On Saipan, a circumcision costs almost $8,000

The Commonwealth Health Center’s charging of $7,901.82 for a circumcision is outrageous! And this amount is just an estimate; the actual billing could be more than that. Read the story in today’s Saipan Tribune.

The procedure lasted for only one hour and 9 minutes. In July last year, the mother of the patient was told by a CHC employee that the circumcision would cost no more than $300, but the patient waited out until this month to undergo the procedure.

CHC’s reason is that hospital charges have gone up since Dec. 1, 2007 and that they put out notices in the media letting people know of their new charges.

Given that it is impossible for everyone to know about these rate hikes, CHC should at least provide patients and their families a cost estimate for a hospital procedure PRIOR to the procedure so that they could make better and informed decisions.

Almost $8,000 for a circumcision is so unbelievable! In other countries, it would even cost a lot less than CHC’s previous rate of about $250 for a circumcision for the same result!