Hospitals are the devil!
Just a quick complaint on the status of healthcare in the U.S. The week after I broke my wrist, I had to go back to the ER to pick up my CD with xrays. While I was there, I decided to wait to speak with someone to see if they had figured out my ER bill yet. To my surprise they had, and she told me an exact amount that was around $450. That of course was high enough in my opinion, so I asked what that covered. "xrays, hospital use, etc." Ok i say to myself, that is almost understandable then. She told me to expect separate bills around 60 or 70 dollars for the ER doctor himself and the radiologist. I was told to expect these all in a week or so. Got the doctor and rad. bills, 149 and 25$ respectively. Doctor bill a bit high but ok. Month and a half later, May 3, I get the ER bill......it is an astonishing $1392.00. WHHAAATTT??!!! This is before the oh-so generous "uninsured discount" (yeah i'm an uninsured idiot) of 30%. So they asking me to pay $974.40, still more than twice what I was quoted. So I filed a formal complaint with the billing company based out of Jacksonville, we'll see what good that does. And when the rain subsides, I will be making a friendly visit to the hospital to remember the face of the woman who told me the 450 amount, and get her name. I just would LOVE to know the justification of $1392 dollars for 30 minutes in an ER where I spoke to a doctor for about 1 minute and a nurse for about 2 and they gave me what must be a 3 dollar sugar tong splint. Is there not something wrong with this picture?