For Giving Tuesday: How much was your bone marrow biopsy?

On Giving Tuesday, I got the bill for my bone marrow aspiration and biopsy. Looks like I'll be giving a few hundred bucks to the pathology center in the near future!

While I realize that ET is one of the cheaper forms of cancer because it doesn't involve chemo infusions, radiation, or many oral meds (heck, I just take aspirin for mine), "cheap" in Cancer World is a relative term.

As researchers look for the elusive cures for these diseases, maybe somebody should be taking a good hard look at ways to control the costs of diagnosing and treating cancers, or at least providing some price comparisons for procedures and diagnostics so you know if you're getting ripped off.

So here's the breakdown on my test:

$20 -- decalcification procedure
$225 --flow cytometry interpretation
$141 -- bone marrow interpretation
$160 -- surgical pathology
$35 -- blood smear interpretation
$213 -- bone marrow biopsy
$169 -- bone marrow aspiration
--------
$963 total

My Obamacare insurance paid two-thirds of these costs (and I'm grateful for it). But it's hard for me to understand why a test that's done in the doctor's office that took 10 minutes, some Lidocaine, Betadine, a large needle, and a big bandaid costs this much money.

And, while I realize these tests are important and necessary, a transaction that is basically, "Lie down and let us stick this needle through your ass and into your hip bone, yup, you've got cancer, that'll be a thousand dollars, please" tends to leave you feeling a little disgruntled and used.

So how did my price stack up? Here's what I found:

A Google search shows that a bone marrow biopsy at Johns Hopkins costs over $6,000. Someone else complained his biopsy was over $8,000.

A Web site called MDSave has a map that lists the cost of a bone marrow aspiration and biopsy for about $1,200 at three sites around Oklahoma/Arkansas (no idea how up-to-date or comprehensive this site is, so not recommending it).

Healthcare Bluebook purports to list "fair prices" for various procedures. The physician's fee only is listed on this site and is $323. The pathologist's cut of the total expenses on my bone marrow biopsy and aspiration was $382, so fairly reasonable.

Another site, DoveMed, whose mission is to be the primary source of medical info and has doctors vet the info offered, gives a good overview of bone marrow tests, but fails to list a cost, pointing out that:

The cost of Bone Marrow Aspiration & Biopsy procedure depends on a variety of factors, such as the type of your health insurance, annual deductibles, co-pay requirements, out-of-network and in-network of your healthcare providers and healthcare facilities.In many cases, an estimate may be provided before the procedure. The final amount depends upon the findings during the surgery/procedure and post-operative care that is necessary.

Bottom line: I probably got a pretty good deal on my bone marrow price. But it's very difficult for patients to find out upfront what their out-of-pocket costs will be for various procedures.

It's not Giving Tuesday anymore, but I plan to give my legislators an e-mail suggesting that more transparency in medical pricing would be a good thing!

Be well!

Read about my bone marrow procedure

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