Cost of pap smear

I just got my annual bill for a pap smear, around $300. Doesn't that
seem high?

~*~*~*Amy mailto:williamson@shaklee.net~*~*~
Save a Tree, Save our Planet, Recycle, Think Organic
http://www.shaklee.net/williamson
________________
Thought of the day:
Use your MasterCard to pay your Visa bill.

"AWilliamson" <see_address_in_reply@invalid.com> wrote in message
news:k885v2do4i9mq2s83vad1ieifoj5g146tb@4ax.com...
>I just got my annual bill for a pap smear, around $300. Doesn't that
> seem high?
>
> ~*~*~*Amy mailto:williamson@shaklee.net~*~*~
> Save a Tree, Save our Planet, Recycle, Think Organic
> http://www.shaklee.net/williamson

Sorry, can't help you there. Being Canadian, I haven't had to pay a cent out
of pocket for healthcare, my taxes are high compared to the US but at least
I don't have to worry about where the $$$'s are coming from to pay the docs
& hospitals.

We have to wait for appts but surprisingly, a friend who works in a Chicago
area dermatology clinic told me she has people calling up very irate that
she can't book them in ASAP, and sometimes the wait is 3 mos to see the
special doc. I thought there weren't any wait times in the US.

Roseanne

In article <k885v2do4i9mq2s83vad1ieifoj5g146tb@4ax.com>,
AWilliamson <see_address_in_reply@invalid.com> wrote:

> I just got my annual bill for a pap smear, around $300. Doesn't that
> seem high?

I have no idea what one would cost, since my insurance has always
covered it.

Priscilla

In article <k0DIh.862$Sm.238@read1.cgocable.net>,
"foggydoggy" <foggydoggy@cogeco.ca> wrote:

> We have to wait for appts but surprisingly, a friend who works in a Chicago
> area dermatology clinic told me she has people calling up very irate that
> she can't book them in ASAP, and sometimes the wait is 3 mos to see the
> special doc. I thought there weren't any wait times in the US.

Ha! Who told you that?

Priscilla

foggydoggy wrote the following on 3/10/2007 1:44 PM:

> We have to wait for appts but surprisingly, a friend who works in a Chicago
> area dermatology clinic told me she has people calling up very irate that
> she can't book them in ASAP, and sometimes the wait is 3 mos to see the
> special doc. I thought there weren't any wait times in the US.

It can depend on your health plan. I've had waits with my HMO that rival
anything I've heard about it countries with national health plans -- and
we pay high premiums and co-pays for it. When my daughter blew out her
knee it took over three months to schedule surgery. She got it that soon
only because someone had just canceled an appointment for an MRI before I
called, so she didn't have to wait six weeks for that. And it took 20
months for her split tendon to be repaired.

Karen R.

"Karen R." <krez56@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:AuHIh.11349$tD2.5624@newsread1.news.pas.earth link.net...
> foggydoggy wrote the following on 3/10/2007 1:44 PM:
>
>> We have to wait for appts but surprisingly, a friend who works in a
>> Chicago area dermatology clinic told me she has people calling up very
>> irate that she can't book them in ASAP, and sometimes the wait is 3 mos
>> to see the special doc. I thought there weren't any wait times in the US.
>
> It can depend on your health plan. I've had waits with my HMO that rival
> anything I've heard about it countries with national health plans -- and
> we pay high premiums and co-pays for it. When my daughter blew out her
> knee it took over three months to schedule surgery. She got it that soon
> only because someone had just canceled an appointment for an MRI before I
> called, so she didn't have to wait six weeks for that. And it took 20
> months for her split tendon to be repaired.
>
> Karen R.

We Canadians are always complaining about wait times and somehow the media
drums into us that Americans don't have to wait as long for
surgeries,MRI,CT's etc...and that's why private healthcare is better than
national healthcare.

When I go over the border I see MRI clinics in the strip malls. All our
MRI's are in hospitals and there's only so many of them and unless it's
urgent you're often waiting for months.I'm surprised that your daughter
would had to wait 6 wks for an MRI. Over here, for a knee problem that acute
she would have been put to the top of the list and it would have never taken
20 months for her tendon to be repaired.

Roseanne

foggydoggy wrote the following on 3/10/2007 7:05 PM:

> When I go over the border I see MRI clinics in the strip malls. All our
> MRI's are in hospitals and there's only so many of them and unless it's
> urgent you're often waiting for months.

It depends on your healthcare plan. My mother is on Medicare and if one
of her specialists orders an MRI she can go to one of those stripmall
places and get one within a few days. But my HMO has one MRI for the
entire region, so we have to wait months and travel 25 miles (past many
closer MRI places) if one is needed.

> I'm surprised that your daughter would had to wait 6 wks for an MRI.
> Over here, for a knee problem that acute she would have been put to
> the top of the list and it would have never taken 20 months for her
> tendon to be repaired.

Acute doesn't matter with my HMO unless it is life threatening. As long
as she could get around on crutches there was no rush. They are very good
with most health conditions, but there is no rush to fix quality of life
stuff, and a young athlete who can not longer participate in her sport is
considered a quality of life issue.

The tendon probably would have been repaired a lot sooner, but she got
stuck with a podiatrist who was convinced she had simple tendonitis, and
staying off of it would heal her. He scoffed at her when she told him it
felt as if something had torn in her foot. She went through 18 months of
casts, crutches, and PT before we were able to make a case that she be
referred to someone else.

Okay, I can see going through that once, *maybe* twice, but after that he
should have admitted that it wasn't just tendonitis. The other doctor
ordered some tests (the first refused to) and then referred her out of
the plan to a doctor who realized that surgery was called for. Because he
was out of plan and did the surgery at the local hospital, she didn't
have to wait another 2-3 months after it was decided that surgery was
needed to actually have it. More like two weeks.

Anyway, he discovered that a muscle was in the wrong place, had pushed
the tendon out of place and irritated it to the point where the tendon
split lengthwise. The muscle was removed, the tendon repaired and
re-shaped, and she went back into a cast for six more weeks. Almost a
year later she is good as new, but did not go back to her sport after
such a long absence. She coaches now, instead.

Karen R.

Hi All,

I've been lurking in this newsgroup for a short while and am very impressed
with the quality of information and support given to posters. I'm from Oz
and I thought I might just throw in my 2 cents in regard to the discussion
about the cost of health care and which system is better.

Like Canada and the UK, we have a national health system down here too, and
all tax payers contribute a fixed percentage of their wage, the "Medicare
levy" towards maintaining the cost of the system. One is able to take out
additional private insurance, and those who earn over a certain amount are
actually charged a higher Medicare levy if they elect not to use private
cover. This arrangement works quite well. Those only in the public system
may have a considerable wait for elective surgery, but this seems to vary
according to availability of beds. Those with private cover usually have
very little or no waiting time for surgery/procedures etc. If public waiting
lists start getting too long, then the Government will inject extra funds
and effectively get them much shorter.

I believe this type of system is the best way to go. Yes, we certainly pay
higher taxes, but it seems unless people are actually forced to take out
health insurance, then many will just take their chances and not bother.
Someone quoted 46 million Americans as not having health insurance. Surely
if they were all contributing (even if it is only a small amount) then this
would help relieve some of the burden for those who are paying for their
health cover? The larger the insurance funding base is, the cheaper the
premiums and the fairer the insurance plans, don't you think?

As health care costs become more expensive with increasing use of
technology, then sooner or later, you have to bite the bullet and introduce
laws that require people pay some form of health insurance. It is really no
different from having to pay taxes as almost everyone will require health
care at some time in their life.

Regards, Maree


"foggydoggy" <foggydoggy@cogeco.ca> wrote in message
news:XIHIh.869$Sm.371@read1.cgocable.net...
>
> "Karen R." <krez56@gmail.com> wrote in message
> news:AuHIh.11349$tD2.5624@newsread1.news.pas.earth link.net...
>> foggydoggy wrote the following on 3/10/2007 1:44 PM:
>>
>>> We have to wait for appts but surprisingly, a friend who works in a
>>> Chicago area dermatology clinic told me she has people calling up very
>>> irate that she can't book them in ASAP, and sometimes the wait is 3 mos
>>> to see the special doc. I thought there weren't any wait times in the
>>> US.
>>
>> It can depend on your health plan. I've had waits with my HMO that rival
>> anything I've heard about it countries with national health plans -- and
>> we pay high premiums and co-pays for it. When my daughter blew out her
>> knee it took over three months to schedule surgery. She got it that soon
>> only because someone had just canceled an appointment for an MRI before I
>> called, so she didn't have to wait six weeks for that. And it took 20
>> months for her split tendon to be repaired.
>>
>> Karen R.
>
> We Canadians are always complaining about wait times and somehow the media
> drums into us that Americans don't have to wait as long for
> surgeries,MRI,CT's etc...and that's why private healthcare is better than
> national healthcare.
>
> When I go over the border I see MRI clinics in the strip malls. All our
> MRI's are in hospitals and there's only so many of them and unless it's
> urgent you're often waiting for months.I'm surprised that your daughter
> would had to wait 6 wks for an MRI. Over here, for a knee problem that
> acute she would have been put to the top of the list and it would have
> never taken 20 months for her tendon to be repaired.
>
> Roseanne
>

On Mar 10, 4:51 pm, Priscilla Ballou <vze23...@verizon.net> wrote:
> In article <k885v2do4i9mq2s83vad1ieifoj5g14...@4ax.com>,
>
> AWilliamson <see_address_in_re...@invalid.com> wrote:
> > I just got my annual bill for a pap smear, around $300. Doesn't that
> > seem high?
>
> I have no idea what one would cost, since my insurance has always
> covered it.

Same here.

Cathy


>
> Priscilla

"maree" <mareelm@bigpond.com.au> wrote in message
news:haMIh.9695$8U4.321@news-server.bigpond.net.au...
> Hi All,
>
> I've been lurking in this newsgroup for a short while and am very
> impressed with the quality of information and support given to posters.
> I'm from Oz and I thought I might just throw in my 2 cents in regard to
> the discussion about the cost of health care and which system is better.

[In Oz, all taxpayers pay a percentage of their wage for healthcare]

> I believe this type of system is the best way to go. Yes, we certainly
> pay higher taxes, but it seems unless people are actually forced to take
> out health insurance, then many will just take their chances and not
> bother. Someone quoted 46 million Americans as not having health
> insurance. Surely if they were all contributing (even if it is only a
> small amount) then this would help relieve some of the burden for those
> who are paying for their health cover? The larger the insurance funding
> base is, the cheaper the premiums and the fairer the insurance plans,
> don't you think?

The reason those 46 million are not contributing is because they can't
afford it. Most Americans with full-time jobs are given health insurance
by their employers, by law. The rest of us have to pay for it, or
piggyback on their spouse's (which is a rant I won't go into here - unfair
to the unmarried, including those who are gay) and it's not cheap. I'm a
freelance musician. The cheapest plan I could find in New York, through my
union, is $4000 a year. That doesn't include any prescription drugs. It's
a huge bite out of my income, but at the age of 50, I'm not going to trust
that I won't ever need it. Someone who can barely pay the bills is not
going to be able to find that kind of money for health insurance.

We would have to overhaul the whole system to get a system like Canada,
England, Australia. I'm in favor of that overhaul. Unfortunately, there
are powerful companies that are opposed to it.

Elissa, who is not loving being 50

--
Q. How long does it take to tune a harp?
A. Nobody knows yet.

In article <haMIh.9695$8U4.321@news-server.bigpond.net.au>,
"maree" <mareelm@bigpond.com.au> wrote:

> Those with private cover usually have
> very little or no waiting time for surgery/procedures etc. If public waiting
> lists start getting too long, then the Government will inject extra funds
> and effectively get them much shorter.

In my experience, waits are caused by too few clinicians of a certain
kind and a high demand for that clinical service. How will an injection
of funds solve wait time problems, unless you're talking long term
investment in the form of getting more people to go into those fields?

Endocrinology, especially specializing in diabetes, is a field that in
the US has FAR too few people going into it relative to the number of
people being diagnosed and needing effective care. I live in Boston,
which is loaded with hospitals and medical schools, and the wait to see
an endocrinologist here can be six months. I'm just glad I do most of
my treatment managing myself, as long as someone will provide my
prescriptions.

Female urologists are another even rarer breed. I needed a urologist a
few years back and I could not find a woman. I asked a uro-gynecologist
if she would see me, and she laughed at me. :-( I ended up with a man
who was OK, but for me it was much more difficult receiving the
treatment I needed from a man.

Priscilla

"Karen R." <krez56@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:g8KIh.11326$Jl.8754@newsread3.news.pas.earthl ink.net...
>
> It depends on your healthcare plan. My mother is on Medicare and if one of
> her specialists orders an MRI she can go to one of those stripmall places
> and get one within a few days. But my HMO has one MRI for the entire
> region, so we have to wait months and travel 25 miles (past many closer
> MRI places) if one is needed.

I had no idea HMO's run that way. I thought you could go to any MRI clinic
as long as the test was approved. We have a choice to go to any hospital's
MRI & choice of any healthcare provider. For instance if there's a specialty
doc you want to see in another city, then no problem, your family doc will
refer you on request.

(snip)

> The tendon probably would have been repaired a lot sooner, but she got
> stuck with a podiatrist who was convinced she had simple tendonitis, and
> staying off of it would heal her. He scoffed at her when she told him it
> felt as if something had torn in her foot. She went through 18 months of
> casts, crutches, and PT before we were able to make a case that she be
> referred to someone else.

I guess that referral had to go through the HMO's approval.And if they
didn't approve it?


> Okay, I can see going through that once, *maybe* twice, but after that he
> should have admitted that it wasn't just tendonitis. The other doctor
> ordered some tests (the first refused to) and then referred her out of the
> plan to a doctor who realized that surgery was called for. Because he was
> out of plan and did the surgery at the local hospital, she didn't have to
> wait another 2-3 months after it was decided that surgery was needed to
> actually have it. More like two weeks.

But if he was out of plan, did you have to pay the costs?

I'm getting interesting insight into the US private medicare system and it's
not all what it's cracked up to be.It appears some of you folks under HMO's
have to wait like us and have little choice of docs/hospitals.The big US
insurance companies are chomping at the bit to get into Canada and I think
they're patiently waiting for our system to crash. However, national
healthcare is sacrosanct here, a major election issue that we have universal
access, rich or poor.Of course, if you're rich you can choose to go cross
border and many Canadians do for MRI's but I'm not sure how many would for
expensive out of pocket surgery such as hip replacement. We're not
accustomed to paying for healthcare. Any government thinking of tampering
with that is commiting political suicide. The closest we'll come to private
care is some provinces allowing private clinics for surgeries such as
cataract,hernia repair etc... minor stuff that can be done out of hospital.

BTW: I've been hearing about "medical tourism", people going to Thailand &
India for surgery. Those hospitals are more like resorts with a 4-5 star
quality of service The medical staff are western trained so the skill you
get is exactly the same as home but the costs are considerably lower. I read
about a man who went to Thailand for a hip replacement and the costs;
airfare for two,the surgery,and a week's stay at a "recovery" resort came up
to something like $12,000. There are companies who specialize in making all
arrangements, no worries, everything taken care of.

Roseanne

> In my experience, waits are caused by too few clinicians of a certain
> kind and a high demand for that clinical service. How will an injection
> of funds solve wait time problems, unless you're talking long term
> investment in the form of getting more people to go into those fields?

Yes of course there can be some considerable wait to see a specialist for a
consultation, especially if that type of specialist is in short supply. But
once a decision is made that surgery is required, then it is usually able to
be done within a timely manner. One example of how an injection of funds
reduced waiting lists is when Veterans' Affairs were able to do a deal with
the private system and all those on a Veterans' pension were able to have
surgery in a private hospital, paid for by DVA (this was only possible with
provision of the required funding from the State). This had a significant
impact on public hospital waiting lists for surgery as a substantial number
of those waiting were elderly needing hip replacements, knee replacements,
etc.

Cheers, Maree

"AWilliamson" <see_address_in_reply@invalid.com> wrote in message
news:k885v2do4i9mq2s83vad1ieifoj5g146tb@4ax.com...
>I just got my annual bill for a pap smear, around $300. Doesn't that
> seem high?

Doesn't cost me for my smear tests. NHS and all that.


--
Jette Goldie
jette@blueyonder.co.uk
http://www.jette.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/
http://wolfette.livejournal.com/
("reply to" is spamblocked - use the email addy in sig)

foggydoggy wrote the following on 3/11/2007 11:29 PM:
> "Karen R." <krez56@gmail.com> wrote

> I had no idea HMO's run that way. I thought you could go to any MRI clinic
> as long as the test was approved.

It probably depends on the HMO. Mine operates its own clinics, labs,
surgical centers, and testing facilities, so we have to use those. I have
heard of cases where it was more of an emergency so the patient was able
to convince them to refer to an outside testing facility. But for the
most part, if they have the testing equipment within a 50 mile radius of
your health center, the patient is required to use that if they want it
covered.

>> The tendon probably would have been repaired a lot sooner, but she got
>> stuck with a podiatrist who was convinced she had simple tendonitis, and
>> staying off of it would heal her. He scoffed at her when she told him it
>> felt as if something had torn in her foot. She went through 18 months of
>> casts, crutches, and PT before we were able to make a case that she be
>> referred to someone else.
>
> I guess that referral had to go through the HMO's approval.And if they
> didn't approve it?

Not only through the HMO, through that particular doctor because he was
the one she had been referred to. Though if he hadn't agreed we would
have had the recourse of filing a complaint or going back to the doctor
who had referred DD to the podiatrist and asking for a referral to
orthopedics instead. That would have been our next step if he had
refused, but it would have added another couple of months to the wait.

>> Okay, I can see going through that once, *maybe* twice, but after that he
>> should have admitted that it wasn't just tendonitis. The other doctor
>> ordered some tests (the first refused to) and then referred her out of the
>> plan to a doctor who realized that surgery was called for.

> But if he was out of plan, did you have to pay the costs?

No, because the referral came from within the HMO. We just had the
standard co-pay of $20 per visit, plus $50 each for the tests (MRI, bone
scan, and CT scan) and the surgery.

Some of the longer delays were for PT. Once it is ordered it takes
between one and two months for the initial evaluation, then another month
to actually start it. Because they are so overbooked we were lucky to get
an appointment once a week, let alone the twice a week that had been
requested on the referral.

All told, between the visits, PT, tests, and surgery, we paid about
$2,000 out of pocket over the two years she was treated for this. It
would have been at least $1,000 less had the doctor taken her claim that
she felt something tear seriously. Our premiums are almost $4,000 a year,
with DH's employer paying the rest. We are in the ever dwindling
population where the employer picks up a big chunk of the premiums. I'm
just grateful that we can afford health care, and could manage the costs.

> I'm getting interesting insight into the US private medicare system and it's
> not all what it's cracked up to be.It appears some of you folks under HMO's
> have to wait like us and have little choice of docs/hospitals.

Yes, that is true. That is why I am stunned when people object to
national health care on the basis of less choice and longer waits. BTDT.

> The big US insurance companies are chomping at the bit to get into
> Canada and I think they're patiently waiting for our system to crash.

That just shows how much of a profit industry health insurance is.

> However, national healthcare is sacrosanct here, a major election
> issue that we have universal access, rich or poor.

That's a good thing.

Karen R.

"foggydoggy" <foggydoggy@cogeco.ca> wrote in
news:dO3Jh.1463$Sm.659@read1.cgocable.net:

> BTW: I've been hearing about "medical tourism", people going to
> Thailand & India for surgery. Those hospitals are more like resorts
> with a 4-5 star quality of service The medical staff are western
> trained so the skill you get is exactly the same as home but the costs
> are considerably lower. I read about a man who went to Thailand for a
> hip replacement and the costs; airfare for two,the surgery,and a
> week's stay at a "recovery" resort came up to something like $12,000.
> There are companies who specialize in making all arrangements, no
> worries, everything taken care of.

When you consider that it costs $500 to $1000 a night to stay in the
hospital *for the bed alone* it's not surprising that for considerably
less money a resort atmosphere could be created.

Chak

--
No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of
policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets.
--Edward Abbey

On Mar 12, 4:55 am, "Jette Goldie" <bossl...@scotlandmail.com> wrote:
>
Here in California, there's a program for low-income women called
Breast Cancer Early Detection. It's free, and you get a pap smear,
breast and pelvic exam, and mammogram. I'm not sure about the income
guidelines--I believe a couple can make over $12,000 a year. If
anyone's interested I can try to get some contact information.
There's a chain of clinics, Del Norte, that has the program, as well
as others I'm sure.
Les





"AWilliamson" <see_address_in_re...@invalid.com> wrote in message
>
> news:k885v2do4i9mq2s83vad1ieifoj5g146tb@4ax.com...
>
> >I just got my annual bill for a pap smear, around $300. Doesn't that
> > seem high?
>
> Doesn't cost me for my smear tests. NHS and all that.
>
> --
> Jette Goldie
> j...@blueyonder.co.ukhttp://www.jette.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/http://wolfette.livejournal.com/
> ("reply to" is spamblocked - use the email addy in sig)