$6,691 for 3 tiny stitches? Really?

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plasmasmp

plasmasmp

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I AGREE


So I post a bit on this forum, I usually make youtube tutorials for video capable DSLRs if you've seen some of my stuff.



Well I was testing the hacked GH1 making a silly SuperSoaker grindhouse video when I crashed into the concrete. Had a little blood and caught it on camera below:


Seriously, is this what healthcare has come to in America? Seriously? 10 minutes of work in a dirty hosiptal. Lazy nurses. And almost $7000 for a few minutes of work! I can't be alone in thinking this is outrageous right?


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I AGREE
 
That's what happens when you go to the ER when it is not necessary. Your family physician could have squeezed you in for the ten-minute procedure.
 
w/o Kaiser, my newborn would have cost $15,225 to have(incl. prenatal visits). We paid $255 out of pocket. However, i won't get political. Just a good deal in my case. Sorry bout your $6000 stitches.
 
don't ever go to the ER for a non emergency because they will try to rob you blind. and especially don't do it if you don't have insurance, because then they'll really screw you. does the 7k also include the bill from the doctor? at some hospitals you'll have to pay an ER bill and a separate doctors bill on top of that.

you need go talk to someone at the billing department and explain the situation. how they code something can mean a difference of thousands of dollars. you need to tell them you don't have the money and see what they can work out with you. do NOT sign any type of payment plan you feel uncomfortable with.

good luck.
 
Thanks for all the helpful advice. I expected it to be crazy, like $1000 crazy or maybe $1600 crazy. But nearing 7k, just wow. I basically just got the bill and vlogged about it. I'm certainly going to be calling their billing dept as soon as it opens and find out what happened. It has to be some kind of sick joke.
 
No, it isn't a sick joke. Without getting too political, it's what happens when insurance companies and the medical community duke it out over the cost of a service or procedure. Insurance companies want to pay 10% of the bill to the provider, the provider jacks it up so he can get 10% of a larger bill (and write off the rest) and over time this escalates to where a single ibuprofen pill is $100.00 dollars. It's not an ideal situation and invariably leads to the patient getting screwed and going into the cardiac arrest he couldn't afford to pay in the first place.
 
mcgeedigital said:
You are paying for all of the illegals or others who have no insurance.

Expect it to get much worse.
Click to expand...

This is a frustrating aspect of the illegals debate but it really isn't why the costs have skyrocketed. It has to do with greed plain and simple.

Insurance companies want to dictate how much they'll pay and what services they'll pay for and health care providers want their piece of the pie for doing the service. After 40 years of this, we have a situation where simple procedures have such a large ticket price. This is to compensate for the "scheduled allowance" insurance companies attach to each service versus the overblown charge by the doctors who use the non-covered portion to write it off. They have been duking it out for years.

If video services were vital like Healthcare and there was a Video Insurance system set in place to help customers pay for this service we'd have the same problem. The Video Insurance company would say, "We are only going to pay $200 dollars of your $2000 dollar wedding video fee." But, no one can afford your services UNLESS they have insurance, so you have to participate and take the $200 dollars hoping you get it back in bulk. Then, over time, you wan't more than $200. You start listing your Wedding Video Fee as $4,000, so you can get $400 dollars. Eventually, you have a sitatution where you are charging $40,000.00 dollars for a lousy wedding video just to get the $2,000.00 you wanted in the first place. It may take years, but eventually, you'd get to that price point.

Sadly, in our country, in this day and age, there is plenty to go around when it comes to healing someone who is truly sick.
 
I suffered something similar and I am insured. Went to the emergency room for severe chest pains which fortunately turned out to be a bad case of acid reflux.
Since I wasn't admitted to the hospital, the insurance company wouldn't pay the ER bill. $1500.00. Next time it occurred I went to an urgent care clinic instead, $100.00.

Every other major industrial nation, provides for universal care for their citizens through some combination of public or non-profit private insurance programs and health care systems. We have the only remaining for profit medical care system in the world. We pay in most cases nearly double the cost per person of any of these other nations and get less for it.

The first elements of the new healthcare law just kicked in this week. Insurance companies now can't refuse coverage for children with preexisting conditions. The reaction of insurance companies in California was to stop writing all policies for children if the parents can't afford insurance for themselves too.
 
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I guess you felt you had no choice at the time. But in hindsight, was it necessary for you to go to the ER for your injuries seeing as you only needed 3 stitches?

I wonder if anyone offers some sort of "affordable" Liability Insurance for Indie filmmakers. Seeing as you do a lot of filming, it might be something to consider in the future if it is affordable.



mcgeedigital said:
You are paying for all of the illegals or others who have no insurance.

Expect it to get much worse.
Click to expand...

Really?

Blame "the illegals" why don't you. The Government & Insurance companies have no hand in this issue whatsoever do they?
 
In some ways I'm glad I live in Canada with our long waiting lists. At least we don't have to pay for visits to the emergency room...

And three little stitches... buy a box of butterfly stitches! They're self adhesive, and cost less than ten dollars. I was bitten by a friend's dog a few years ago (on my arm--it was quite a bite!), and that's all that we used on it. There's a scar, but not that bad.
 
My wife broke her ankle, and it was a nasty break. Went to the ER (it was a Sunday night, the only option at that point), had emergency surgery, 7 screws 2 pins and a metal plate, spent three days in the hospital, and the bill was about $11,000 when they thought we didn't have insurance. Once they had our insurance info the price jumped up to about $15,000.

A few months later she had her gallbladder taken out. It's an outpatient procedure, takes 45 minutes, you sit in a chair in a recovery area for about 3 hours afterwards than you hop in a car and go home. That cost about $10,000, billed to insurance. We could have gone to the ER and hung out in a hospital for three days for just a little bit more! The cost to sit in the chair in the recovery room - about $1,700. We should have bought a nice lazy boy, skipped the recovery room, and saved some money. To walk into the surgery room (not counting the doctor's time/nurses/medications/surgical instruments) cost $4,000. Really? $4,000 fee to use a room for 45 minutes?

Another reason healthcare costs so much is because people want to feel like they're staying in a resort when they go to the hospital. One hospital in our area has plasma TVs in every room, Queen and King sized beds in every room, all rooms are single rooms, custom artwork that cost thousands of dollars hanging in the lobby, etc... The cost of all these luxuries are passed on to the patients. And because people go to this hospital for this "atmosphere", the other hospitals are remodeling to match it. Million dollar renovations aren't free - the patients pay for them.

Healthcare is broken. I don't know the fix, but without a doubt it's broken and needs work.

Call the hospital and request an itemized bill for your stitches. If they billed for something you didn't receive, call them. Call your insurance on it too. Good luck.
 
H
henrooo said:
I guess you felt you had no choice at the time. But in hindsight, was it necessary for you to go to the ER for your injuries seeing as you only needed 3 stitches?

I wonder if anyone offers some sort of "affordable" Liability Insurance for Indie filmmakers. Seeing as you do a lot of filming, it might be something to consider in the future if it is affordable.





Really?

Blame "the illegals" why don't you. The Government & Insurance companies have no hand in this issue whatsoever do they?
Click to expand...


Oh there is plenty of blame to go around, INCLUDING the .gov, insurance companied, lack of tort reform, and yes illegals who use the emergency room like a regular doctor's office. It is all tied together.

I am sorry that those facts upset you.
 
I had 7 stitches on my finger and it was highway robbery even at the clinic. Seriously it's all a joke.
 
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