She didn't get treated at the ER. But she got a $5,751 bill anyway.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

On October 19, 2016, Jessica Pell fainted and hit her head on a nearby table, cutting her ear. She went to the emergency room at Hoboken University Medical Center, where she was given an ice pack. She received no other treatment. She never received any diagnosis. But a bill arrived in the mail for $5,751.

“It’s for the ice pack and the bandage,” Pell said of the fee. “That is the only tangible thing they could bill me for.”

Pell’s experience is not unique. Submissions to Vox’s ER database project found multiple examples of ERs charging patients hundreds or even thousands of dollars for walking through the door. Some never got past the waiting room. Some were triaged, but none received treatment from a doctor.

Pell left the ER when she discovered the plastic surgeon who would see her was out of network for her insurance. She decided to go to an in-network facility instead. She thought this was a smart way to avoid the costly fees that came with seeing a provider that wasn’t included in her health plan.

“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.”

Pell’s health insurance plan paid the hospital $862, what it deemed a “reasonable and appropriate” fee for the services the hospital paid. That left Pell with a $4,989 bill that she received on February 28.

-more-

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/she-didn’t-get-treated-at-the-er-but-she-got-a-dollar5751-bill-anyway/ar-AAwzYHL?li=BBnb7Kz

[S.E. TN Liberal]

1. Ain't capitalism a wonderful thing? nm

[WillowTree]

2. Would be interesting to see the itemized bill.

They don't just send a lump sum bill and if they did, they would need to provide an itemization of exactly what services and/or supplies she's being billed for. They must have given her insurance company such an itemization or they never would have paid even the $862.

[haele]

3. Insurance companies will not pay the bill for "frivolous" visits to the ER.

And hospitals typically bill for the expected minimum treatment even if you decide to leave because either you decided to put up with it and have your S.O. monitor you until you can go to your own doctor the next day after waiting hours and hours to even be triaged.

Spouse fell and hit his head hard against the bookcase, thought he blacked out a bit and got up feeling dizzy at around 3pm. I took him and the grandchild we were babysitting at the time to the ER. Which was not full, as it was a weeknight. By 5pm, he had been triaged - no icepack, no meds for pain - and sent to a room to wait for a doctor to see him. We had access to water from the nurse's station and vending machines. Spouse had diabetes, so the sympathetic nurses told him what snacks we could get as he started getting hungry. He wasn't allowed to eat anything.

By 2am, he still hadn't been officially seen by a doctor, but the doctor who was taking over the shift dropped by to tell us it would still be another couple hours before he could actually see us, and after a few quick questions, he flat out told us that spouse should just go home and see his own doctor first thing in the morning, since spouse looked okay after all this time and was no longer dizzy.
So, we checked out, and saw spouse's doctor later that afternoon.

And were billed the negotiated minimum ER visit of >$2700 six weeks later. Because the insurance company decided that even though we were advised to leave after not seeing anyone but the occasional nurse checking in on us, they didn't need to pay for the rest of the visit as we left after nearly 12 hours. And that bill doesn't count towards our deductible, either. Basically, just lying on that gurney on that little 8x8 bit of floor space surrounded by curtains and not hooked up to anything cost us $250 an hour out of pocket. The triage nurse cost us almost $300.

I mean, it's like they think 10 hours visiting with those nurses, sitting on folding chairs or laying down on a gurney, and eating from vending machines must be just the greatest entertainment treat some people... (yes, I know some people abuse the ER, but really...)

Haele