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Post by genny on Nov 23, 2016 14:24:45 GMT
We are not insured right now. DD had an allergic reaction to one of the new meds (on a Friday) they put her on for depression, she had a rash that covered her entire body - scalp to the toes of her feet. Called PCP and they said go to the ER. Called the psych that prescribed the drug and he said stop taking it and go to PCP or Urgent care. It was alarming at that point, but not so bad that we thought the ER should be our first stop, so we went to Urgent care. Urgent Care doc gave her an epinephrine shot and a steroid shot and told us if it progressed to take her to the ER since there was nothing more they could do there. The rash progressed rapidly despite the steroid prescription and the antihistamine (I think) UC prescribed. UC called us back on Saturday and asked us to bring her in. Something had bothered the dr all night and she did some research and called us back in apparently there is a disease associated with people who are allergic to this particular drug. She saw her again and called in another RX. She said if it progressed AT ALL to go to the ER right away. Went to the pharmacy and our pharmacist came over and said 'hey i keep seeing your name pop up here what's going on with y'all?' DD was in the car so I texted her to come in and let him see her. His eyes popped open wide and he said look, if you see ONE MORE NEW SPOT come up get the ER without hesitation. Crazy thing was that she felt fine except the fiery itching and burning - no fever nausea or anything else that could be associated with the disease they feared.
The next day she woke up and that's when it had spread to the bottoms of her feet, her palms, inside her ears, nipples and all those parts where you really don't wanna itch so we went straight to the ER without even showering.
They took her in, then we waited for probably an hour. Then they came and took blood and urine samples, hooked her to an IV just in case they needed it later. Doctor finally came in an examined her and we went through the whole timeline of what all had happened - and we were of course in a dead panic bc we'd been reading up on this disease she may have. The doctor finally determined that she DID NOT have that, it was just a 'drug reaction'. They gave her a benadryl - literally out of a blister pack from a box just like you buy at CVS and sent us home.
Cost us $1700. I mean, don't get me wrong - the peace of mind to know that she didn't have what was feared was worth a lot. But I was just kind of stunned that it cost that much.
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gsquaredmom
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,078
Jun 26, 2014 17:43:22 GMT
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Post by gsquaredmom on Nov 23, 2016 14:42:27 GMT
My guess was 3k. A recent ER visut for my husband for severe abdominal pain? History of diverticulitis. Prior bowel resection. Two hours total. Saw the doc for a total of ten minutes. Abdominal CT. One shot of pain meds. For them to say they did not know what it was. Call a gastro. Over 12k Whenever you have a CT expect a large bill. CTs are an expensive charge. A CT machine is incredibly expensive and you also have to account for the CT techs time and the Radiologists fee for reading the scan. Big money. Of course. That CT was 6000 of it. What surprised me was that is about three times the cost of a CT I had 1.5 years ago. I am pretty good at estimating medical costs as I watch what happens. I had estimated 7-8k for his visit. The CT being 4K more than any other CTs anyone has had, emergent or not, was the difference. Maybe they got a new machine in the last few months?
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Post by mcscrapper on Nov 23, 2016 15:40:38 GMT
The thing is that you aren't just paying for the services received, you are paying for much, much more. You're paying for the patients who can't or won't pay, for lights and heat, for sanitation and sterilization of rooms and equipment, for malpractice insurance, etc. Those costs have to be covered to keep the hospitals open so you pay or you don't and the next patient pays a little more. Agree 100%. ER nurse here.... We are seeing an average of 250 patients per day in our ER. Of those pts, only a very small percentage (less than 25% I think) have insurance. Also, at least 4-5 of those patients are there every day or every other day for some BS complaint. We are also seeing about 25 patients every other day (MWF or T,TH,S) for dialysis that they are getting for free. Most of them are immigrants that have no insurance at all and cannot speak English. This means we have to bring in an interpreter or use an online service similar to FaceTime to communicate with the patients. As you can probably guess, all of this isn't cheap. The dialysis alone is upwards of $20k per visit. You can do the math on that one. For future needs, an urgent care center can usually throw in a few stitches and is a lot cheaper than an ER visit. Sorry your dd had to get them in the first place. I hope she's ok!! m SaveSave
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Post by crimsoncat05 on Nov 23, 2016 15:43:33 GMT
OMG!!! $2000 for THREE STITCHES, with only basic vital signs and health history, etc. as care?!? that is highway robbery!!!
--no wonder our health insurance system is in a shambles...
eta: ahhh, I didn't read the rest of the thread- I didn't think about the fact that the ER is charging not only for YOU and YOUR care, but for everyone else's care, too. (can't say I agree with that, but...)
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Post by femalebusiness on Nov 23, 2016 16:11:20 GMT
I never ever took my daughter for stitches. A few cents worth of duct tape and all is good.
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Post by jenb72 on Nov 23, 2016 16:22:36 GMT
I took my son to urgent care for stitches in his hand when he cut himself using a craft knife to cut foam for a project. It was a $200 bill for what I think amounted to 7 stitches in the web between his thumb and index finger. I only had to pay $25 of that. Insurance covered the rest. ER bills are always outrageous, and the urgent care was closer to us, which is why I took him there, but I can understand you wanting to take her there since the cut was to her face.
Jen
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Post by bunnyhug on Nov 23, 2016 16:25:09 GMT
I find all this horrifying and terrifying and eye opening! I knew that Americans pay privately for health care, but somehow I didn't know how much. It's truly shocking!
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AmandaA
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,501
Aug 28, 2015 22:31:17 GMT
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Post by AmandaA on Nov 23, 2016 17:41:51 GMT
Rather than reply to each person who has suggested to me that I should have gone to an urgent care.... Let me just say that there is no way on Earth that I would take my 3 year old with a laceration to a very prominent place on her FACE to an urgent care for stitches. We went to an ER that we knew was staffed for children with access to plastic surgery if needed. Now the nearest urgent care in our insurance network is the same one that looked at a completely normal x ray of my son's ankle two years ago and told us he had a broken leg... so perhaps I am a bit gun shy about them in particular. He didn't have a broken leg at all and actually had a much more serious medical condition that caused the pain and swelling. To say that my anxiety was through the roof when we saw the Peds 48 hours later would be an understatement. To go from "broken leg" to we need to work him up for a clotting disorder, leukemia, and so on was traumatic for everyone.
It does make me angry to know that we pay 75% of the fake price tag to cover the people who show up with no intent to ever pay or the bill that the state pays approx 35 cents on the dollar for. Since my husband is self employed we buy our own insurance and pay 100% of the premiums ourselves and have a huge deductible. Sometimes being responsible adults really sucks doesn't it?
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gsquaredmom
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,078
Jun 26, 2014 17:43:22 GMT
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Post by gsquaredmom on Nov 23, 2016 18:02:14 GMT
Rather than reply to each person who has suggested to me that I should have gone to an urgent care.... Let me just say that there is no way on Earth that I would take my 3 year old with a laceration to a very prominent place on her FACE to an urgent care for stitches. We went to an ER that we knew was staffed for children with access to plastic surgery if needed. Now the nearest urgent care in our insurance network is the same one that looked at a completely normal x ray of my son's ankle two years ago and told us he had a broken leg... so perhaps I am a bit gun shy about them in particular. He didn't have a broken leg at all and actually had a much more serious medical condition that caused the pain and swelling. To say that my anxiety was through the roof when we saw the Peds 48 hours later would be an understatement. To go from "broken leg" to we need to work him up for a clotting disorder, leukemia, and so on was traumatic for everyone. It does make me angry to know that we pay 75% of the fake price tag to cover the people who show up with no intent to ever pay or the bill that the state pays approx 35 cents on the dollar for. Since my husband is self employed we buy our own insurance and pay 100% of the premiums ourselves and have a huge deductible. Sometimes being responsible adults really sucks doesn't it? I think you did the right thing. When my son badly split his lip, my husband was all "superglue it." My insurance does not work at urgent cares anyway, but we went to an ER and I asked for a plastic surgeon. No way was the center of my son's mouth going to look bad every time he looked in a mirror, did job interviews, for a future wife, etc if we could help it. They ended up finding a resident who loved doing stitches and who was very, very good at it. The deal was that she would look at it and if she could not do it, they would call a plastic surgeon. She found a way to perfectly line up the pink edge of his lip and being able to use one small stitch. His scar is minimal, and as an adult now, you really have to know where to look for it.
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Post by Zee on Nov 23, 2016 18:36:23 GMT
Rather than reply to each person who has suggested to me that I should have gone to an urgent care.... Let me just say that there is no way on Earth that I would take my 3 year old with a laceration to a very prominent place on her FACE to an urgent care for stitches. We went to an ER that we knew was staffed for children with access to plastic surgery if needed. Now the nearest urgent care in our insurance network is the same one that looked at a completely normal x ray of my son's ankle two years ago and told us he had a broken leg... so perhaps I am a bit gun shy about them in particular. He didn't have a broken leg at all and actually had a much more serious medical condition that caused the pain and swelling. To say that my anxiety was through the roof when we saw the Peds 48 hours later would be an understatement. To go from "broken leg" to we need to work him up for a clotting disorder, leukemia, and so on was traumatic for everyone. It does make me angry to know that we pay 75% of the fake price tag to cover the people who show up with no intent to ever pay or the bill that the state pays approx 35 cents on the dollar for. Since my husband is self employed we buy our own insurance and pay 100% of the premiums ourselves and have a huge deductible. Sometimes being responsible adults really sucks doesn't it? I get it, it's your baby! When I was 17 I was in a car accident and needed a few stitches to my face, but the ER dr there said my skin was so fine and delicate like a baby's that they would just superglue it. It worked great. I've also glued a patient in the middle of the night because the doctor didn't want to come back in to look at an incision that wouldn't quit bleeding. It was pretty cool, I didn't normally get to do such things. And it wasn't a face, I would have had to refuse that order!
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Post by anxiousmom on Nov 23, 2016 18:44:37 GMT
I never ever took my daughter for stitches. A few cents worth of duct tape and all is good. My sons had a few things that required ER visits but simple stitches fall under the purview of my dad who keeps a kit at home for that purpose. I once saw him stitch his own hand up after cutting it on the boat. lol
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Post by femalebusiness on Nov 23, 2016 18:49:23 GMT
I never ever took my daughter for stitches. A few cents worth of duct tape and all is good. My sons had a few things that required ER visits but simple stitches fall under the purview of my dad who keeps a kit at home for that purpose. I once saw him stitch his own hand up after cutting it on the boat. lol I sliced a big gash in the arch of my foot with a razor while installing new screen on a screen door. I had to stay off of it for a couple of days but I duct taped it up and it worked fine. I wouldn't mess around with infection or chest pains but for most other things...they heal.
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quiltz
Drama Llama
Posts: 6,692
Location: CANADA
Jun 29, 2014 16:13:28 GMT
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Post by quiltz on Nov 23, 2016 19:03:48 GMT
Health care costs are crazy. DD had an MRI on her foot 2 weeks ago. Billed amount was $2,200. Tricare paid $325. It's nuts. I am a Canadian living close to the USA border. I have had several MRI's done in the USA, at a stand-alone clinic for the cost of $400.00 Cdn. My doctor calls in for the appointment, usually same day or next day and I go, pay in cash, get receipt, get the MRI done, get my CD, & go home. Next day I am at my gp, he has the fax read-out, takes my receipt and submits it to OHIP and about 3 weeks later I have a cheque from OHIP (Ontario Hospital Insurance Plan). This clinic is about 40 miles away from my home but close to good shopping. wine-win. Why would your MRI cost so much, was the MRI done in a hospital setting?
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Post by cannmom on Nov 23, 2016 20:12:21 GMT
Rather than reply to each person who has suggested to me that I should have gone to an urgent care.... Let me just say that there is no way on Earth that I would take my 3 year old with a laceration to a very prominent place on her FACE to an urgent care for stitches. We went to an ER that we knew was staffed for children with access to plastic surgery if needed. Now the nearest urgent care in our insurance network is the same one that looked at a completely normal x ray of my son's ankle two years ago and told us he had a broken leg... so perhaps I am a bit gun shy about them in particular. He didn't have a broken leg at all and actually had a much more serious medical condition that caused the pain and swelling. To say that my anxiety was through the roof when we saw the Peds 48 hours later would be an understatement. To go from "broken leg" to we need to work him up for a clotting disorder, leukemia, and so on was traumatic for everyone. It does make me angry to know that we pay 75% of the fake price tag to cover the people who show up with no intent to ever pay or the bill that the state pays approx 35 cents on the dollar for. Since my husband is self employed we buy our own insurance and pay 100% of the premiums ourselves and have a huge deductible. Sometimes being responsible adults really sucks doesn't it? Thats a completely legit ER visit. I took my son to the ER for face stitches. Called our peds office first, but they don't do stitches. So ER it was.
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Post by idahomom on Nov 23, 2016 20:12:59 GMT
I had double knee replacement revisions last week and I'm seeing the first bills come in. One night hospital stay $47,000. Surgeon fee $12,000. There are some names with fees of $2,500 and $3,500 - anesthesia maybe? Other nurse, hospitalist, PA charges. It's going to be a spendy surgery. Thankfully my out-of-pocket was met before this surgery so no cost for me this time.
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Post by Basket1lady on Nov 23, 2016 20:17:59 GMT
Health care costs are crazy. DD had an MRI on her foot 2 weeks ago. Billed amount was $2,200. Tricare paid $325. It's nuts. I am a Canadian living close to the USA border. I have had several MRI's done in the USA, at a stand-alone clinic for the cost of $400.00 Cdn. My doctor calls in for the appointment, usually same day or next day and I go, pay in cash, get receipt, get the MRI done, get my CD, & go home. Next day I am at my gp, he has the fax read-out, takes my receipt and submits it to OHIP and about 3 weeks later I have a cheque from OHIP (Ontario Hospital Insurance Plan). This clinic is about 40 miles away from my home but close to good shopping. wine-win. Why would your MRI cost so much, was the MRI done in a hospital setting? I do know that if you pay in cash, there is usually a discount. And I suspect that the total is inflated when you see the statement. Probably to make you feel good about paying those health insurance premiums. The insurance company only pays the contracted amount, not the full price, anyway. It wasn't in a hospital. Usually we do have them done on base at the hospital, but because the wait was almost 6 weeks, we were allowed to use a private clinic. (If the base can't fit you in within 28? 30? days, they allow you to use a civilian clinic.) This was a little private clinic, literally 2 blocks from the house, in a residential area. It was great--quick, efficient, and DD got an appointment the very next day.
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Post by deekaye on Nov 23, 2016 20:24:07 GMT
I'm actually surprised that it was only $2000. The ED is an expensive place to get care. I'm curious as to why you wouldn't use an Urgent Care Clinic... that's where I would go for stitches, not an ED. Edited to add: Ooops, sorry, disregard my curiosity... I didn't read far enough...
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Post by katlaw on Nov 23, 2016 21:15:17 GMT
As long as the health insurance industry continues to operate as a for-profit business the insurance companies will continue to make enormous profits off people. This is a natural result of a free market. The idea that families are paying $1000's out of pocket for insurance while the CEO of their insurance company makes millions of dollars a year is ridiculous.
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