Bill Of The Month: A Tale Of 2 CT Scanners — One Richer, One Poorer
Sometimes it’s not which medical procedure you get, but where you have it done that makes all the difference in the cost, even within a single ZIP code.
Benjamin Hynden, a financial adviser in Fort Myers, Fla., recently underwent two CT scans of his abdomen, a few months apart, as doctors tried to figure out why he was having pain in his abdomen.
He got the first scan at a stand-alone imaging center his doctor recommended. The findings were inconclusive, and the bill was $268.
The second CT scan, taken a few months later at his local hospital, was also inconclusive. The listed price for the imaging this time: $8,897.
It was the same kind of scanner, Hynden tells NPR health reporter Alison Kodjak. "It was the exact same test."
As part of our “Bill of the Month” series with Kaiser Health News, an independent news service of the Kaiser Family Foundation, Kodjak dug into both bills and talked to medical billing specialists to get to the bottom of the disparity.
Kodjak’s story has the details, which have to do with hospital consolidation and other trends in health care that are pushing up prices. She also shares some tips on how you can have more choice in what you pay.
Have an outrageous medical bill you’d like us to examine? Please let us know – we may use it, with your permission, in an upcoming story.
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| Sen. Tammy Duckworth takes the stage at the Democratic National Convention in 2016. This month she became the first senator to give birth while in office. Alex Wong/Getty Images |
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Sen. Duckworth Presses Senate To Allow Her To Bring Baby To Votes
It’s been less than a week since Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth became the first U.S. Senator to give birth while in office, but already she’s looking into ways to make the Senate an easier place for new parents to do their jobs.
First goal, among several proposals: Change or bend a rule that keeps her from bringing her baby to the floor of the Senate during votes.
"As tough as juggling the demands of motherhood and being a senator can be, I'm hardly alone or unique as a working parent," Duckworth said in a written announcement of the birth, "and my children only make me more committed to doing my job and standing up for hardworking families everywhere."
The U.S. House of Representatives doesn’t have the same restriction, reporter Emmarie Huetteman reminds us in a Shots post this week.
“Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., brought along her then-7-year-old son, who has Down syndrome, as the House passed legislation in 2014 to help those with disabilities and their families save money for their care,” Hutteman writes.
"My kids, and having all three of them while serving in the House, have made me a better legislator," says McMorris Rodgers. "Being a mom makes politics real."
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| Dr. Katie Merriam, an OB-GYN resident in Charlotte, N.C., says she loves her mostly female work environment but also appreciates having male colleagues. Alex Olgin/WFAE |
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Male OB-GYNs Are Rare, But Is That A Problem?
Among practicing OB-GYNs in the U.S., a little fewer than half are men.
But the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists predicts that within another decade, two-thirds of the doctors in that specialty will be female; relatively few young men are entering the field.
Should we worry?
WFAE reporter Alex Olgin asked doctors and patients at medical schools in the Carolinas and got a mixed response.
Dr. Ashlyn Savage, an associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, tells Olgin that men, who at one time dominated the field, are now at some schools considered a diversity hire.
“But Savage questions whether balancing the number of men and women in the specialty is as important as racial or ethnic diversity,” Olgin tells us.
"The interesting thing to me," Savage says, "is the primary motivation to [seek a diverse candidate pool] is so that patients have the opportunity to seek out physicians who might ... feel like themselves. In this particular case ... all of the patients for OB-GYNs are women."
Not so fast. As several NPR listeners wrote in to say, and as Shots has noted before, transmale patients often see OB-GYNs for gynecological cancers or other health issues, and may or may not prefer a cisgender woman as their health care provider. Excellent point.
Many thanks, to each and all of you who take the time each week to write and share your perspective and experience. Your voices are vital -- and we’re listening.
Your Shots Editor, Deborah Franklin
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