A $5,000 Tummy Ache
The cost for just walking in the door of the emergency room? That came to $1,288. The ultrasound nicked him an additional $1,135. A comprehensive metabolic panel (blood analysis) was billed at $1,212. Moser was also charged $158, accidentally, for the saline solution he had turned down. The total came to $4,852.55, not counting separate bills that would arrive later and total nearly $1,000, including $540 for pathology and $309 for the doctor.
Source: Steve Lopez in the LA Times. HT: Jason Shafrin.
Are we supposed to feel bad for someone who chose to go with a $5,000 deductible then sought non-emergency care at an emergency room?
It is called CYA and anyone who says otherwise is not being realistic. As to why someone goes to the ER for a “tummy ache”, you would be surprised how often it is social, there is nothing good on TV.
This may have been what was billed, but the very last sentence of the article indicates that the amount was settled, presumably at a lower figure.
Maybe someday reporters will figure out that prices mean little in U.S. health care and that for hospitals, at least, billed amounts are often the starting price for the negotiation.
If there really is a crisis in health care this may be it. Transparent pricing will lead to lower pricing. I will never forget 2 years ago when my then 13 yo cut his eyelid in a schoolyard football game. 6 stitche put in at the ER by a PA cost $1800!! That is outrageous and ridiculous!
PS: I talked with my son by phone when he was on the way to the ER. He wanted me to just superglue the cut. Maybe he was right……..
The predictable consequence of a lack of competition and government rule.
Government and AMA restrict number of med school seats and residency slots leading to the same number of medical school graduates (new doctors) today as in 1970 despite population and usage increase.
Government restricts the number of hospitals, which prevents price competition and efficiency.
In the article, the primary doctor refused to see the patient and advised parent to take kid to emergency room. The hospital charged more than a $1000 for a test that medical labs charge $39, and the test was likely unnecessary.
In a competitive medical market place, there would be a 24 hour urgent care center in lieu of emergency rooms for preliminary screening; there would be lower prices by hospitals and doctors, and doctors would make sure they had 24 hour coverage.
It is the lack of competition at the doctor and hospital level that drove up the price of health insurance, led to employer health insurance dependency, and pushed more and more medical services into covered medical insurance services.
I do feel bad for this person – I agree with Morris, there definitely needs to be greater price transparency
There is plenty of blame to go around. This person should have known better than to seek care in the ER unless they thought they were dying. That said, the outrageous prices (that nobody actually pays) are the byproduct of third-party payment where the higher the price, the steeper the discount offered to insurers.
It’s almost like the high prices charged in the ER are designed to take advantage of the few people who are so scared they are willing to pay anything. Once in the ER, patients become a captive customer who (theoretically) has to pay what is asked unless are covered by insurance.
America has had taxpayer funding for fire departments for over one hundred years, with no harm to the nation or our economic fibre.
We should provide emergency care for our bodies in the same economic manner as we provide emergency care for our property.
In other words, urgent care should be free, outside of nominal fees like $50 to discourage really frivolous usage or someone who just wants an excuse to get off work.
I realize that some ER patients turn into full hospital patients, so there would have to be a point where the free care stops being free.
At some point we need to have a national consensus on what part of a hospital is a private enterprise and what part of a hospital (if any) is a community resource.
The doctors and administrators of our hospitals are some of the smartest people in America (I am serious, not sarcastic). This issue can be figured out. Instead I think that a lot of discussion is wasted between outrage at the ER’s or blaming the victims.
Some of the people who start fires have been smoking in bed or have a garage full of oily rags and bad wiring. But we fight the fires with taxpayer dollars, and just do our best to limit the carelessness factor.
Hospitals owned by private interests are not “community resources.”
If one wants a community resource, the government should operate the hospital or pay its owners for the services rendered to people that the government wants treated but who cannot pay themselves.
As this used to be the case, the important question is why it isn’t now.
Quite a few community hospitals have been sold to private interests over the last 20 years. In the 1990’s, HMO’s found that buying a hospital could boost their stock price even if it was not a wise transaction.
The sale of hospitals has continued, as states and cities faced pressure from their residents not to raise taxes. The one-time revenue boost from selling the local hospital looks very attractive to politicians. Since a majority of local voters have Medicare or decent private insurance, there is usually not much protest from the public.
These trends are too massive to turn around. That is why I would favor a small increase in Medicare taxes so that every community could have subsidized low prices for emergency care — whether it was done in a private or a public hospital.
Bob Hertz, The Health Care Crusade
His hairstyle and ltengh of hair on video of interview and at the time he got passport is the same. So is his dress, same shirt, same necktie. I would guess the video was made on the same day.