I’ve been in the ER in Japan a few times. Cost me around 100 USD each time. And I actually got treatment too.
2 Likes
Her first mistake was giving them her billing information.
My two stories of the good and bad of US health care:
Full time college student with zero insurance. I started having abd pain. At the school health center asked what I should do. They suggested I go to county health office, have myself declared indigent. Did that and was told to go to UC Davis ER. By this time it was going on 3 days with 7/10 pain. After pain meds, abd xrays and a CT, they said I was constipated. I later received a letter that looked like a bill, but was stamped across it in big letters “This is not a bill.” Cost of my visit $11,000. I owed nothing. This was about 15 years ago.
Fast forward 10 years, working at Mather VA Hospital ER. It had 12 rooms to see patients and it seemed there was always a multi hour wait, sometimes over 5-6 hours, so they built a new building for a new ER. Remember this is the US government at work…can you guess how many rooms the new ER had?
My story. I had a fall two months ago on a Sunday afternoon at the top of the stairs outside my front door and smacked my head against the brick wall and gashed my scalp. I wasn’t worried about that too much but since I am on blood thinners after my second DVT I was worried about intra-cranial bleeding. A neighbour dropped me off at the emergency department of the major teaching hospital in my state. Three and a half hours I walked out after having a CT scan and six staples put into the cleaned wound having nothing to pay. Down here the Medicare levy of 2% on your taxable income pays for this. The ambulance in my state would have been free but I didn’t want to bother them and was ringing for a taxi who hadn’t answered when I got the offer of a lift from the neigbour.
Though the conservative federal government would love to get rid of Medicare for their mates in private health care to rake in the cash.
1 Like
One other quick story.
When I had a stroke in 2016 the doctor placed a loop recorder in my chest. It’s a device a little bit bigger than a matchstick and goes just under the skin. It’s a bluetooth device that calls home every day and is programed to detect afib. They did not find afib.
When they placed it it required an OR with a surgeon, a nurse, people monitoring the procedure, etc. It took about 5 minutes and required a bandaid, no stitches.
It was 25 grand with my portion being 2,500.
Here’s the interesting part. I asked my cardiologist why so much, he wanted to see the bill because the device is actually approved to be placed in a regular doctor’s office. They have been lobbying to be allowed to place it but the hospitals won’t allow it.
I asked how does that work. He said hospitals have a bigger lobby than doctors.
After 3 months they got their information and it need to be removed, I asked the doctor if there was any harm leaving it until I met my deductibles so my cost would be less. He said no harm just let him know when I want it removed.
Five years later the device is still in my chest.
Point is, our costs could be a lot less but hospitals and insurance companies control the whole thing.
1 Like
I’m always at a loss for words when I read such stories of American health care. A few years ago by Granda woke in the night vomiting, he seemed a bit confused aswell and so we called for an ambulance. The paramedics suspected an Anurism. They rushed him to the largest hospital in the region and an operating theatre was prepared. While in theatre the surgeon discovered that he would be unable to complete the surgery because of the nature of the bleed. The decision was then taken to fly my granda to the capital where the surgery could be completed. Neither my granda or the rest of the family had to even think about the cost of all of this. Had we lived in the states he’d have died in his living room, despite medical treatment being possible.
4 Likes
All of these stories are why I describe the US Health care system as a dumpster fire.
And our mental health care (lack of a) system makes it look like it’s a shining beacon of goodness. (my metaphor for it is a container ship loaded to capacity with containers all full of dumpsters on fire; it’s not perfect.)
1 Like
I don’t see this asked or answered but did she officially tell them she was leaving?
The charge remains outrageous but I could see some minor cost if she didn’t let them know she was out of there and they prepped stuff for her care.
She hadn’t even been seriously checked to see what she needed. The only prep possible would have been the standard of changing the bed coverings and emptying the trash.
This topic was automatically closed after 5 days. New replies are no longer allowed.
