Hospital Bills - is food included or seperate?

amother

Slateblue

Tue, Dec 05 2017, 10:40 am

I was admitted to the hospital overnight and given a menu that I could call the kitchen and order from.
I wanted to know - is food included in the (astronomical) cost of a hospital stay or is it added separately onto the bill? Knowing what hospitals charge, if it is separate I could end up paying a lot for food that is pretty awful, so I took very little food, didn't bother eating breakfast when I was goign to be discharged shortly etc. However, if it was included in the "room" rate, I wouldn't have hesitated to add an apple.
So how does it work?

(This is in NJ)

southernbubby

Tue, Dec 05 2017, 10:46 am

amother wrote:

Were you actually admitted or admitted for observation because that might make a difference in the way it is billed? Some hospitals have separate observation units. You would probably have to speak to someone in the billing department to determine if there is a separate cost for food but I have a feeling (just my guess) that it is included in the price of the room. Otherwise, wouldn't patients be told to provide their own food to save money on hospital bills? Imagine the mess that would entail, however, for the staff to store and heat up food so that everyone could save on their hospital bill.

I looked it up and the only google entries are about food for someone who is staying with you which there is a cost for or if you are allowed to go the cafeteria, they you pay. Nothing else is said about the cost of food for the actual patient.

Last edited by southernbubby on Tue, Dec 05 2017, 10:48 am; edited 1 time in total

Amarante

Tue, Dec 05 2017, 11:55 am

Food is part of the general hospital bill even when admitted to observation.

When you receive the hospital bill, you will see other charges spelled out but food as well as basic nursing, the bed are included in the rate for the hospital room.

Whether you eat more or less makes no difference. There are people who are very ill who eat nothing and those who are there for reasons having nothing to do with appetite who order a lot and both are charged the same for the room.

The differentiation for observations is that for Medicare you have to be ADMITTED to a hospital for three nights in order to be discharged to a nursing home. So if you or a relative will need nursing care after a hospital visit, make sure you have been admitted for at least three nights - unless you had a hip replacement because that has just fallen into a new category where you only need to stay two nights to qualify for discharged to a skilled nursing facility :-)