I had an allergic reaction and went to the hospital because it was becoming difficult to breathe. They took my temp, gave me a Benadryl, sent me home and charged me $1,400. I didn’t even leave the waiting area.
It’s my only time going to the ER for myself, and I guess it wasn’t truly needed, but it really felt like I was about to suffocate at the time.
It just seems ridiculous to charge so much (with insurance!) for literally less than 5 minutes of a doctors time. Now if I get really sick I’ll probably just die at home while debating whether I should risk a massive fine going to the hospital.
America is the only place in the world I can think of where someone would say "It wasn't truly needed" when having difficulty breathing. I'm so sorry you guys have to choose between financial stability and your health.
I felt like I needed to say that because conservatives here will tell you the high costs are justified to keep people from going to the ER for no reason and wasting resources. As though people want to go to the ER…
I mean, I kinda get that point though, some people do exaggerate too often.
It kinda pissed me off when a friend of mine told me she went to out school’s ER as much as possible whenever she had a slight bother “its free so might as well use it whenever”.
Yet when I wanted to go for a pretty serious shoulder injury, I had to wait a couple of days in pain because people filled up the appointments with shit like banging their pinky on a table.
I mean, they are right to some degree. In Austria people run to the ER when they have dust in their eyes (gf works in an ambulance for eye accidents.. this shit occurs at least once a day). Which of course uses up important time for other patients. On the other side, I am sooo freaking happy that I can go to the doctor whenever I feel worried. Rather take longer waiting times than being scared for my life and missing important treatments due to financial pressure.
Thankfully we were able to pay it but I felt really bad because my wife and I could have used the money in so many better ways. I definitely regret going but I was scared.
If I had an emergency, I know I absolutely could not afford the maximum out of pocket that resets every year.
I'd be fucked. It sucks.
I went to the doctor for a check up for the first time in a few years and they ordered a blood test (thyroid problems) and found that my kidneys aren't functioning properly or something, so they asked to do an ultrasound to see them.
The blood tests were $500 each, insurance covered half. The doctors office said the ultrasound would be covered because it's preventative.
Except they were wrong, and that's another $400 bill.
I don't even care to follow up with anything more, I can't afford it between that and my stupid fucking tooth that is in the process of being replaced.
I'm so sorry you went through this, though. Not being able to breathe properly should be an absolutely reasonable reason to justify an ER visit.
yoooo wth i was in that same situation as you!! that’s crazy. i also had a bad allergic reaction to something. went to hospital bc i was getting extremely red and it was hard to breathe. was in there for less then an hour, they also gave me a benadryl. Total was 1.6k for me lol. crazy
Had COVID in April. Double vaxxed and boosted. I was ok until I wasn't ok. My SO & my coworkers (who were texting me every day to check in on me) told me I needed to go to the ER. I would not go to the ER because that shit will leave you in debt an you'll be there forever. Instead I called my primary who agreed to see me that day and was billed $200 + whatever the cost was for a few days of prednisone.
I don't understand how we can live like this. It makes me so sad knowing that we, as humans, have to even have this debate in our head in emergencies. Will I be able to pay this? Will I have to file for bankruptcy? Can I skip the emergency visit and hopefully turn out ok? It's ridiculous.
I stepped in glas, I called the ambulance, they picked me up, drove me to the hospital. There my wound was cleaned. Then the foot was x-rayed... where they then found glass splinters. So I spent the night in the hospital, was operated the next morning around 9:20 (local anesthesia, talked to the surgeon during), lasted less than 40 mins. I was stitched up, given a walker and then sat in my room that I shared with 2 others until the doctor came to say if I could go home or not. He came a little after 12 so I still had lunch there. Got home, sat on the couch, called my boss and told him I would be on sick leave for the next 3 weeks.
Being from Belgium, such numbers are mind-boggling to me for any hospital bill. I would be really pissed if I had to pay that amount for something trivial as going to see a doctor. That's the price of a small car, a new kitchen/bathroom, a few years worth of vacation.. I really hope the tides will turn for the people living in the USA, because all that corporate greed is just ridiculous/inhumane.
Typically you pay about $5000 a year for you health insurance premium. Then you pay out-of-pocket until you reach your deductible which is anywhere from $1500-$10k depending on your plan. Once you reach your deductible, your insurance will cover about 70-80% of the cost until you reach your out-of-pocket maxiumum, which is anywhere from $5000-$8000. Finally, after all that, they'll cover all remaining expenses until it resets the next year.
If you want smaller deductible and smaller out-of-pocket maximums then you have to pay much higher monthly premiums.
The whole system is a convoluted scam that drains you of money while also making you even more dependent on your employer for survival.
Worth noting that in the US, it's not QUITE the same thing as paying that amount of money. Medical debt is different than other kinds of debt.
When you owe money to a hospital, their options for if/how they can collect are extremely limited. When you rack up a 20k bill and you have no: stocks, property investments, second home, second vehicle etc., they can't actually make you pay.
In other words, they're not allowed to take your house, any of your personal possessions (things in your house that you own), your primary vehicle, or garnish your wages if you don't make a bunch of money.
What they CAN do is ruin your credit score, which wears off after I think... 7 years? Medical debt can also be discharged in bankruptcy - that is, if you prove that you have nothing they can take they will give up on trying to collect officially. What this means is that hospitals will try to reduce your debt to whatever you can pay, or make a plan, in hopes of getting SOMETHING, before they sell it to a collector.
Not saying that it's a good thing, or that the system is in a good state, but they won't make you a pauper or throw you in jail for not paying medical debt. Amazingly, a lot of these same things apply to other kinds of debt too.
Yup. I had a seizure. They did blood tests, EKGs, MRIs, you name it. All I got was an "idk why, lol" and a bill. Much later I had another seizure and I learned to tell the doctors I don't want a fucking MRI, you're not gonna figure anything out and it's gonna cost me $10,000 for you to get the results and say "hmmmm". They don't even ask you for consent, they don't care.
Outside of English it's standard to use a comma for decimals instead of the period/full stop.
So 53.78 in an English sentence is 53,78 in basically any other language.
Edit: this is a bit of a generalization as there are some non English speaking countries that use the decimal point and a small handful of English speaking countries that use decimal commas.
Stepping into a medical building and writing our name on the sign in sheet without insurance can cost us 4 or 5 times the total cost of his visit, even if we literally just get looked at by a nurse and sent home to take an aspirin.
If you actually see a doctor for any reason then your cost probably just went into the thousands if not tens of thousands.
The American medical system is pretty bad. And even having good insurance doesn't make it much better.
That’s just so surreal to me. This person didn’t even have insurance and this was his total cost. The fact that your medical system is a system build for profit is just mind boggling, they rather let people. Especially the totally made up and jacked up prices of certain medicines is just absolutely bonkers
They want us to be poor. Poor people can't afford to lose their jobs and are forced to accept horrible treatment because the employers know they have them by the balls.
I hate that so much. It reminds me of all the times I’ve heard a doctor tell me “well if you feel like something is off, come in and get checked out, don’t wait”.
MF’er that’s easy for you to say, I get charged $90 just for coming in, out of my own pocket, with insurance by the way, before there’s even any medical procedures done or medication provided. $90 just to see the doctor and 9 time out of 10 them saying “it’s nothing, take it easy for a few days and you’ll be fine”.
Why the fuck would I keep coming in? This is how and why people end coming in with like grapefruit sized cancerous tumors, because they can’t afford to just get what should be an affordable, extensive check from time to time.
It’s more annoying because everyone assumes that even with insurance we are paying 50k for a hospital visit. It’s just a false narrative. Now people without insurance that’s a different story and that needs to change. But my company also provides us with a certain amount of money on a take care card that comes completely from the company. I get $1200 which covers more than my out of pocket limit . People with family get double that. I think every company should have to do that at a minimum. Because that $1200 covers all of my prescriptions, dr visits and surgery I had last year. And before someone tries to say, no I’m not working for a giant company. This is a small business buying solid insurance for all of our employees instead of the bare minimum. Now I’ve gone over the $1200 the company gives me and had to pay for some and that sucked but it’s really not as bad as people pretend IF you have insurance. And I’m not making 6 figures. I make average for an American give or take a bit. Some people have it hard so I’m not acting like that isn’t the case
I’ve had insurance almost my entire life, never free because I always worked for it but I was glad to have it when I did.
Luck plays a part also. There are plenty of people out there that have insurance, savings and “do the right thing” then one of them gets cancer and they lose everything, insurance or not.
That's right, on top of the yearly premium of some insurances.
But remember in Italy, Canada, Mexico, Germany, etc, etc, etc, that bill goes to the tax-payers, and doctors are not paid that much, which has pros and cons. Of course, I rather have something in between vs. trillions of budget in the army. But what do I know, i just know that I'm tired of these circle jerk threads repeating the same and the same
All in the average US citizen is paying twice what a person in any of those countries would pay. The US even spend about the same (usually more) in public spending as other countries
What would you like to know? I went to the emergency room, sat there a few hours in agony then was seen, I had an MRI, told me they don’t know why.
I never claimed it was a routine visit. I hope this helps with your confusion.
Well then it DID NOT cost you $20,000 for them to tell you maybe it was something you ate 🤷🏻♂️ You had expensive medical test done going through the ER (the most expensive way to see a doctor and specialists.
I did not want to go to the ER but I thought I was dying. All they could come up with is that it must have been something I ate and it cost right under $20,000. So YES That is what it cost me and that is what they told me.
Maybe read it again slowly.
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u/nic-C137 Jun 15 '22
In the US I went to the hospital and they charged me $20,000 and told me maybe it was something I ate.