Astronomical hospital bill

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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-25-2003
Astronomical hospital bill
2
Sat, 01-24-2009 - 10:07am

And I keep saying "for what".  When I ended up in the ER at the local hospital, they kept me in the ER for 14 hrs.  And after about 8 hrs. the nurse came over and asked me how I was doing as I was still sitting in a chair in the original room that you go to first to register, with needles, etc installed in my hands already.  Where are they?  what are they doing?  Finally when the nurse came over next time I told her that I was in a lot of pain and very uncomfortable--then, and only then, she tells me that they will get me down in the regular ER room and start testing.  Yikes, sitting there all that time.  Well, finally I was wheeled down, couldn't even stand straight or walk, put into a curtained area right by the dr.s station, and there I was for another 6 hrs., with an occasional test every hour or a dr. peeking in every so often, like spaced at least an hour apart, and always a different dr. asking me what and how I felt.  Well, after finding a large tumor at 11 p.m. they told me that I was going to be admitted, that was after they kept telling me that I was going home soon.  So by 4 a.m. I am admitted.  By the mid afternoon of that day my dr. had me out of there fast, he said they couldn't cope or handle the type surgery that I needed.  Of course, I wouldn't have gone to the stupid ER if it wasn't the weekend and I couldn't reach my own dr., but he was in at 6 a.m. Monday morning and he worked fast.


Well, to make a long story short, for that 14 hrs. in the ER, the little ER and the real ER---ggggggggggrrrrrrrrrrrrr, I got the claims summary form and they paid over $8,000 for that.  And I may still be billed for $1024 that they didn't cover.  What a rip off.  The form told me if any questions to call Medicare, which I didn't, I promptly called my insurance # and they very nicely explained to me that it was paid in October and if they send me a bill to call them immediately, that all has been paid for.  I told her that that hospital was a rip off as they certainly didn't do that much for me, and I have heard that they try to keep people in ER as they charge about $200 for every 15 minutes you are in there, so that adds up to $800 an hour, guess I got a "break" because 14 hrs. comes to over $8,000. 


Good grief, no wonder insurances are so high and so many people can't pay--we are trying to keep the best insurance we can and it does pay everytime and I am very happy with it, but I am so unhappy that the hospitals are doing this.  DH says that he won't bring me to that hospital again, that we will go to Boston first, and of course, hopefully I will be able to get my dr. before anything happens again.  All I can say is "WOW"--when she told me it was paid and said "have a good day" I said I will now have a good day knowing that it is taken care of. 


Well, enough about my vent, has anybody else run into this?


Have a good day, hugs. 

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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-25-2003
Sun, 01-25-2009 - 1:08pm
Yes, Bea, my gall bladder fiasco cost over $55,000!
Avatar for daggs170
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-25-2003
Mon, 01-26-2009 - 11:49am

Yes, it is scarey, Cal, and now I am wondering what my actual procedure cost when I went to the other hospital that my dr. recommended and for the 5 day stay.

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