hospital bill rant

[OutHouse]

last month my daughter decided to give blood. Bonfils had their blood donation tent set up at our local hospital. well after she gave blood (first time) she did what she was suppose to do and drank some OJ and ate the snacks that Bonfils provides. well as she and my wife were walking back to the car she passed out. Bonfils employees came rushing over and was attending her. well she passes out in front of the hospital cafeteria and it was packed with docs and nurses. my wife looks up and there must have been 30 medical professionals around asking what happened. by now she is awake and feeling a bit better.

the hospital staff put her in a wheel chair and took her to ER where they did a EKG, put fluids in her and drew more blood...

my wife talked to bonfils about it and they said they would take care of it.... i opened my mail tonight and i have a $2300.00 fucking bill from the hospital!!!!

its after hours but i have called the hospital billing dept and Bonfils. Im not paying this shit.

Bonfils comes to my office regularly and ive seen people in my office pass out and they take care of it.

my daughter did the right thing by donating but im getting fucked in the ass.

 

[Gibson486]

Economy is tough. Everyone is charging for everything now.

 

[nonameo]

drew more blood...

I know they're just trying to be thorough, but that made me LOL

 

[Mermaidman]

Great item for the local tv news. Did your daughter sign any kind of release before donating blood? (e.g. Bonfils is not financially responsble for any medical problems that arise from the donation.)

 

[HAL9000]

Next time come over here to do it.

 

[911paramedic]

I have five days if ICU bills in the mail somewhere, I really don't want to see what they say.

No, I'm not going to explain it right now. :|

I think your situation should be covered though, sounds like a simple low BP situation which is pretty common after donating blood. If they don't pay and the news gets the story they will lose all volunteers, and they can't afford that.

 

[wirednuts]

call the local news and have them do a story about it. that is ridiculous.

 

[911paramedic]

call the local news and have them do a story about it. that is ridiculous.

Don't jump the gun, they will probably come through and pay for it.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Why would you draw MORE blood from someone who just donated blood and fainted?

 

[TheSlamma]

Why would you draw MORE blood from someone who just donated blood and fainted?

Probably a tiny vial for a CBC

 

[OutHouse]

Don't jump the gun, they will probably come through and pay for it.

i will give them the chance to do so.

 

[Locut0s]

LOL. What's a hospital bill?

 

[Red Squirrel]

That's outrageous! Go to donate blood and end up paying, WTF?! And it's not like that's a small amount of cash either... So what happens if you don't pay, you get blacklisted and no longer can receive care?

LOL. What's a hospital bill?

This. Canada FTW.

 

[Strk]

That's crazy. I know when I gave blood I went down and they just gave me orange juice and some cookies and had me lay down for a half hour. Why would they do all that extra stuff when passing out is fairly common after giving blood?

 

[Red Squirrel]

My first time giving blood I started seeing stars, it was almost done so I actually told them to just keep going but they would not LOL. Did not want the pint to end up wasted, I rather it get used for someone who needs it, especially given I'm a rare type. Though I think they did end up having enough. The times after that I was ok though. The first time is usually the killer as the body is just not used to it. I went for my 12th the other day.

 

[SolMiester]

How old is your daughter?, surely its her bill!

 

[zinfamous]

sounds like an obnoxious billing error. The chances that they will pay for it are high--the chance that you will have to back and forth between Bonfils and the hospital, essentially doing the work of both of their accounting departments, is even higher.

PITA for sure, but this has almost always been the case.

 

[zinfamous]

Don't jump the gun, they will probably come through and pay for it.

this. no real drama to see here. not yet, anyway.

You almost always get the bill first, then you have to send it to the Insurers/3rd party, whatever.

this is normal, basically.

and don't be surprised if you talk to the blood people, they happily request you to send them the bill, they confirm receipt and that it is taken care of, and 1 month later, you receive another hospital bill....

seriously: PITA.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Wow, this makes me so glad I don't live in the states, having to deal with that crap.

Do they even warn you of the charges before treating? This just seems so sneaky.

 

[mshan]

Yes, hospital is looking for free money.

They are probably only realistically asking to get a fraction of what the nominal bill is, and really only expect what is covered by insurance.

If they persists on having you pay whole bill, google for medical billing advocate (Nora Johnson used to show up all the time on Carmen Wong Ulrich's show on CNBC)

 

[zinfamous]

Wow, this makes me so glad I don't live in the states, having to deal with that crap.

Do they even warn you of the charges before treating? This just seems so sneaky.

no, why would they? it is a service. people don't expect services for free, do they?

and seriously, despite what you think--you are paying for those services.

and yes, I would much prefer to not get a bill after each visit, as with your system.

 

[zinfamous]

Yes, hospital is looking for free money.

They are probably only realistically asking to get a fraction of what the nominal bill is, and really only expect what is covered by insurance.

If they persists on having you pay whole bill, google for medical billing advocate.

they aren't looking for anything.

this is what is called "normal."

 

[Locut0s]

no, why would they? it is a service. people don't expect services for free, do they?

and seriously, despite what you think--you are paying for those services.

and yes, I would much prefer to not get a bill after each visit, as with your system.

We certainly pay but we don't pay close to $2,300 for checking your heart and drawing some blood.

 

[moshquerade]

i will give them the chance to do so.

well, give them that chance. you are likely getting riled for nothing.

 

[Ronstang]

The outrage should not be who is going to pay the bill but why such a little amount of work costs so fucking much. This IS what is wrong with the health care system in the US. The government and insurance companies have royally screwed it up.