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Can I fight this.....$800 ER bill

SandEagle

SandEagle

Lifer
a few months ago i went to the ER for back pain. after waiting a few hours, i'm taken to the back, seen for about 2 minutes, and discharged. the doc didn't examine me, just assumed it was muscle spasms, and prescribed painkillers. the bill arrives and its not itemized or anything.

i plan to call and complain. why can't they itemize and let estimate what i may owe before taking me in? i would've been better off just suffering through the pain. how should i approach this?
 
You pick:

a) This is one of many reasons why major medical reform is really needed.

b) You wouldn't be making this post if you were Canadian.

c) You wouldn't be making this post if Obamacare were in full swing and you had insurance.

d) You wouldn't be making this post if you weren't such a leech on the system.

.....
 
e) a would be the correct answer but nothing within the universal healthcare debates in this country is going to fix this.

f) rivan is a troll.

g) The bill would be the same regardless of Obamacare, just we all get to pay it then, and for everyone not just SandEagle.

I would say call em up. Perhaps it's a mistake but making them show you an itemized bill might help clear it up. By asking for an itemized bill you can throw it back at them and ask them what services they rendered. If they don't know, then how do they know it cost $800.
 
Back pain isn't an ER-worthy issue. You should have seen a primary care doctor or gone to an urgent care center.
 
Next time, call MedFlight. If you're going to opt for the most expensive healthcare possible, don't slack. If you were able to hang out in the ER for hours and live to tell about it, you shouldn't have been in the ER in the first place. If people used the ER responsibly there would be either 1) no waiting rooms or 2) the waiting rooms would be filled with dead people.
 
rivan said:
Does trolling the troll make me a troll? I guess it does. 🙁

Just trying to cover the first 5-10 predictable ATOT responses all in one post :whiste:
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Hey its multiple choice. Why would you of all people choose f)?
 
I don't wanna be cynical, but I just can't help it when so many people like yourself would rather pay out the ass when a health issue comes up rather than doing regular maintenance to prevent the problem from occurring in the 1st place.
 
SandEagle said:
a few months ago i went to the ER for back pain. after waiting a few hours, i'm taken to the back, seen for about 2 minutes, and discharged. the doc didn't examine me, just assumed it was muscle spasms, and prescribed painkillers. the bill arrives and its not itemized or anything.

i plan to call and complain. why can't they itemize and let estimate what i may owe before taking me in? i would've been better off just suffering through the pain. how should i approach this?
Click to expand...

A while back I went to the ER suffering from severe abdominal pain. Nurse administered morphine, doc examined me and determined it was biliary colic due to gall stones. I went home a few hours later after the pain subsided. Three weeks later I received a bill for $1800. I was in the hospital a grand total of three hours. During that time, I was seen by a doc for 10 minutes, and was administered a drug that costs almost nothing to produce and has minimal risks.

Did I complain? Not one goddamn bit. I was in so much pain I thought I was going to die. I would have paid a fortune for that shot of morphine. And I did.
 
Baked said:
I don't wanna be cynical, but I just can't help it when so many people like yourself would rather pay out the ass when a health issue comes up rather than doing regular maintenance to prevent the problem from occurring in the 1st place.
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Ah, so a human being is like a car where you perform maintenance and nothing bad will ever happen to it?
 
SearchMaster said:
You did see who the OP is, didn't you?

In all seriousness the hospital should have a patient advocate department, talk to them.
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It doesn't matter who the OP is. No one should have to be in pain like that and be shoved with some massive bill. Show a little regard for other people.
 
Is that $800 figure before or after insurance? If it's before insurance, I'd ask for the itemized bill. Seems like a logical thing to do. Go from there once you get the itemized bill.
 
rivan said:
OP didn't explain what the back pain was from.

My guess? Police brutality.
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if only i was so fortunate. would have been a nice settlement from it and i wouldn't care what the ER costs were.

no insurance atm. it was late at night and i thought i was going to die. back pain from weight lifting lol
 
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TalonStrike said:
Ah, so a human being is like a car where you perform maintenance and nothing bad will ever happen to it?
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No, but just like cars, there's a system you can pay into that helps remove huge spikes in your costs when something does go wrong.

TalonStrike said:
It doesn't matter who the OP is. No one should have to be in pain like that and be shoved with some massive bill. Show a little regard for other people.
Click to expand...

It matters if we're being trolled.

That said, our system is absolutely broken. Insurance has removed any incentive for consumers to be smart consumers. Pain also has a funny way of doing the same. Without getting into a huge discussion about what a life is worth (and I believe there absolutely IS a dollar amount, and have NO idea where that is) I think there are some people on which entirely too much money is spent. No, I don't have examples.
 
soxfan said:
A while back I went to the ER suffering from severe abdominal pain. Nurse administered morphine, doc examined me and determined it was biliary colic due to gall stones. I went home a few hours later after the pain subsided. Three weeks later I received a bill for $1800. I was in the hospital a grand total of three hours. During that time, I was seen by a doc for 10 minutes, and was administered a drug that costs almost nothing to produce and has minimal risks.

Did I complain? Not one goddamn bit. I was in so much pain I thought I was going to die. I would have paid a fortune for that shot of morphine. And I did.
Click to expand...

I went to the ER for an eye problem once, never saw a doctor once, just a nurse for a few minutes. My insurance company was billed close to $5000 for it, for a nurse for 10 minutes.
 
SandEagle said:
if only i was so fortunate. would have been a nice settlement from it and i would care what the ER costs were.

no insurance atm. it was late at night and i thought i was going to die. back pain from weight lifting lol
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In my opinion, exercising is one of the worst things you can do for your health. I tried doing P90X for a while, and I ended up having sever back pain. I needed a chiropractor for several months to fix the problem. Now, I don't work out at all. Never felt healthier. lol
 
Should have taken a few tylenol PMs and just slept it off. Then went to the doctor in the morning if it was still a problem. Oh well, just chock this up as an $800 lesson learned. Could have been worse.
 
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