OT My emergency room "doctor bill"

Uodate: the bill has been cut by about two-thirds. It literally took all these months to talk to someone who determined that my emergency room visit for food poisoning had been classified the same as if I had a heart attack or was critically injured in a car crash and needed intensive treatment by the doctor. The actual hospital records showed the emergency room doctor signed one sheet of paper for tests and my own doctor did all the other work and reports. As I wrote originally I saw that ER doctor for about thirty seconds but was billed about $1400.

So the charge is based upon the nature of the illness rather than the work performed?
So checking the blood pressure of someone with a cold is a different charge than checking the blood pressure of someone with a sprained ankle?

and what illness do you have to have for "im leaving the board" to mean "i am not leaving the board"?

jenaphir, I have been anxiously waiting since May for this update

KayPea: it turns out that the practice at this hospital and others, I found out, is to have a "basic charge" based on an expected level of care ranked from 1 to 5 with 5 being most severe. I was billed as a 5 with the expectation that the ER doc would give me lots of care.

The vegas analogy would be paying for a basketball court suite at the Palms when you only stay in a room at casino royale

But that can’t be true we have the best health care system in the world. Such efficiencies are only possible because of the profit motive. If you were in England with that filthy communist healthcare system it would have taken years instead of months to resolve your bill.

double post

Don't give up too easy. Keep holding out payment. I think they can do better than 2/3 off.

Those emergency room visits can be extremely costly, even with medical insurance coverage. The year was approx. 1992 when I dislocated a shoulder surfing at Diamond Head, in Hawaii. First off, being the stubborn guy that I used to be I thought that I could "tough it out." Anyone who has experienced a dislocated shoulder knows that it hurts likes a mo-fo (LOL). After laying in bed for a couple of hours with the pain not subsiding I figured that since I had medical insurance (Hawaii Medical Service Association-Blue Cross/Blue Shield) I might as well go to the hospital. And since at the time it was early evening and the urgent clinics had already closed for the night I went to Queen's hopital emergency room. After some x-rays the doctor confirmed the diagnosis of dislocated shoulder and took about 10 seconds to "pop" the dislocation back into place. Immediately the pain was gone and my arm could function again. The surprise was when I got the bill for something like $800. I inquired with the billing department and they said that the ER at Queens has signs posted throughout the ER that the doctors there don't take insurance payments and patients are responsible for full payment of services. At a later date I did notice those signs in the ER saying that they don't take insurance payments.

I agree with snidely,i would hold out as well. If it ends up being the only blemish on your credit(i assume thats what you're worried about),one disputed claim about an unfair medical bill shouldn't affect it much. We should know.

BTW,and i know i'm in the minority,but i'm glad to see you post again MLA,at least it might give the board a little life. This place has been pretty dead lately.

JOHN

PS--->MLA I'm going to start getting dialysis at home(peritoneal dialysis),i'm getting the catherter put in Nov 8. I can't wait! No more clinics and needles