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Hausse

Redicculous Hospital Bill

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next time call your PCP



Unfortunately most people don't even have a PCP, and PCP's are too few these days. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31507763/ns/health-health_care/

I love my Dr., and opt to see her 99% of the time. I avoid the ER / specialist's because they charge an arm and a leg for services - even with being insured.

However due to severe allergies, I've spent my share of time in urgent care / ER (anaphylactic shock is not fun). I will use urgent care before the ER as much as possible.

g
"Let's do something romantic this Saturday... how bout we bust out the restraints?"
Raddest Ho this side of Jersey #1 - MISS YOU
OMG, is she okay?

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I took 5 measley stitches in my upper lip after i got into a little drunken scrap at 2 AM... another story for another time... but took a cab to the E.R. after one of my teeth managed to find its way through my lip. Thankfully the E.R. was empty and i got my 4 or 5 souchers and a scrip for some pain meds, didnt even give me any while i was there. $2200 for 40 minutes in the E.R. and 5 pieces of string in my lip. Took my insurance 1.5 years to pay me back. Left for south africa 2 days later to do some shark diving:)
edit- fevers depend on the person, i usually run hot when i have the flu, 103-104.5 is normal so i just go about my business. Went to the ER once for a fever when my fever started increasing fast past 105. ended @ just above 107 in the E.R when they took action. i just remember leaving for the ER @ 105.5 and rising, then coming out of a fog in nothing but my underwear (i guess they stripped me down in the waiting area) plugged into 3 chilled IV bags (to cool my blood?) @ 104.5 and dropping. guess it worked. Longest p*ss of my life after that. That was in college, student health plans were AWESOME. I paid like 15 bucks and didn't see any other bills.

So there I was...

Making friends and playing nice since 1983

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People block ERs with 'not feeling good'? - Jeeze no wonder they charge you ... ER is for EMERGENCIES.

***I Must agree, far too many people use the emergency room as their primary health care. Alot of those do it because they cannot refuse to treat you.



This is why ER bills are so expensive. People with no money and no insurance come in, get treated, and leave with a bill in hand, that they never pay.
The company I work for owns 7 hospitals, and we write of *BILLIONS* per year in uncollectable self pays. Its totally unacceptable.

The other reason your bill is so high is that you're seeing the same prices your insurance company is charged. INSCO's have contracts with hospitals where they agree that they'll pay 20% on certain procedures, 40% on others.. when you have insurance, your bill is settled for much less than the actual amount on the bill.

I'm not saying its right. Its the way it is, for now anyway.

Like others said, use the ER for broken, bleeding, unconscious, heart attacks, and things otherwise considered EMERGENCIES. How can you expect a misused system NOT to be broken?

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This is why ER bills are so expensive. People with no money and no insurance come in, get treated, and leave with a bill in hand, that they never pay.
The company I work for owns 7 hospitals, and we write of *BILLIONS* per year in uncollectable self pays. Its totally unacceptable.
__________________

Insurance or no insurance, I always make sure my medical bills are paid. No matter how long it takes.
:)
I don't want to be part of the health care problem.

Be yourself!
MooOOooOoo

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This is why ER bills are so expensive. People with no money and no insurance come in, get treated, and leave with a bill in hand, that they never pay.
The company I work for owns 7 hospitals, and we write of *BILLIONS* per year in uncollectable self pays. Its totally unacceptable.
__________________

Insurance or no insurance, I always make sure my medical bills are paid. No matter how long it takes.
:)
I don't want to be part of the health care problem.



That is awesome.. however, make the hospital work with you. They should be able to reduce the total bill by around half if you're actually paying on it. Tell them that you know the charges are elevated to compensate for contractual write offs for insurance companies. They know its fair and they'll do it.
Every hospital has financial counselors.

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This is why ER bills are so expensive. People with no money and no insurance come in, get treated, and leave with a bill in hand, that they never pay.
The company I work for owns 7 hospitals, and we write of *BILLIONS* per year in uncollectable self pays. Its totally unacceptable.
__________________

Insurance or no insurance, I always make sure my medical bills are paid. No matter how long it takes.
:)
I don't want to be part of the health care problem.



That is awesome.. however, make the hospital work with you. They should be able to reduce the total bill by around half if you're actually paying on it. Tell them that you know the charges are elevated to compensate for contractual write offs for insurance companies. They know its fair and they'll do it.
Every hospital has financial counselors.


I just picked up my mail and there is a reduced bill for non-insured. But only for the ER expense. Not the x-ray, dr, etc.

It went from $2,075 to $1,025.

Thanks for the information. I'll get on it. :)
Be yourself!
MooOOooOoo

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I just picked up my mail and there is a reduced bill for non-insured. But only for the ER expense. Not the x-ray, dr, etc.

It went from $2,075 to $1,025.

Thanks for the information. I'll get on it. :)



Well there ya go.. thats about half. The Doc still gets paid, they can't adjust that.

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Just remember that of that $1400 bill, they aren't actually getting paid anywhere near that.... and they don't bill you the difference. That's a fair and normal bill for an EMERGENCY service.... if you want lower billing, don't be seeking out emergency care for non emergencies.

Do or do not, there is no try -Yoda

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Lol this thread got way out of hand;)

Well the situation was this: It was Friday morning, my health center (with my primary care doc) was about 3h away, it was before the holidays so they were closed and I had insurance so I really didn't care too much where I'd go.

I have a 0 copay anyways just thought that it was fucking outrageous to write a $1500 for doing nearly nothing.

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That is awesome.. however, make the hospital work with you. They should be able to reduce the total bill by around half if you're actually paying on it. Tell them that you know the charges are elevated to compensate for contractual write offs for insurance companies. They know its fair and they'll do it.
Every hospital has financial counselors.




I can vouch for this being true... I thought my Canadian insurance covered me whilst abroad but it didn't. Long story short, after a fairly useless visit to the ER where they told me I *probably* wasn't suffering from heart failure, took 1 urine sample and asked me to lie down for half an hour, I got a bill for over $2,000.

I subsequently considered selling my urine on ebay since it was clearly extremely valuable stuff!! When I explained my insurance didn't cover it and asked for an itemised bill, I was rather shocked by what they sent.. They had charged me for a box of kleenex, a box of q-tips, a box of medical gloves, et cetera, et cetera. I disputed it and the bill went down to a "mere" $400. I was still furious, but it was a LOT better than $2,000+.
"There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse."
- Chris Hadfield
« Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. »
- my boss

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Blame the insurance companies, or the hospital as well if it is a for-profit corporation.

Profit and healthcare shouldn't mix.



So I don't deserve to get paid for what I do?

I assume you work for free too right?

:S


Not just you being selfish and part of the problem. Who else can we blame?

Nurses should work free - Florence Nightengale probably did. Lab is now free. EDTA tubes are being handed out like candy. Antibiotics... hell... just use fungus - doesn't matter if it's penicillin or candidia, does it? XRays... those are free from the sun. Why is health care charging for that? And isn't ultrasound a free frequency too? Janitorial services doesn't need to get paid, just get more candy stripers (funny thing is, I haven't seen candy stripers in years) Who needs security? It's not like anyone ever fakes an injury to try to get out of jail time by using the hospital to escape.

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I'm definitely not saying folks in healthcare should have to work on a volunteer basis! I just think hospitals should be non-profit organizations. I believe that the for-profit status of insurance companies and some healthcare facilities has significantly reduced quality of patient care.

I work at a hospital - it is a "charitable public-benefit corporation" and I think that it makes a big difference to the patients, and the staff.

"Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

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Blame the insurance companies, or the hospital as well if it is a for-profit corporation.

Profit and healthcare shouldn't mix.



So I don't deserve to get paid for what I do?

I assume you work for free too right?

:S


Not just you being selfish and part of the problem. Who else can we blame?

Nurses should work free - Florence Nightengale probably did. Lab is now free. EDTA tubes are being handed out like candy. Antibiotics... hell... just use fungus - doesn't matter if it's penicillin or candidia, does it? XRays... those are free from the sun. Why is health care charging for that? And isn't ultrasound a free frequency too? Janitorial services doesn't need to get paid, just get more candy stripers (funny thing is, I haven't seen candy stripers in years) Who needs security? It's not like anyone ever fakes an injury to try to get out of jail time by using the hospital to escape.


Damn! Keep talking/typing. That's hot. :);)
Be yourself!
MooOOooOoo

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I'm definitely not saying folks in healthcare should have to work on a volunteer basis! I just think hospitals should be non-profit organizations. I believe that the for-profit status of insurance companies and some healthcare facilities has significantly reduced quality of patient care.

I work at a hospital - it is a "charitable public-benefit corporation" and I think that it makes a big difference to the patients, and the staff.



I'm finishing residency in 2 days from a very large not-for-profit corporation. There was actually a huge article in the WSJ attacking us back in August for our costs, for suing people and foreclosing their homes over their medical bills, etc.
We stand to lose/write-off $50mil this year in charity care and non-payments. However, not-for-profit still has to pay the bills. And unfortunately, if you think the bills the patients see are large, you should see the bills the hospitals see.

Medicine ain't cheap. Sucks, but it is true.

Really don't want this to go to SC, but meh.

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I just think that the corporate drive to increase profit frequently contradicts the provision of high-quality patient care.



I can't disagree with you there.




There are problems however you run things.. If you run a profit-making healthcare, it can mean the patient pays over the top for things he/she didn't necessarily need, which is obviously bad.

If you run a not-for-profit healthcare, the budget is finite, so the whole system can turn into a cost-saving exercise, which can mean patients don't get procedures/drugs that they really do need.

Now I know that the Brits among us will maybe say "that's why we have private *and* public healthcare".. But the truth is that healthcare will always be a hugely problematic area because the fact is that people who need it are vulnerable to begin with and there is no system that will suit *everybody*.
"There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse."
- Chris Hadfield
« Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. »
- my boss

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Blame the insurance companies, or the hospital as well if it is a for-profit corporation.

Profit and healthcare shouldn't mix.



So I don't deserve to get paid for what I do?

I assume you work for free too right?

:S



So, you don't seem to understand the difference between COST and PROFIT[:/]

No one said that people shouldn't be paid - :S

(.)Y(.)
Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome

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