Itemized Bill

  Word of the day...SERIOUSLY??!! The bills have started rolling in. We are requesting itemized bills for everything because we are curious and we just feel that it is a good practice. We saw a charge that just made us laugh: $129 for "removal of impacted ear wax." Because I know that I clean my son's ears on a very regular basis and because I know that at least five people were looking in his ears with otoscopes prior to the procedure, I KNOW that my son's ears were not full of wax. So basically, our insurance was billed $129 for what was probably something you would get on the tip of your Q-tip in the morning. All I can say is that I am obviously in the wrong business if it costs THAT MUCH to get an itty bitty bit of wax out of an infant's ear. We're not talking clogged up Shrek goop here! No wonder insurance premiums are so expensive if this is the type of stuff we're paying for. I had once heard a story from a friend that they were billed $50 for a "surgical bandage" that was just a band-aid. I thought the story must have been greatly exaggerated until this experience. Can someone explain to me how charges like these are justified? What am I missing here?