Wifes Recent Accident & Subsequent Hospital Bill

General General Discussion
1

A few weeks ago my wife was on the way to work one morning, hit a patch of ice on an overpass and lost control of her Explorer. She went off the far side of the overpass and rolled the car down a 30 foot embankment.

A good friend of mine and an off-duty fireman just happened to be going by and were the first to reach her. EMS was there inside of five minutes according to my bud. I was at the office when he called me and I was there within 15 minutes of the accident. EMS was bringing her up the hill on a stretcher when I got there.

She had some minor cuts and abrasions, glass all over her and that shocked look in her eyes. She insisted that she was okay and did not want EMS to transport her to the ER. After seeing what happened to her and the completely destroyed car, I couldn’t believe she wasn’t hurt in some way and I insisted that she go.

Arrive at the hospital ER. ER doctor looks her over, nurse helps her get most of the glass off and out of her hair, gives her half a sponge bath with soap and water, apply ointment and a couple of small bandages. Nothing serious. No x-rays, MRIs…none of that, as thankfully she didn’t need it and she’s okay. We were there an hour. Maybe.

My wife had no health insurance. (Another story full of female drama that gives me a headache to think about)

I get a bill from the county EMS…$538.00. No problem. Those guys were super.
I get a separate bill from the ER doctor…$245.00. No problem with that.
Then I get the bill from the hospital…$5,008.00 which they stated already allowed for a deduction of over $3,800.00 for being uninsured.

WHAT!! WHAT THE HELL!!

How? How in the name of all that is holy does some soap, water, ointment, small bandages and an hour of a nurses time cost that damn much? Don’t get me wrong, they gave great care in a great facility but, this is completely absurd! Surely all the bums that don’t pay their bills haven’t caused medical costs to escalate to this height.

Anybody have any insight on this that may calm me down before I crawl a hospital administrator’s ass? Who, I am aware, may not deserve it but……someone is going to get an earful on this.

2

It’s an easy check list. You get to pay for those who can’t pay. Pretty much every Hosital out there by law has to treat anybody who shows up, indigent or not.

It’s a great system for the dopers, the illegals and anybody who just refuses to pay.

It’s easier to come after those of us who work or have a steady income, then to waste time and money going after those who don’t.

Top down, bottom up, inside out.

Good luck,
Dirk

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3

maybe ask for an itemized bill from the hospital?
that blows. glad your wife wasn’t more seriously injured.

4

$5,008.00 for what amounts be a basic check-up with no imaging?

You are getting robbed.

I bet your local paper would love to hear that story.

5

Fight it. Plain and Simple. Refuse to pay for that. Eventually they will present you with the actual bill of probably <$400. They will try to get as much from you as they can, just keep fighting it and eventually they will attempt to settle it.

Ask for an itemized list of all charges. And dispute the costs.

Your circumstance is odd though, for me personally the ambulance has usually been the most obscene, 3-4k for a 15 minute unnecessary ride.

A friend of mine was rear ended by an illegal immigrant going about 45. His 82 Suburban was fine, save for a bent tow hitch, the illegals were all banged up. EMS asked him if he wanted treatment, he said “NO”… they left… and promptly 3 days later he received a bill in the mail from EMS for $765 for their responding to the scene, regardless of treatment.

Needless to say… we burned it that night and had a rousing good laugh.

In my experience, you can’t squeeze blood from a turnip… at least not as of today.

shit… I had brain surgery in '08… with a 5 day hospital stay… I have partial insurance, where I am still responsible for 25% after I pay $3000 towards the cap for the year… In total I paid less than $6000…

ask them to put on some lipstick next time… cause you like to get kissed before you get fucked…

6

This. And once you get it start working through things you think are crazy and mark them off. Once you have a reasonable looking bill to you call the collections department at the hospital. Offer to pay in cash (if you can) the parts that make sense if they write off the rest. Many times they will work with people willing to pay the bill. Growing up with out insurance I saw mom and dad do this more than once.

7

Did they send you an itemized list for the charges? If not that is the first thing I would ask for. Make sure they did anything that is listed. You may be able to negotiate the price down to a reasonable level. Try to keep all correspondence in writing. The problem with going to the hospital is that no one gets to see the prices up front.

8

BTW, did you have car insurance?

9

Yes, I will be asking for an itemized accounting. Can’t wait to see what that will look like.

$750.00 for some liquid soap maybe.

Yes she is okay, thanks. It could have been tragic.

10

If push comes to shove…they just might. Terrific idea.

11

Sorry to hear about your wife’s accident and the hassle with the bill. I’m sure that must be frustrating. Thank God she’s ok.

I’ve been there with the exorbitant hospital bills. Check it out before you agree to pay anything. Sometime they’ll accept a reasonable middle ground: start paying them on the portions of the bill you DO accept, as a show of good faith, while you’re working out the other parts.

12

First, focus on what really matters. You’re wife is OK and escaped serious injury. Cars can be repaired or replaced. And bills can get settled.

So take a deep breath, count backwards from 100 (then repeat as necessary), and go to the hospital’s billing department and request the itemized billing. My guess is the lion’s share of the ER bill is a flat “room fee” which is going to seem ridiculously high. That’s how they play the game. Just walking through the door and sitting on the table racks up a big initial charge, even before you start buying $5 band-aids and a $25 plastic emesis basin.

Then do as previously suggested and try to negotiate a reasonable settlement. You may or may not succeed. And be grateful (as I’m sure you are) that you’re wife is safe and sound.

13

Reagans Rascals…

Thanks for the insight. I do intend to fight this. There is no way I’ll pay this amount. I’m requesting the itemized bill today.

I had a lower back fusion/rods done back in October in the same facility. They billed my insurance, BCBS, $169,000 and some change. BCBS ended up paying less than half that amount. My out of pocket was 3 grand too.

Half of this bill is still absurd and I’ll not settle for that.

5pins…

Yes we had still had collision insurance on the vehicle even though I had paid it off a few months prior to all this.
We’ve actually already settled with them and they gave us a fair deal.

Guess what I get to hear now? NEW CAR!

14

Does the hospital name begin with “St.” i.e. faith-based?

I had a $16,000 appendectomy when I was 23 with no ins., I wrote them and said I have no money, finishing up college, but will work to pay what I can. They dropped it to 300.00 with no fuss…I agree, fight it.

15

If the local papers printed a story every time a working class (read: not on welfare) person got fucked by a hospital for no other good reason than because you actually have the ability to pay, there would be very little room left for news.

The hospital in my town won’t negotiate at all. They give you 90 days & then they send you to collection, period. You can make payments, sure, but only if your TOTAL BILL can be paid off in 18 payments.

It pisses me off that they are more than willing to eagerly take 50% from a collection agency but not a penny less than full price from you. The medical care situation in this country is so fucked up it’s beyond fixing it would seem.

16

No it is not a faith based hospital.
It does bear the name of a very prominent family in this relatively small town.

17

sadmins’ post and my reply made me think alittle.

As I said, this hospital bears the name of a prominent local family with LOTS of pull in all areas of this community. Including the local paper.

Any letter to the editor I may write, has a good possibility of getting ignored or “lost”.

18

Like I said… you can’t squeeze blood from a turnip… if you don’t have it you don’t have it

whats bullshit is that there is no governing body with oversight into what prices a hospital charges, however there is legislation on the books that states a hospital can sue you, put a lean against your house, possibly foreclose on your house, drain your bank account, garnish your spouses wages, and even obtain a court order to examine your assets.

So essentially… they are running wild. They can charge whatever they like with no legal oversight, and then, when you fail to pay the arbitrary sum, of which you did not agree to before services were rendered, take anything and everything you have…

http://www.hospitaldebtjustice.org/rights.html

pure b/s plain and simple

seems like its better to just give them a fake name and address if you ever need care…

On Christmas night, my mother became deathly ill due to severe onset withdraws (she has an implanted intrathecal pain pump for neuropathic pain). The pump she has ran dry, and we were not alerted for 4 days. The medicine within the pump is not the kind you can simply stop taking, if you do you die… That night at the emergency room, they refused to call the Pain Specialist to refill the pump, and thus also refused to fill the pump because there were no “certified” staff on call. So essentially my mother sat there dying, until they prescribed her oral medication to hold her over until later in the week when the Pain Specialist returned from vacation… HOWEVER, when we received the bill for that night at the emergency room… guess who wanted their cut? I’m not proud to say that during that situation, I came the closest I’ve ever been to losing my cool and doing things that can’t be talked about… that’s all I’ll say about that…

the entire thing is a fuckin racket… if you’re in you’re a guest if you’re not you’re a pest…

the only thing we can hope for is eventually we the masses will rise up and smite them all and attempt to start over

19

Just remember that Emergency care means they are waiting for someone to be hurt. So you get to pay for them to keep the lights on and workers there when you do get hurt.

Same with an ambulance ride, you pay for two EMT’s and the truck to sit around waiting for someone who needs it 24/7, weekends, holidays, not just your 15min ride.

While I agree that health care is overpriced, it’s hard to put a price on having the emergency room open on a holiday weekend when your child suddenly goes from a runny nose to fever and barely able to breath.

20

Do this. Best of luck.

I work at Duke. I have worked at UNC and other hospitals. Every hospital for which I have worked will negotiate to some degree. It is imperative you get an itemized bill, though…see what you are supposed to be paying for.