Surgery prices?!?!?

[ButtPirate John Wayne Gacy]

I live in the U.S. and have a large obnoxious ganglion cyst on my wrist.
I do not have health insurance and don't have a lot of extra money, so
cost is a serious concern. But I am unable to find the price for either
draining it with a needle or surgical removal under anesthetic.

I called one doctor's office and their fist question is was "what kind
of insurance do you have?" When I said I didn't have insurance they
refused to give me a price, saying I would have to come in and have the
doctor evaluate it first (yet the question about insurance made me
believe they had already decided what they were going to charge the
insurance company, regardless of what the procedure was).

So if someone could PLEASE tell me what I might expect to pay a U.S.
doctor to drain the cyst, and if surgery is necessary what that
might cost. I know of no other product or service in the country
whose price is kept a secret until after it is performed, so why
should medicine be any different?

[Ron G]

There is a second way to approach a ganglion cyst.
Doctors used to use the "surgical" approach of having the patient lay their
hand flat on the desk top, and the Dr would slam the big medical reference
book down on it.
This "untwines" the snarled up ganglion cyst.
Other people i know, have used a very tightly streatched bandaid over the
cyst, esp if on the foot, and the pressure of the tight bandaid will reduce
or remove a ganglion cyst in about a week.
My sister, a Registered Nurse, has seen this practice used, book or bandaid,
used since the 1950's.
The big heavy book is knicknamed "the cyst remover" or something close to
that.
It was standard practice.
BTW, if you use a bandage tightly, be sure not to go fully around the wrist
or you could cut off circulation, esp during thr night.
Surgeons found a gold mine when they invented surgery for a ganglion cyst
<grin>

Best----
Ron

Post by ButtPirate John Wayne Gacy
I live in the U.S. and have a large obnoxious ganglion cyst on my wrist.
I do not have health insurance and don't have a lot of extra money, so
cost is a serious concern. But I am unable to find the price for either
draining it with a needle or surgical removal under anesthetic.
I called one doctor's office and their fist question is was "what kind
of insurance do you have?" When I said I didn't have insurance they
refused to give me a price, saying I would have to come in and have the
doctor evaluate it first (yet the question about insurance made me
believe they had already decided what they were going to charge the
insurance company, regardless of what the procedure was).
So if someone could PLEASE tell me what I might expect to pay a U.S.
doctor to drain the cyst, and if surgery is necessary what that
might cost. I know of no other product or service in the country
whose price is kept a secret until after it is performed, so why
should medicine be any different?

---
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[todesengel]

Post by Ron G
There is a second way to approach a ganglion cyst.
Doctors used to use the "surgical" approach of having the patient lay their
hand flat on the desk top, and the Dr would slam the big medical reference
book down on it.
This "untwines" the snarled up ganglion cyst.
Other people i know, have used a very tightly streatched bandaid over the
cyst, esp if on the foot, and the pressure of the tight bandaid will reduce
or remove a ganglion cyst in about a week.
My sister, a Registered Nurse, has seen this practice used, book or bandaid,
used since the 1950's.
The big heavy book is knicknamed "the cyst remover" or something close to
that.
It was standard practice.
BTW, if you use a bandage tightly, be sure not to go fully around the wrist
or you could cut off circulation, esp during thr night.
Surgeons found a gold mine when they invented surgery for a ganglion cyst
<grin>

(this is the original poster [I rotate aliases])

Yeah, I've heard from countless sources about the traditional treatment
of bashing the cyst with a heavy book (for some reason a bible is
associated with this). But this is my wrist I'm talking about, there
are so many tiny fragile bones all working together plus the nerve
that runs to my fingers. The cyst is quite large and seems to be
getting larger as I lift and stack all stuff all day. I just am not
willing to risk paralyzing my hand, my entire life depends on fine
motor control of my hands (including this message I am typing). As
I live on the Mexican border, I am currently investigating LEGIT
Mexican doctors who can perform the procedure at what I expect to be
1/4 the price in the U.S., but I have to be VERY careful as Mexico
has absolutely no official standards for anything, from plumbing to
medicine, so references are necessary.