Health care — and how much it costs — is scary. But you’re not alone with this stuff, and knowledge is power. “An Arm and a Leg” is a podcast about these issues, and is co-produced by KFF Health News.
An $88 “observation room” fee for a checkup didn’t sit right with Kari Greene, an “Arm and a Leg” listener from Oregon. When the price went up to $99 the next year, Kari complained to her benefits representative, who thought it was weird, too — but couldn’t do anything about it. In states like Connecticut and Indiana, legislators have passed bills restricting these so-called “facility fees.
” In this episode of “An Arm and a Leg,” host Dan Weissmann takes a close look at Kari’s bill, alongside Christine Monahan, an attorney and assistant research professor focused on facility fees and state efforts to limit them. Hey there– Kari Greene lives in Portland. She’s got a couple of auto-immune disorders– mostly under control these days.
She sees her rheumatologist a couple times a year — just to check in. And last year she noticed a charge on top of the $40 copay she was used to. $88 for an “observation room fee.
” She says she called her insurance. She says they promised to investigate, but Kari never heard back. Eventually, she paid the bill and moved on with her life.
After Kari’s appointment at the start of this year, the fee was there again. But instead of $88, now it was $99. Kari was pissed.
She still is. Now they want a hundred buc.