Do doctor's visit really cost this much?

Posted: Sep 8, 2016

So, I'm one of those people generally don't go to the doctor unless they are spurting blood across the room, but... A couple months ago, I found a lump in my breast, so I made an appointment with a GYN. I went there, they had me leave a urine sample, he felt the lump, wrote me a referral to a breast surgeon and for a mammogram/ultrasound and told me it would definitely need to be biopsied (freaking me out some more) and that was it. I had the mammogram/ultrasound. His office calls and says he wants me to come in to discuss the results which of course put me in a total panic. A couple days after that, I got the patient letter from the radiology clinic stating that they found an area believed to be benign and recommended 6-month follow up. I go back for the 2nd appointment with the GYN. They try to have me leave a urine sample, which I questioned, and nurse tells me they do it every visit to check for UTIs. I told her I was just there 2 weeks ago and it was ridiculous to do another UA and refused to do it. The doctor comes in, reads the report, gives me a copy which says it is a small cyst just under the skin probably sebaceous, and he recommends I still go to the breast surgeon to see about having it aspirated and he wants me to come back in 6 months. That was the extent of the visit. Today, I get the EOB from the insurance. I haven't met the deductible so this all has to come out of pocket. The GYN is charging $293.33 for the 1st office visit plus $1.67 for the UA and then $152.21 for the 2nd visit plus another $1.67 for a UA that I refused to leave them a sample for. The mammogram and the ultrasound combined are only $233.05, so less than he wants for a visit where he felt my breast, scared the crap out of me with the whole definitely needing to be biopsied thing, and wrote two referral slips. Am I just out of touch with how much things cost or is almost $300 for that an insane amount? Not to mention another $150 to read an imaging report. He was only in the room maybe 10 minutes the first time and about 5 minutes the second time. Sorry this is so long. I am just so upset. I am barely paying my bills as it is and now this. I expected the imaging to be several hundred dollars and they are actually less than I thought, but I really wasn't expecting a doctor visit to be that much. ;