Updated: $1300 ultrasound bill- is this normal?
Hi everyone! Just wanted to update you now that we have sorted everything out. Original post is below.
Yes, the hospital we were referred to by our clinic was in network. We were billed for an abdominal as well as transvaginal ultrasound. The rate they charged, $1300, is well above the national standard rate. We argued that an abdominal ultrasound was pointless to do at this early stage (6 weeks), and that they should have only performed the transvaginal ultrasound.
The clinic that referred us was surprised to hear what we were charged and told us they would bring it up in their next meeting so that other people wouldn't find themselves in our position.
My husband was relentless with the billing department at the hospital. After many emails back and forth they agreed to offer us a 50% discount. Our bill is now just under $400; still crazy expensive in my opinion, but much, MUCH better than $800.
Finally, I just got another bill for an ultrasound that was done later from our clinic. $35 after insurance, $200 before.
Lesson learned: never assume rates at different providers will be similar and ask, ask, ask before anything is done. We would have gladly driven back a different day for a $200 ultrasound that provided the same information as the $1300 one.
Thanks for all your comments. Hopefully no one else will end up in this predicament!
Original Post:
I just got a bill for $800 for an ultrasound I had about eight weeks ago. Yikes!!! The bill was $1300, but insurance knocked it down a bit. My doctor wanted an ultrasound to establish viability after my previous two miscarriages. The tech at my clinic wasn't in, so the doc gave me a referral for the hospital. This was a transvaginal ultrasound at six weeks that lasted all of five minutes. We saw the heartbeat (yay!) and that was that. Just wondering if anyone else has had this kind of sticker shock? I've had several ultrasounds before and they were all covered almost completely by insurance. 😕
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