ok So I'm paying around $260 a month for health insurance (united health care) for myself, my wife, and child which was born 4/14. I didn't know there was so many bills involved. Our balance sits right now $4,316.16. What gets us is not only do they charge us for my wife (room and board) but they also charge us once again for the baby. A few weeks ago we took our infant to the E.R. because he had a loss of appetite and a fever. We go in, and they want us to return the following day for a return visit. So as we do, we get billed twice. Now here in VA when you go to the E.R., not only do you pay the hospital but you pay the DOCTOR too. Long story short, for those 2 little visits to the E.R. is going to cost us over $1300, that we're going to have to cover. How outrageous is this!?!?
You should have a out-of-pocket max (per ind. and per family). But yes, it's outrageous. Last year I paid just shy of 10k in medical expenses, and I have supposedly good insurance. Every time I seem to be heading towards some financial reprieve, more medical expenses roll in. My son had tubes put in his ears today - ~900 more bucks right there. *sigh* The system is totally ridiculous.
Maybe it's a fraud...... oh the conspiracy.... But on a serious note, that's a lot of money. Insurance is supposed to make it manageable for a family to payoff its medical expenses. $1300 for two visits after the insurance already covered the other amount is way too much, even for an E.R. situation.
I remember seeing the bills from my 1 ER visit last year after a car accident. $4600 to the hospital $345 to the doctor $1200 from MRI/CT scans $640 for the ambulance ride A total of almost $7000 for one visit. I'm glad I didn't have to pay it.
That's weird that they asked you to come back. Most ER's try to pawn you off to your pediatrician. If I were you I would find a pediatrician that is a group with extended hours. It's saved us from a lot of hassle.
It was a weekend, I'm sure thats why. Besides on the followup visit one of our pediatrician was there to look at him.
This is why the 'Health Reform' that is needed in this country is NOT to simply 'buy everyone insurance'. What is needed is a mandate that customers be able to see the costs beforehand, and be able to shop around for where they want to buy their services. Not only would you know what you were getting into, but competition would drive prices down. Bah, I feel your pain. It's sickening.
Went to some dentist covered under my insurance. Made me feel out a bunch of paper work. Dentist comes in, does exams and looks at my teeth. Did I mention he answered two calls on his cell while examining me. All this took less then 15 min. Pretty little thing sits me down outside to go over my options. After insurance my bill was coming out to something like $4,000!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I excused myself. Went to a friend of a friend who is a dentist with all the paperwork from the first dentist. He said I didn't need anything on there except a crown. Total cost is $350 or something not even using my insurance. THIS IS SOOOOOOOOOOOOO ****ED UP!!!!!!!
This is the essence of capitalism. They have something you need to survive, therefore they have all the power, therefore they take from you whatever they want to take from you. The best thing to do is to go in, get taken care of, then throw their ****ing bill in the garbage and tell them to go to hell.
You get free tobacco....but you have to pay $1300 for an ER visit? That's the goofiest insurance I've ever heard of.
My employer pays mine which is over $350/month for just me, and it is crappy insurance. Really, outside of government coverage, insurance tends to be crappy.
I think he meant a 15% discount for not being a smoker, but I like your idea of free tobacco better. :grin:
Just had my appendix taken out and stayed at the hospital overnight after an emergency room visit. Have full insurance as a state of Texas employee. Can't wait to see how much it is going to cost me. Our new insurance guidelines are now covering the Urgent Care facilities ($50 copay) to encourage their use instead of the ER (now $150 copay). I will be checking the bill carefully and asking for explanations of any charge I don't recognize. It has been estimated that 90% of hospital bills have inflated or unnecessary charges.
We got raked over for childbirth as well. Admitted NYE, baby came NYD, and we got slapped with two deductibles for the year change. Didn't help that there were serious complications, landing my wife in the ICU for nearly a week. I will say, staying away from the ER whenever possible is a huge key. I also won't hate on the hospitals and doctors - their margin is a lot tougher than people may realize. They've got to put out those ridiculous "rack room rates" to offset the leeching from Medicare and non-payers. As a country, we're going to have to get it through our heads that medical care can't be a 5-star buffet with a $5 cover charge (and yet we find a way to drop $850 for a new iPad....). Just can't work. The amount of folks sucking the system dry coupled with the insurance companies padding their profits is killing the system. DC's idea of putting an even bigger percentage of the people on Medicare is idiotic. Evan
