Emergency room patients can face steep bills even when treatment is declined
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Re: Emergency room patients can face steep bills even when treatment is declined
#2There is an easy way to avoid this, don't go to the Emergency Room unless you have an Emergency.
Re: Emergency room patients can face steep bills even when treatment is declined
#3There is an easy way to avoid this, don't go to the Emergency Room unless you have an Emergency.
I guess the point of the article is exhorbitant fees. An ice pack and a bandage in ER don’t have to cost $5k plus.
Re: Emergency room patients can face steep bills even when treatment is declined
#4There is an easy way to avoid this, don't go to the Emergency Room unless you have an Emergency.
Hitting your head hard enough to cause injury is almost always a reason to seek immediate medical attention, especially if the head injury is the result of losing consciousness in the first place.
Re: Emergency room patients can face steep bills even when treatment is declined
#5There is an easy way to avoid this, don't go to the Emergency Room unless you have an Emergency.
> “I decided to decline treatment because I can’t really afford any surprise bills right now,” she said. “The bill I’d probably incur would not be worth saving my ear, which was sad but a choice I had to make.”
She felt that losing her ear was a possible outcome of the accident, which certainly seems like an emergency.
More broadly, it can be difficult for a layman to determine what warrants emergency care vs what doesn't.
Re: Emergency room patients can face steep bills even when treatment is declined
#6There is an easy way to avoid this, don't go to the Emergency Room unless you have an Emergency.
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Re: Emergency room patients can face steep bills even when treatment is declined
#7There is an easy way to avoid this, don't go to the Emergency Room unless you have an Emergency.
I remember when I was still a school kid there was another kid that fell on his head when he did skate boarding. He said that everything was alright. In the afternoon he got headache but still claimed it was alright. Next day he was dead...
Re: Emergency room patients can face steep bills even when treatment is declined
#8As a Canadian, we have our own share of problems with our health care system... but thank goodness this isn't one.
Re: Emergency room patients can face steep bills even when treatment is declined
#9How can people read and hear about stories like this, and even possibly think it's OK or even normal?
How do lawmakers in the USA convince people that this is acceptable? I have never directly paid a single cent for healthcare, and neither has anyone I know. When I had to get 6 stitches in my forehead at 2 AM on a Sunday morning, it cost me nothing. When my friend needed to get the tip of his finger reattached, it cost us $5 for parking. When my brother spend almost a week in hospital after coming off his motorbike, requiring surgery on both his knees, it cost him a grand total of $0 out of pocket.
Are people just so blind to how extortionate healthcare is in the USA?
The argument that I pay for my healthcare in my taxes doesn't hold water either. I pay less tax in Australia than I would in California, and I get free hospital care as part of that. I don't have health insurance and see no reason why I would purchase it either.
Re: Emergency room patients can face steep bills even when treatment is declined
#10There is an easy way to avoid this, don't go to the Emergency Room unless you have an Emergency.
Yeah. Easy. When I went to an ER because I had fainted multiple times they wanted to send me away, because "that's nothing too serious" ... and I thought that sounds reasonable and wanted to go home, they are the experts after all, aren't they? A good friend told them to do their fucking job instead and they grudgingly agreed to check me, but "you will be out of here in no time, there's nothing" ... so ... they did a blood check and I waited. And waited. "Well .. we don't know, something is off, we will keep you here for the night. But it's only a precaution, there's probably nothing wrong with you!" ... next day they found Stage 3 cancer, which had spread through my whole body. I almost died, had to spend weeks in intensive care, get chemo and operations and the full program.
And all of that only happened because my friend didn't take multiple "no" from the ER doctor for an answer and insisted that I get at least a rudimentary checkup by them, otherwise I would be dead. So, respectfully, your comment is bullshit.