Let me tell you about some stupid shit I did

In My Humble Opinion
1

My wife woke up one morning to discover one of her eyes was swollen shut. It was pink eye, and we knew it was pinkeye. We were unable to make an appointment with her doctor, and decided to go to the MedCheck center for care. (I forget the term for this kind of place–not an emergency room, just a place you can go for quick medical care.)

At MedCheck, they told us they did not take our insurance. They then told us to go to the Emergency room.

Neither of us has ever really had to deal with medical problems. (Pregnancy, and an incident many years ago in which my oldest burned his finger.) We don’t really know how things work. We also didn’t know we don’t know how things work. We just trusted these medical professionals who told us to go to the emergency room.

So we went. My wife had been taken in to another room (I didn’t know if she was being treated, was in some kind of triage room, or what) when someone came out asking for my card for the $350 copay.

I balked internally, but because I have almost no experience with medical stuff, and had to think fast, I believed I was being asked to pay for services that had already been rendered, and also didn’t want to be that guy in some sense, and so handed over my card like a grown up.

When a few minutes later I realized probably I’d just agreed to pay for services yet to be rendered, I began frantically texting my wife, urging her to leave and refuse all services. But it was too late. A doctor had walked into the room, said “you have pinkeye,” and left. A prescription was waiting for her as she left.

Total bill: $1298.

Insurance covers none of it because we went to the emergency room for non-emergency care.

And that my friends is some stupid shit I did.

I’ll talk to the hospital about the charge, but I have little hope there will be any effect. I’d like to argue they should have been more clear with me up front, since as it turns out about 50% of people don’t understand what “co-pay” means so it’s not unreasonable to say they ought not to assume I know what it means. But yeah I’m sure that’s a stretch and I don’t suppose I’m actually willing to try it as a legal argument anyway so I have nothing to stand on.

I’m out thirteen hundred bucks.

2

Look at it this way, you got $1,300 worth of medical treatment.

You should ask them to apply the insurance rate at least. Since you actually have insurance, (even if this visit wasn’t covered) they might do it. Also, submit a claim to your insurance company, you never know.

3

Just another example of how our medical system is completely FUBAR’d.
Whenever people go one about how great the US medical system is, I always ask them if they’ve ever, you know, actually used it?

4

I don’t really know how things work either. And your story makes me even more scared than I already was to seek medical attention if I ever should need it.

5

I have. I have Cigna (Arizona) and I’ve had great treatment. The “worst” I’ve had is to wait for an hour or two for treatment, or have specialists that I don’t really like. And I haven’t had copay troubles. I’ve gone to Urgent Care for most of my emergency treatment (including my “heart attack” that turned out to be food poisoning.)

It CAN work. It just doesn’t always, for everybody.

6

We, as a nation, have allowed insurance companies and politicians to bring us to this point, and the reason it continues is that there are enough union members, government employees, and active/retired military, along with the poor (who pay nothing), that don’t want to see a change, because they are content with the status quo, and vote to maintain it. Thank them.

7

Call the place and insist on speaking to a person of authority. Explain the situation to him or her, calmly and politely, and say you are unable to afford the amount billed. Ask how you can work with them to retire the debt. If the person cannot or will not help, ask for their supervisor. And so on. Ask if there is a patient relations department or a patient advocate.

Medical organizations are usually willing to negotiate if you express a sincere desire to resolve the problem.

Good luck.
mmm

8

SirGalahad: The poor do not, under most circumstances, “pay nothing.” You have to be goddamned destitute (or disabled and poor) to qualify for Medicaid, and you are generally severely limited in what providers will take your coverage. As for your idea of who supports the current coverage, that’s pretty funny considering how many companies regularly increase the premiums they require their employees to pay. Union members and government employees are certainly not exempt from that, and I regularly hear complaints from military personnel about VA facilities, as well as their coverage.

Edit: Mean Mr Mustard is correct about what you should do, though you may have more success if you went to a non-profit hospital. Ask for a cost reduction, ask for a tiny ($50/month?) payment plan, whatever it takes.

9

^Agreed. Try to work it out with them.

10

The poor with which I interact pay nothing. They pay nothing. It’s that simple. They go to the hospital, to clinics, they do not pay a cent. Come to my neighborhood and see. They get free medical care. They live in section 8 housing, are on welfare, and pay NOTHING. That’s actually great … I think we should have free universal health care in this country and none of us should pay anything, besides applicable taxes.

The union members and Vets with which I interact claim to me that they are against the Affordable Health Care act, that they are comfortable with their insurance, and that they won’t support helping the uninsured or under-insured get government subsidized health insurance. I live in Texas. Yee-ha.

11

Man, that stinks. My daughter just had a very minor in-patient procedure for kidney stones and it cost us $1500 out of pocket. Our insurance paid over $12k. I think everyone including the janitor billed us for their 2 minutes.

FYI, most insurance cards have a website and/or phone number that will direct you where to seek treatment. When my daughter was looking for a place to go when she was doubled over in pain (which turned out to be kidney stones), we looked up the nearest Urgent Care in the city where she attends college. $50 copay since we used one of their providers.

Also, FYI many pharmacies now have walk-in clinics.

12

I have a condition that I am dealing with. Going on google and spending 5 minutes leads to diagnosis A, but I don’t have that. There are tests you can do at home for it and I passed all of them.

I went to a specialist, he said ‘you have A’, I said ‘pretty sure I don’t’. He said ‘yeah you do’. He did the same tests on me, nothing happened. He shrugged and said ‘ah well, I’m still right’.

Suffice it to say that cost me over a grand for a misdiagnosis I could’ve gotten myself on google.

13

ran into the same situation before. They should have accepted cash at the after-hours medical center and they should have mentioned that as an option. They’re a little more expensive than a daytime doctor’s visit but much cheaper and faster than an Emergency room.

Get with the hospital finance department and play “lets make a deal if you really want my money”.

And don’t feel bad. I’ve got a car project in my garage that makes your learning experience look like you got off easy.

14

I don’t think your assertion re: the poor get free medical care is completely accurate. Some quick research seems to indicate that Texas, like Nevada, allows medical care providers to utilize collections agencies and the like in order to get what they are owed. That means that a poor person is likely to get hit with a bill for services at the uninsured rate (much, much higher than what an insurance company would pay) and if they don’t pay, they are sent to collections and eventually may find a lien on their assets and a court judgement ordering wage garnishment, in addition to other debt payment/settlement procedures.

15

That’s hilarious. These people don’t have assets. They live five families to a rented house. they don’t carry I.D. and give false names. I somehow get the feeling you don’t spend a lot of time with very poor people. Having lived in Las Vegas for 25 years, I can tell you the situation there is the same … but not the way you’re thinking.

16

It doesn’t help you now, but for future reference, you need to contact your insurance and find out where you are supposed to go in the future. I am guessing there are other Urgent Care, or Immediate Care places where you live, find out which ones are covered.

At my clinic, even if we don’t take your insurance the bill would be less than the ER. It is not cheap, but much less. You would likely have been charged $300 - $500. Paying cash would get you 30% discount in our urgent care.

17

I would call this a combination of stupid shit you did and a stupid system. Having said that, do what Inna Minnit said (or better yet, go on the insurer’s website, which probably allows you to search for contracted providers in your zip code/area.)

18

Seems a bit steep for a doctor’s opinion. Should be more like $150-$200.

19

A PCP’s opinion, yes. Urgent care facilities charge more because they offer more services and have to have staff available at all hours to serve walk-ins.

20

Don’t assume this is the final decision. Talk to the hospital’s financial officer and the insurance company and appeal the decision. I had a similar thing happen to me - I was told I had to pay a bill because I went to an emergency room for non-emergency purposes. But I was able to show that I had been told to go to the emergency room by a doctor who I had seen first. Because it was a referral, the insurance company ended up paying the bill.