Fainting in This Country Can Carry a $10,000 Price Tag

[marmar]

via AlterNet:



Fainting in This Country Can Carry a $10,000 Price Tag

By Kirk Nielsen, Miller-McCune.com. Posted April 1, 2009.

After passing out, Kirk Nielsen got gouged by exorbitant health care fees.



There's really no good time or place for a blackout, though some are significantly worse than others. Mine, one subzero evening in downtown St. Paul, Minn., last December, fell solidly on the inauspicious side of the spectrum.

The Level 2 lobby of the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts was teeming with people waiting for the second half of a fine production of Irving Berlin's White Christmas to begin. I was standing with my mom, sister and her three young-adult kids. Through the windows of a dazzling curtain-wall that spans the front of the trapezoidal building, I was admiring the golden lights on the canopy of trees in the park across the street. On the warm side of the glass, a professional trio of carolers had just finished a short intermission set. I was in a good mood; a fantastic woman in Duluth was expecting my call after the show to finalize plans for our first date the next night.

Suddenly, I felt weirdly lightheaded, so I turned to hasten to my seat. I took three steps, got the spins and took a nosedive, just missing the edge of a wine and coffee bar. Upon impact, I regained some consciousness and sat half-sprawled with my elbows on the carpet. A short-haired middle-age woman was crouching next to me, asking me if I knew my name, what day of the week it was, where I was. I did, which eliminated the possibility of stroke. "You blacked out ... I'm not a doctor ... That happens to me ... You should lay down," I recall her saying.

Assuming the dead man's pose in the Ordway lobby sounded fairly embarrassing, so I resolved to head for one of the lobby's posh benches several paces away. With someone's help, I got to my feet, and within two steps, a heavy wave of dizziness nearly sent me back down. I made it to the bench and sat, feeling exhausted and nauseated, and exchanging glances with the horrified faces of my mom and sister. I hoped my nieces and nephew were inside watching the rest of White Christmas, not their uncle's freak show. ..........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/healthwellness/134353/fainting_in_this_country_can_carry_a_%2410%2C000_price_tag/

[tech3149]

1. I guess I got off cheap

It only cost me $3K for a similar situation.

[bklyncowgirl]

2. Same thing happened to me when I was knocked down by my horse and smacked my head on a tree

I had a deep dirty gash on my head so after being insured by my "insurance" company that I was indeed covered, I went to the emergency room. If I'd known what was going to happen I would have gone to my horse's vet instead and begged her to stitch me up.

I was seen by the emergency room personnel who called the plastic surgeon on duty to stitch me up. What I did not realize was that while I was covered (sort of) for the emergency room personnel, I was not covered for the plastic surgeon. The guy did a great job and a few weeks later I got a great big bill for $8000 from the good doctor.

I submitted this to my insurance company and they promptly reiumbursed the doctor for--get this--800 bucks.

The doctor proceeded to sent me large bills on a monthly basis. We forwarded him the $1100 co-payment hoping that this would get the insurance compaby to pay the guy off and get him off our backs. No way. That $800 was the "traditional and customary" fee for service and they weren't paying a dime more.

I'm now waiting to see whether or not I will get another bill from the doctor.

Oh yeah, my medical insurance company and my major medical insurance company are kicking the payment to the Emergency Room staff back and forth and so they're billing us too.

Such is the health care system or rather non-system in America.

[Vinca]

3. It makes you want to get a tattoo on your chest "I refuse medical care."