OT My emergency room "doctor bill"

Thanks John. No it is not a matter of being worried about credit. As I said in my original post, the issue was a huge bill for a doctor who spent less than 30 seconds looking at me from six feet away and everything else was done by nurses and my own physician.

Even my own insurance company called the ER doctor's bill excessive, paying only a fraction of it.

I wanted to find out why it was so huge, and I found out -- they have cookie cutter pricing.

Man, you just don't get it. They do this crap all the time. It's not cookie cutter pricing; it's a rip-off. They send you an outrageous bill and if you pay it, they take your money. It's only when you refuse to pay that they admit they made a mistake and adjust the bill.

Like I said the best health care system in the world. It amazes me people will spend hours pontificating on the need to punish petty criminals like shoplifters. Yet when an organization sets up an entire system to rip off people with false or inflated charges those same people just shrug their shoulders.

So, what are you doing about it?

I refuse to pay unless they dot every I and cross every t.

I have a poser for you all. (corrected post)

The bill I was disputing was mailed back with an excel spread sheet talking about some sort of "hospital 2" care performed on me on the 15th and 16th of Nov 2010.

A few days ago I get another $386 bill for some yahoo doctor claiming they did a consult on the 14th and 15th of Nov 2010. Anyone else receive a bill almost a year after they were in the hospital?


(totally unrelated) - I went to the clinic last Monday for a checkup and the doctor wanted some blood drawn and an urine sample. Blood was $870 and the urine was $88. This was of course after showing the clinic a $365 check stub from work. Love the f'ng system

I should have stayed unemployed and leeched off of the system for the rest of my life.

ummmmmm, Nov 14th, 15th, and 16th are a few weeks away yet, not a year ago. I would be more concerned about being billed for future Dr visits

First off, I love Canada. I was fishing there with 5 other guys about 5 years ago. We had caught alot of fish and were getting ready to clean them. One of the guys was sharpening his filet knife and accidently sliced across the top of his thumb at the first joint below the palm. We drove hime to the closest hospital,
Kenora, Ontario and went to the ER. He needed stitches, a tetnus shot and the cut cleaned. The recptonist at the ER desk asked how he was going to pay for it. He showed her his Blus Cross Insurance Card. She said, "That won't do you any good here but we take Visa & Mastercard". She said he'd have to negotiate his fee with the DR. for the stitch job. First words out of the DR.s mouth was "How much cash do you have?" He said $60. The DR. said he'd sew him up for thr $60.

Canadians that come to the states, alot to Florida for the Winter have to buy coverage in case they have a problem while here. It goes both ways.

Chef

Which hospital Miami Valley or Kettering? What restaurant do you work at? I will stop by and say hi sometime. We live in south Dayton?

The Gambler

A couple of things to add to this...


1. Some of this is based on "clinical decision making." Basically if the person has a bruised discombobulater it is easier to deal with then a massive stroke. My argument would be that the doctors spend a lot of time and money each and every year furthuring their education because they never stop learning. Maybe if that REALLY were the case it would be different.
2. As far as a bill almost a year later, I know in some states they have a time limit in which they can send a bill. If this is the first time they sent it you may want to find this info out. The state medical board or the attorney general would know that info. That is a little known piece of information.
3. Bloodwork.... when you get bloodwork done they charged out the you know what for it. Labs, like labcorp, will charge their fee whether you have cash or insurance but it is technically their "insurance" fee. You can go online to a few websites and actually order your own labs and pay on the site. You then print the requisition and take it to a lab, like labcorp, and it is a lot cheaper. This can be true whether you have insurance or not. For example, their is one lab test that is approx. $150 through one of these sites but if you go the direct route through the lab it can cost approx. $1500.00.

Just a few thoughts and observations.