For real. It’s been a wild week, medically. You may have noticed that Mr.C has been dominating the blog front. I’ve taken my medical leave seriously, out of necessity.
While we have been an advocate of trimming down insurance expenses to the bare necessities, I must say that I’m so grateful to actually have insurance to help with this whopping bill. When I was quoted $20k as the estimate for the hospital bill for my shoulder procedure, I nearly fell off my chair! This was after I had already spent over $2k on pre-tests, MRIs and a second-opinion. Medical bills in Singapore are insanely expensive.
Let me take you back to 5 years ago, when I first had this problem. I was told to do a MRI, which I found out cost $1,200. I rejected it flat out, even though I would have been covered under insurance. I just thought it was obscene and I’m a healthy individual that does not need medical interventions as this. I though the doctors were over-prescribing and I would heal naturally.
5 years later and a few more recent incidents took place but the crux of the problem remained. I did the dreaded MRI. Oh, a tear. Doc prescribed a litany of procedures. I was skeptical so I went for a second opinion that cost a hefty $200 + $200 for some medication. Looks like the surgery was inevitable. $20,000 though?! I lamented to my insurance agent, and he said:
I felt bad for my insurance company. I slept on the decision for 2 days then decided to go ahead with it. Here I am a week post surgery, totally not enjoying the recovery. The medication makes me feel nauseated and drugged. I have no range of movement yet and my arm is in a sling. Each physiotherapy session costs $180, thank you once again Mr.Insurance. I’m headed back to work tomorrow.
Financially, cost incurred to-date has been appx $23,000. I should be having 2 months of physiotherapy treatments and follow-ups so I think my entire medical jaunt will come up to $25,000. How would we have managed this without insurance, especially when you read about some medical bill shockers in Singapore? Perhaps I’d be a medical tourist 😉 Would you believe it, I found the Skyscanner of medical treatments abroad? This looks like some serious business (no affiliations!) but it does worry me. Where do we find medical advice that is unbiased and based only out of necessity rather than (potentially) being profit motivated?
One Reply to “Ms.K’s $20k Medical Extravaganza”