How Emergency Room Visits are Squeezing Patients

S

sargentodiaz

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Location
North Las Vegas, NV
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Mountain View Hospital Emergency Room
Some time back, I fell and couldn’t get up. My wife called 911 and the paramedics showed up, along with an ambulance. Ended up be taken about 7 miles to this ER. Over $1,200 just for the ambulance ride and the hospital then billed my medical insurance over $5k for a one day stay!
Total ripoff.
And this article confirms it.
A $5,571 bill to sit in a waiting room, $238 eyedrops, and a $60 ibuprofen tell the story of how emergency room visits are squeezing patients.
This comes from the author going through 1,182 ER bills. Here are the findings:
1) The prices are high — even for things you can buy in a drugstore
2) Going to an in-network hospital doesn’t mean you’ll be seen by in-network doctors
3) You can be charged just for sitting in a waiting room
4) It is really hard for patients to advocate for themselves in an emergency room setting

[I told them over and over again that I wanted to go to the military hospital at the Air Force base and finally ended checking myself out Against Medical Advice]
5) Congress wants to do something about the issue
[What a joke! Congress will never do anything regardless which party has the majority]
The full article with stunning facts @ https://www.vox.com/health-care/2018/12/18/18134825/emergency-room-bills-health-care-costs-america
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I've been saying this for decades: The whole "Medical Crisis" nonsense in the US is caused by the greed of the physicians and the hospitals they work at. It's not rocket science when it comes to understanding that sick/injured folks are a captive and helpless client base. Thus, I view most physicians the same way I do most car mechanics: shysters who know they're onto a good thing and easy money.
 
Our entire medical system is a huge Rip-Off, and totally driven by the profit motive. Last year, one of our daughters had some minor surgery, and had to stay overnight in the hospital. When they got the bill, they noticed an entry of $80 for a box of Kleenex. Until our people wake up, and begin to demand a SP-UHC system, much like the rest of the civilized world uses, we are all held hostage to the Almighty Dollar.
 

I don't mean to contradict anything that has already been posted, but have you (I am sure you have) ever noticed when you receive your statements from Medicare or insurance that it states something like this:
Charge: Amount Approved: Amount Paid: You Owe:

I just received one of these from Medicare for a visit to my GP. The original charge was $128.00. Medicare approved $118.00 Medicare paid $94.40 and I owed $23.60, which was picked up by my insurance. We had been discussing this some time back and one of the retired Troopers was in the hospital for diverticulitis, which they had to remove I forget how much of his colon or intestines. Anyway, between the hospital bill and the doctor bill, the total was astronomical. I think if I remember correctly, Medicare paid 80% of what they claim was acceptable and then he received bills from the hospital, surgeon, radiologist, cardiologist, pulmonoligist and another one or two doctors for various things that had to be checked before they would perform the surgery. If I'm not mistaken, until it was all over and done with, all the bills totaled were over $75,000.00.

The kicker was that when he asked for an itemized bill, they told him that he would have to make out two checks at $35.00 each. He asked why and was told that an outside accounting firm does the billing, so they get paid for itemizing bills and the person that does the coding also gets paid. I don't get it.

Conversely, I am glad that we have the medical help and professionals that we do. We are being kept alive by all of the technology that is out there today and there seems to be a pill for almost any ailment. Could it be better? I am sure that it could, however, I am grateful for the doctors and nurses that are there for me when called upon. Sometimes, I think the nurses are more important than the doctors when it comes to actual"caring" for the patient.

And then there are Emergency rooms, which I do whatever I can to avoid going there.
 
It is ALL ABOUT MONEY. There may be people working in those places that actually give a you know what. But the bottom line is money and even those people have to make sure they do what the bullies who run those places want and demand. Or they go and get someone who doesn't give a you know what. Good luck to all.
 
If you look up "the highest paid jobs in America", on the Internet, the Highest paid jobs are ALL in the medical field.

https://money.usnews.com/careers/best-jobs/rankings/best-paying-jobs

These people are certainly deserving to be paid well, but their incomes are quickly becoming part of our overall health care financial problems. Over the past few years, it seems that the few times I've gone to a doctor, they appear to be "married" to their laptop, as they look up the symptoms I'm describing....probably on sites like WebMD or Mayo Clinic. Heck, I can...And DO...that, myself, both before and after I visit a doctor. I sometimes think that if they lost access to the internet, they wouldn't be able to do much more than prescribe a bottle of aspirin.
 

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