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OT My emergency room "doctor bill"

MoneyLA
MoneyLA
Apr 27, 2011
5:37pm
Block User
I was in the hospital in February for one night because of food poisoning, and severe dehydration. I needed IV fluids for about 12 hours. And I had some blood tests which confirmed there were no infections or other illness. It was food poisoning.

The hospital bill was huge... but insurance covered it.

Today I got the bill from the "emergency room doctor."

The emergency room charge by the hospital has been paid. I had to spend a couple of hours in the emergency room before being admitted.

This bill is just from the "emergency room doctor."

It was about $1400. My insurance paid a little... and now the doctor wants me to pay the balance... $1245.

Thats one thousand, two hundred and forty five dollars.

For what?

I saw that doctor for about 30 seconds. My own doctor called in the tests and my own doctor saw me in the emergency room.

Oh, included in the $1245 was $65 to read the results of my pulse.

And you wonder what's wrong with the health care system?
Chessie
Chessie
Apr 27, 2011
8:37pm
Block User
I guess they want us to pay for their schooling???? Something has to be done with the cost of medical care - this is absolutely ridiculous!!
snidely333
snidely333
Apr 27, 2011
9:43pm
Block User
Just because you received a bill doesn't mean you're obligated to pay it. A friend at work taught me this trick 25 years ago. Whenever you get a large bill that seems out of whack, just throw it away. I've done this several times. Some I never got another bill and never heard about it again. Sometimes I got a phone call where I told them the bill was outrageous, I'm not paying it and if they want to litigate it and justify their charge to a court then I was prepared for that. Never heard from them again.

The hospital makes you sign that you're responsible for charges but that doesn't give them a blank check to charge whatever they feel like.

So, they send a bill. If you pay it. Good. If you don't
Janis Meyer
Janis Meyer
Apr 27, 2011
9:56pm
Block User
Canada ain't so bad afterall. Holy cow, we hear about this stuff occasionally and it boggles our liberal minds.

How a people that live in such a great and prosperous country (relatively speaking) could potentially be left financially destitute over an illness in the family is borderline barbaric IMHO.

Our neighbours to the south with adequate medical insurance coverage are very fortunate, as for the others, not so much.

Please forgive my ignorance for the question but it is a legitimate one from someone who doesn't know any better. Are there people there (U.S) that actually don't sleep well at night thinking that they or a family member better not get sick because of what it could do to them financially? (if so, that's some crazy sh$t man)

PBINMN
PBINMN
Apr 27, 2011
11:54pm
Block User
Canada does do some things well. If it wasn't for the 10 months of winter, it wouldn't be a bad place to retire to.
Janis Meyer
Janis Meyer
Apr 28, 2011
12:47am
Block User
Toronto is still farther south than Bismark ND, Montpelier Vermont and Minneapolis Mn to name a few.

I store a summer car for winter, late last yr I put it away in late Nov and was driving by end of Feb. For those 2 1/2 months in between I shored up the walls of my igloo and fed the sled-dogs seal meat that I hunted while traversing the ice flows.. lol
hoops2
hoops2
Apr 28, 2011
1:30am
Block User
Quote
Originally posted by: thezzzone
Canada ain't so bad afterall. Holy cow, we hear about this stuff occasionally and it boggles our liberal minds.

How a people that live in such a great and prosperous country (relatively speaking) could potentially be left financially destitute over an illness in the family is borderline barbaric IMHO.

Our neighbours to the south with adequate medical insurance coverage are very fortunate, as for the others, not so much.

Please forgive my ignorance for the question but it is a legitimate one from someone who doesn't know any better. Are there people there (U.S) that actually don't sleep well at night thinking that they or a family member better not get sick because of what it could do to them financially? (if so, that's some crazy sh$t man)


Canadien health care is great as long as you don't need it:

Emergency room waits - 6 hours
Hip repalcement - 43 weeks
MRI - 2 weeks
Surgery - 4 weeks
see a specialist - 4 weeks

PBINMN
PBINMN
Apr 28, 2011
1:48am
Block User
Quote
Originally posted by: hoops2
Quote
Originally posted by: thezzzone
Canada ain't so bad afterall. Holy cow, we hear about this stuff occasionally and it boggles our liberal minds.

How a people that live in such a great and prosperous country (relatively speaking) could potentially be left financially destitute over an illness in the family is borderline barbaric IMHO.

Our neighbours to the south with adequate medical insurance coverage are very fortunate, as for the others, not so much.

Please forgive my ignorance for the question but it is a legitimate one from someone who doesn't know any better. Are there people there (U.S) that actually don't sleep well at night thinking that they or a family member better not get sick because of what it could do to them financially? (if so, that's some crazy sh$t man)


Canadien health care is great as long as you don't need it:

Emergency room waits - 6 hours
Hip repalcement - 43 weeks
MRI - 2 weeks
Surgery - 4 weeks
see a specialist - 4 weeks


I would say some of those waits are not too unlike some of ours. Some of the US ER's have wait times like that. I have waited 4 weeks for a surgery before and some specialists take longer than that to get into, most often do when you are a new patient.

MaddyHLVA
MaddyHLVA
Apr 28, 2011
2:03am
Block User
Quote
Originally posted by: PBINMN
Quote
Originally posted by: hoops2
Quote
Originally posted by: thezzzone
Canada ain't so bad afterall. Holy cow, we hear about this stuff occasionally and it boggles our liberal minds.

How a people that live in such a great and prosperous country (relatively speaking) could potentially be left financially destitute over an illness in the family is borderline barbaric IMHO.

Our neighbours to the south with adequate medical insurance coverage are very fortunate, as for the others, not so much.

Please forgive my ignorance for the question but it is a legitimate one from someone who doesn't know any better. Are there people there (U.S) that actually don't sleep well at night thinking that they or a family member better not get sick because of what it could do to them financially? (if so, that's some crazy sh$t man)


Canadien health care is great as long as you don't need it:

Emergency room waits - 6 hours
Hip repalcement - 43 weeks
MRI - 2 weeks
Surgery - 4 weeks
see a specialist - 4 weeks


I would say some of those waits are not too unlike some of ours. Some of the US ER's have wait times like that. I have waited 4 weeks for a surgery before and some specialists take longer than that to get into, most often do when you are a new patient.




Hey if we pay about 52% of our income to the FEDS maybe we can have free health care like the canucks up north!
hoops2
hoops2
Apr 28, 2011
2:06am
Block User
"I would say some of those waits are not too unlike some of ours. Some of the US ER's have wait times like that. I have waited 4 weeks for a surgery before and some specialists take longer than that to get into, most often do when you are a new patient. "

The quoted ER wait time is to see an initial doctor; not the entire time in the ER

My large family who have had numerous surgeries has never had to wait more than 1 week for a surgery
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