I’ll bid $1, Bob.
Sorry. 
I’ll guess around $775.
Well, I went to the ER last summer, and the ER bill was about $250, the physician’s group bill (I was actually seen by a PA) was about $275. That’s right, over $500 for them to do a brief exam, pull a Depakote level, and give me a pill. And that’s in an area with a fairly low cost of living. I hate to think what it would have cost if I’d a) seen an actual MD b)needed extensive lab work or films done or c) needed actual hands-on treatment.
I’ll guess $900, Bob. (And the person who bids $901 is getting kicked in the shins.)
Gee…feeling a bit snarky there Thudlow. Of course it is not ‘free’ in the sense you portrayed, but in countries with a National Health scheme that is payed for from taxation, then an OP such as this would never need to be written. One of the comforts of so-called ‘socialised medicine’ is not having to have a nervous breakdown about the financial costs of getting crook.
Oooh, I always hated those people. And every time, I pray for Price Is Right Karma to get 'em!
Wow. 1000-2000$ for a couple of stitches in your thumb? We have socialized health care here, too, and I’m damn glad of it (she says, as an ambulance drives by…weird).
I brought my SO to the hospital yesterday after a nasty fall off his bike. We were there for 4.5 hours, had 3 nurses at various points (4 if you count the triage nurse), one doctor, and he had x-rays of both his elbows taken. He needed 6 stitches in his chin (which will give him a mirror-image scar to his OTHER chin bike-injury from several years ago), major cleanup of some large abrasions on his face and knees, and he had a broken elbow which had to be set and placed in a cast. He has to return to the fracture clinic on Thursday to see how his elbow is healing, and he will need physio therapy.
We are both students, and as such would have no way to pay for any of this if it wasn’t “free”. I suppose (or rather, I know) our parents would have helped us out, but really the last thing we need right now is to be stressed out about having to pay for all of this. It sucks sometimes to have so much taken off of income for taxes, but when you need health care, it’s good to know you can get it without worrying about the money. No system is perfect, and there are countless ways it can be improved, I’m sure, but for us, yesterday, the “free” health care was what we needed. And we received fantastic care. The nurses and doctor were kind and sympathetic, and they did their jobs as quickly as they could, considering that they had other patients to deal with. I’m seriously thinking of sending them a Thank-you card, because they did such a great job (and I know the system isn’t great from their POV either).
Sorry for the hijack, but I just wanted to say that.
I went into the ER for a pretty bad case of gastroenteritis a year and a half or so. They had me on a bed for 3-4 hours then gave me a GI cocktail and left me there for 6 hours, I asked repeatedly for someone to tell me what was up and I finally just walked out (after removing my own IV after more than a dozen requests for someone to take it out of the back of my hand) I was so pissed at the absolute lack of service. It wasn’t even busy! I would walk into the nurses station and ask one of the doctors standing there to release me and they all said I wasn’t their patient…I never saw the first doctor again after the first 45 second talk. Terrible service
The bill was $2200.
So the upshot is I’ve had a pain in my left side right under my lowest rib for a week that hurts when I touch it but I’m not going to do anything about it because I cannot afford the bill :mad:
<hijack>
Suppose lightingtool had gone to an Urgent Care Facility instead of the ER- assuming they have them in that state- would it cost the same, less or more?
I’m curious, since I got sent the bill for visiting the urgent care before my insurance paid it off (the nurse at my office told me, after telling me there were no appointments, to go there and there would be no referal needed. She was wrong about the referal, so it was a while before it was paid off by the insurance company). Besides my co-pay ($10) they charged me $150 to be examined, and to test for strep. The antibiotics were a seperate $7 charge I paid then and there since it was cheaper than the $10 co-pay it would have cost me to have it filled at my pharmacy the next town over, go figure.
It seems cheaper than it would have been to go to the ER, which is something I wonder about since I’m not insured at the moment, and things do come up.
</hijack>
No need to jump down my throat, or to suggest that I’m a complete idiot. I’m sorry if my post sounded smug - it wasn’t meant to - I was simply appalled by the thought of being injured or ill and having to agonise about the bill. And by the amounts quoted in the other posts - on top of insurance. And yes, I do understand the principle behind taxation. The difference between the British national health service and the system in the US is that everybody here pays towards the NHS according to their income, but the quality of care is the same regardless. The result is that nobody in this country, however poor or down on their luck, needs to worry about asking for medical help when they need it. Judging by what I read on the internet, that does not seem to be the case in the US.
Hey, quit hijacking my thread! Anyway, to help move things along, no, I did not see a specialist, no x-rays, no extra bells and whistles. Just what I said in my OP. Thanks for all the support, and yes, I do have insurance.
I’m glad we’ve started a “Price Is Right” thing. Now if I could only get the theme song out of my head.
I haven’t quite figured out a prize yet, but we’ll see what happens. Thanks!
$1039.57
$1759.33
I was in the hospital one night once.
The bill ?
$35,000.
Really.
Maybe you should have gone to the LA County hospital, instead. If you can’t pay, it’s free.
If you went to upper-class area hospital in LA county but don’t have an upper-class area income, ask the hospital you went to to bill the county.
MikeG, did you go to Evanston Hospital? That’s where I ended up with my leg, after being flown fro FL where I broke it, in a bathrobe and a cast up to my hip. My BF at the time had to hire a medicar service to pick me up on a stretcher at the gate at O’Hare, because I was too weak by then (after 4 days with partially set fractures, dehydration from vomiting, and painkillers) to even get off the plane on crutches.
The staff at Evanston were bloody incredible. I spent the entire day there in the ER before they found a room to admit me onto the ortho ward, but the first thing they did was to rehydrate me by IV and hook me up with some morphine, which the sadistic morons in FL never did, in spite of my pleas that the oral painkillers weren’t doing squat. But best of all, at my request, they kept my mom out of the room (at my express request). Trust me, that was a stroke of genius.
OK, so they kept billing the wrong insurance company, and it took me almost 2 years to straighten out the billing, but those few hours of morphine were worth just about any price. (And lest you all think I’m some kind of junkie, try breaking both leg bones into little fragments, flying cross-country that way, and leaving them in fragments for a week until the swelling has reduced enough for surgery, and see what your thoughts on morphine are at that point).
Similar ER situation (sewing up a ‘to the bone’ cut on a thumb) in Houston last year cost $2,104.85.
My 19 year old uninsured Goddaughter. They asked me for my Visa or Mastercard to pay her bill. Yeah, right. Billed as three bills, she sends each component $5 a month. The hospital will write off half of theirs, the suturing doctor will write off half of his. The anesthesiologist, who actually did nothing but decide that she didn’t need an anesthesiologist wants all $650.
We’ve written to them asking for a detail of WHY that costs $650. And now we’re writing to the various Medical Societies involved, and seeking a fraud investigation.
Backing out the anesthesiologist, accounting for inflation and differences in COL between areas…I’ll bid an even 2 grand, Bob.
Sorry, I guess I did sound a bit snarky. I just wanted to point out that There Ain’t No Such Thing As A Free Lunch. There’s more I could say, but not without seriously hijacking this thread.
But with all these big numbers being thrown around, I’d be interested in knowing, not only what the price actually is, but also what a fair price should be. In other words, how much of that $ is a fair reflection of what you’re getting and what it’s costing the hospital to treat you, and how much is artificially inflated or unnecessary? (Leaving aside the question of who should pay this fair price, and how and when, but keeping in mind that somebody has to.)
I was in ER a few years ago for 2 hours and it cost $700. All I got were a couple of doctors checking on me, two Tylenol (regular, not with codeine), and some blood drawn. Turned out to be an allergic reaction to sulpha.
So, my guess is $1278.32.
mrsface, the prices people are quoting are not on top of insurance. We are guessing what will be billed, which will either be paid by the OP’s insurance, or if he does not have insurance, by the OP. If you have insurance, your portion of the bill varies from nothing to a percentage, usually 10-20%. For example, my recent gallbladder surgery (which I didn’t have to wait for, which I would have probably done if I lived in the UK or Canada), was billed at $17,000. I didn’t pay anything except a $10 co-pay for the initial consultation with the surgeon.
Oh, and my guess is $1,500.
Austin Powers voice, “one million dollars.”
Next time use alcohol and super glue. OR just wrap it up and let it heal naturally from the bottom up. If you use the superglue you want to make sure its clean because Trapped bacteria in the wound can cause serious problems.
Yeah, I almost didn’t go to the hospital at all, just pick up some butterfly bandages and let it heal itself. However, last time I did that I ended up with an infected tendon in my right index finger and the docters told me I might loose mobility in the middle joint. As I am a semi-pro piano player, I have since decided to play it safe (heh) with my fingers.
Looks like we’re smoothing out at about $1,200. Can’t wait to get the bill! (First time I’ve ever said that…)
Aaaaargh. That should be “lose,” not “loose.” Schmuck. And please ignore the terrible sentence structure I started my lovely post with. Oh, and I just ended a sentence with a preposition. And started one with a conjunction. Whoops, make that two. I’m going to hit “submit” now.