The Nebulizer

I received a bill to day from Home Med Products, Inc in Jackson Tennessee for a Pediatric Penguin Compressor Nebulizer Systems. The bill was for $173.88. I looked up the nebulizer online at many sites such as Amazon and found it to be at most $58.34.

The manager of the billing department said that this was the prices that Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Tennessee agreed to pay for the nebulizer and that is what I had to pay. After a long pause I asked what about if I do not use my insurance and just pay out of pocket.

The billing department manager said it would cost me over $220.00 for this $54.00 product. The billing department manager said that their cost where so high because they will replace it if it breaks.

Most all places I know do this anyway without upping the price. So my question is why am I suppose to pay 3 times more for a product that I can get for $54.oo.

How is this fair?!

How am I in my right mind suppose to pay a bill where the product is more expensive then the rest of the retail world. The billing department manager said "It goes against your deductible. " So what. I would rather the $54.00 go against my deductible then $174.00. This is money out of my pocket. What about people who can barely afford medical insurance and they get hit with this, are they suppose to just let their kids get more sick.

If companies like Home Med Products, Inc in Jackson TN would not up their costs so much then the Insurance people would not have to charge us so much for premiums and maybe everyone could afford health insurance. What a concept.

That's my thought.