> Tens of thousands of people each year receive a series of shots to prevent rabies after a possible exposure. It normally costs between $1,200 and $6,800. Not in this case.
Even that "normal" cost is absolutely crazy.
Bay Area couple shocked by $200K hospital bill for rabies shots
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Re: Bay Area couple shocked by $200K hospital bill for rabies shots
#12The insurance company paid $58000 for the treatment? How the hell did they not get the hospital to get things fixed? My insurance made me submit proof, rejected it, submit proof again, partially approve, call them and then finally reimburse my $18 covid take home tests. But somehow they don’t do the same to hospitals?
Re: Bay Area couple shocked by $200K hospital bill for rabies shots
#13This is another of those cases which seem to be very clearly price gouging, which is illegal, unless you're a hospital.
The hospital should be subpoena'd to get the actual cost of treatment - both the vaccination, the amount paid to the ER staff during the time the patients were there, etc.
Also this BS where they can just say "out of respect for patient privacy we don't discuss billing matters", when the patient has provide explicit documentation and consent saying the hospital can discuss billing can also get shafted.
Re: Bay Area couple shocked by $200K hospital bill for rabies shots
#14so a whole story about a billing mistake, which they could have figured out without involving the news org?
“Billing mistakes” happen way too often in this country and the hospitals don’t fix them that easily.
Re: Bay Area couple shocked by $200K hospital bill for rabies shots
#15That's a shitty bill. It's also insane that US doctors and hospitals aren't required to post prices, keep prices reasonably within an allowed range, and are allowed to price gouge customers for however much they want without limit.
In Redding CA, I ran across a woman with a nasal infusion pump tube taped to her face in a coffee shop. She was hurriedly collecting paperwork for a hearing across the street. It turns out she was preparing to go through bankruptcy proceedings while she was dying from incurable Stage IV cancer. That the doctors and hospitals were vultures picking her life apart for money while she was dying but still alive and making her end-of-life as miserable as possible was adding insult to injury. Some hippocratic oath. More like hypocritical chisels out to monetize misery.
So when someone is out of money and dying in America, they are treated like criminals with court proceedings. At their hearing, they get a chance to justify their existence requires clothes, transportation, and housing while everything else goes to creditors.
Re: Bay Area couple shocked by $200K hospital bill for rabies shots
#16so a whole story about a billing mistake, which they could have figured out without involving the news org?
Where does it say it's a billing mistake?
Re: Bay Area couple shocked by $200K hospital bill for rabies shots
#17What happens if you refuse to pay?
Debt collectors, A lien on their house, etc
Dispute the debt.
They can't put a lien on property without a court case and I want to see someone stand in front of a judge and justify an un-itemized 100k bill when their own public charge sheet shows that the service should cost <1000.
Re: Bay Area couple shocked by $200K hospital bill for rabies shots
#18I encountered a bat many years ago acting erratically inside the house. It had evidently entered in my sleep. I looked up the cost, and found out the household would be bankrupted by the shots and we would end up homeless. I calculated the danger from homelessness outweighed the risk of rabies. I guess the bet paid off, as we're now well past the 99th percentile of incubation period.
Seems pretty remote chance to get rabies without being bit, but did you read the last paragraph? "The Aguilars wound up paying $3,546.64 out of pocket. The insurance company told us Wednesday that they "are reaching out to NorthBay Healthcare... to address these excessive charges."" The shot normally costs ~$600 USD. There is no way the insurance in the end will pay the $54k the hospital tried to get away with.
If I recall correctly we had no insurance at the time. I was able to afford to re-vaccinate my animal, as it's only $60 at the vet, I figured at least my pet would survive.
Re: Bay Area couple shocked by $200K hospital bill for rabies shots
#19I encountered a bat many years ago acting erratically inside the house. It had evidently entered in my sleep. I looked up the cost, and found out the household would be bankrupted by the shots and we would end up homeless. I calculated the danger from homelessness outweighed the risk of rabies. I guess the bet paid off, as we're now well past the 99th percentile of incubation period.
Seems pretty remote chance to get rabies without being bit, but did you read the last paragraph? "The Aguilars wound up paying $3,546.64 out of pocket. The insurance company told us Wednesday that they "are reaching out to NorthBay Healthcare... to address these excessive charges."" The shot normally costs ~$600 USD. There is no way the insurance in the end will pay the $54k the hospital tried to get away with.
> United Healthcare still paid more than $58,000 for the couple's rabies treatment
They did.
Re: Bay Area couple shocked by $200K hospital bill for rabies shots
#20Earlier quoted context omitted.
Seems pretty remote chance to get rabies without being bit, but did you read the last paragraph? "The Aguilars wound up paying $3,546.64 out of pocket. The insurance company told us Wednesday that they "are reaching out to NorthBay Healthcare... to address these excessive charges."" The shot normally costs ~$600 USD. There is no way the insurance in the end will pay the $54k the hospital tried to get away with.
If I recall correctly we had no insurance at the time. I was able to afford to re-vaccinate my animal, as it's only $60 at the vet, I figured at least my pet would survive.
It would almost definitely have been cheaper for you, without insurance, than it was for this couple.