 kids' deliveries

Captain Winky said:

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And if you have decent insurance, you likely shouldn't pay anywhere near that.

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About $1,500

strbrst777 said:

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I had a 30 min colonoscopy procedure; two doctors and three nurses. Hospital billed $8200.
Medicare and I paid a total of $335. None of these numbers make sense. Explanation was "contracts."

---

Back before bidenflation, I had an episode in which I was not aware of what was going on as it was going on, and almost no memory of my visit to the emergency room and the tests run on me. Don't remember even the faces of the doctors or nurses.

The total bill came in at around $10,000. Don't know if that is high or low as I do not understand what the named procedures involved nor the going rate. Shortly before I got the hospital bill, I got a letter from my insurance folks (I think I was on a Medicare Advantage plan at the time) and they instructed me not to pay the bill, that all I owed was $65. A couple of days later I got a revised bill from the hospital for $65.