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Serious request for help for co worker. Injured ankle, no insurance.....suggestions?

redgtxdi

redgtxdi

Diamond Member
Young guy in his 20's, rolled his ankle 2 days ago. Didn't think it was more than a sprain, but swelling won't go down and pain is worse today than 2 days ago.

Normal M.O. here in So Cal for the uninsured illegal aliens is to just walk into the emergency room. Unfortunately, while they don't usually pay, he will. He did this once before for a few stitches & it cost him $1,600 dollars. He's afraid of the same or worse this time around.

I wonder if there are something like "clinics" or if he could even just walk into a "diagnostics" type center where he could get an Xray to rule out a true fracture??

I'm thinking it might be broken & don't want him ignoring the situation until it's really bad.

TIA
 
Urgent care clinic can do simple x-rays and is a lot lot lot lot lot less than the ER.
He could call first to see if they do X-rays too.
 
Like the guy above me I've twisted and sprained an ankle and had it swollen for several days afterwards. It depends on how severe it looks.

But hey, chalk this up to socialized medicine, I can go to any clinic and get it looked at. Amurikah, fuck yeah.
 
Thanks for the idea of urgent care. :thumbsup: I didn't know if he could just walk into an urgent care.

And, I'll let him know it might just be a sprain too. He's stressin pretty hard & watching him hobble around makes it look worse.
 
redgtxdi said:
Thanks for the idea of urgent care. :thumbsup: I didn't know if he could just walk into an urgent care.

And, I'll let him know it might just be a sprain too. He's stressin pretty hard & watching him hobble around makes it look worse.
Click to expand...

For the love of Christ get him to go rent some crutches, hobbling around on it will only make it worse.

<---------- perpetually was rolling both ankles over and over last year.
 
RICE. Rest, ice, compression, elevation. Ankle sprains take several days to get over of the swelling and constant pain. Then anywhere from several weeks to months to get away from localized pain when making certain movements.

If anything, see if you can track down a crutch (borrow, buy in cash from med supply store, ect) to get weight off of it until it starts to heal.

Doctor visit isn't going to do much but rule out break. And if it was broke, you might not even know for a few days until the swelling goes down.
 
Can you send out a company wide email asking for a pair of crutches? You'd be surprised how many people have those laying around from various injuries and never get rid of them.
 
Yeah, clinics usually cost a lot less than hospitals. If it's expensive some places let you get a CareCredit account, which is like a medical credit card (it's usually interest free for the first 12 months too).
 
Yeah, sprains can be really bad. Once when I was playing soccer in mid stride I reached out with my foot to block a shot, the ball had tremendous force and when I landed on that foot, it was already partially rolled from blocking the shot. Landing on it rolled it terribly, and I ended up in crutches for over a month, and it was 3 months before I could do athletics again.
 
if it was broken he would know. i broke one ankle and sprained the other one, at the same time, and i could immediately tell i broke one of them.
 
OK, now MY ankles hurt.....LOL!!

Great idea about the crutches. I'll ask around. (we're not that big so I can just hollar...."Hey, any of you oxygen bandits got any crutches laying around?")

I've advised him of his options which is making him feel a little better.
 
The pain is probably worse today than when it happened because he hasn't stayed off of the ankle. Probably not broken or he'd know it, pain is very severe.

Tell him to stay off it whenever possible, apply a bag of ice wrapped in a towel to it for 20 min on/20 off for the swelling, and give it time.
 
vi edit said:
Can you send out a company wide email asking for a pair of crutches? You'd be surprised how many people have those laying around from various injuries and never get rid of them.
Click to expand...

Great idea. I had a pair from my sprained and kept them around for almost 2 years before throwing them away.
 
I rolled my ankle once. Figured it was just a bad sprain. Went in and had it x-rayed, and it turned out I had actually gotten a hairline fracture at the base of the fibula. The doctors also said there was very little they could do about it, so I ended up in a walking boot and on crutches for several weeks. I rolled the same ankle 18 months later and didn't have insurance, and went the "rest, ice, compression, elevation" method and it healed in about the same timeframe (fortunately I still had my walking boot and crutches). The most important thing is to avoid putting any weight on it at all; a bad sprain can be worse than a minor fracture, and neither one will heal if the joint is under constant use.

That said, don't fuck around with your ankles. Best to get that x-rayed and know for certain what you're dealing with. If it doesn't heal properly, that's a lifetime injury.
 
Cheapest way will be a regular doctor and call ahead for an quote...they can send you to an open-XRay type of place, but many docs usually have at least X-ray machines on sight if they do orthopedics.

If it's indeed a sprain the best they will do is most of what you can do at home save access to muscle relaxers/prescription pain pills.
 
alkemyst said:
Cheapest way will be a regular doctor and call ahead for an quote...they can send you to an open-XRay type of place, but many docs usually have at least X-ray machines on sight if they do orthopedics.
Click to expand...

Yeh, out of pocket you should be able to have a couple simple Xray's performed and read for around $200-$300. Maybe less as a cash discount. It's all a gamble though, most of the time it's just soft tissue/connective tissue injury and nothing other than rest, ice and time is going to fix it. If it was a break you normally know. With breaks the pain is much more constant and easier to induce by simply pressing your thumb on the area.

Sprains usually don't hurt unless you move your foot in a particular direction or bare weight on it.

It's all anecdotal though, ankle injuries are one of the wackiest things. They affect no two people the same.
 
Sucks not having insurance.
When I was at Hynix I got free exams, 10 dollar ER visits, and 500 dollar surgery.

Now it costs me two grand just to walk into the ER, 500 for a doctor to look at me, one thousand for him to do anything, 1500 for xrays, and one-fifty a bag for saline.

Last time I had a kidney stone and couldnt make it to the VA hospital I spent around 7000 or so.
Its taken them one year to acknowledge my problem and another 6 months to tell me if they will pay it off or not.

Would much rather have insurance.
 
So much for the ridiculous notion that young, healthy people don't need health insurance.

Urgent care centers are MUCH cheaper than an ER. I think that around here you can be seen at PatientFirst for around $150. X-rays will increase the cost but it'll still be a fraction of what the ER costs. When you go to the ER you're paying for a facility that's capable of treating everything up to a gunshot wound or heart attack, and you're paying for all the freeloaders as well. The only urgent care center I've been to around here won't see you if you don't have insurance or pay upfront, which makes it much cheaper.
 
vi edit said:
Doctor visit isn't going to do much but rule out break. And if it was broke, you might not even know for a few days until the swelling goes down.
Click to expand...

A proper break will immediately be visible on an x-ray. When I broke my ankle it was swollen to the size of a big grapefruit but even I could tell from the x-ray that a piece of bone had broken off.
 
ichy said:
A proper break will immediately be visible on an x-ray. When I broke my ankle it was swollen to the size of a big grapefruit but even I could tell from the x-ray that a piece of bone had broken off.
Click to expand...

I've broke enough bones to usually know a "proper" break. It's the small fractures that might not show up for a few days after swelling goes down.
 
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