Sky-high trauma fees stun some ER patients

[jsr]

http://www.statesman.com/news/news/local/sky-high-trauma-fees-stun-some-er-patients/nSWTw/

Posted: 11:00 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 6, 2012
Sky-high trauma fees stun some ER patients
By Mary Ann Roser

When Mark Mitchell of Austin crashed his new bike in January on the Lady Bird Lake trail, he stood up, felt woozy and then passed out. A bystander called 911.

Paramedics with Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services encouraged Mitchell to go to the hospital. Fainting could indicate a brain injury; his left elbow also was bleeding. Mitchell agreed and rode in the ambulance to the region’s highest level adult trauma center, University Medical Center Brackenridge, which is operated by the Seton Healthcare Family.

Now, he’s sorry he did. The bill was more than $20,000 for the two-hour, 17-minute emergency room visit. It included a $14,248 “trauma activation fee,” which Mitchell called “totally outrageous considering the minimal medical (care) provided.”...

“Knowing what I know now, I would have said, ‘What is the ride going to cost me?’” said the 60-year-old Mitchell, who is still disputing his bill. ...

[Zalatix]

1. They need that $20,000 or the hospital will SHUT DOWN!!!

[iemitsu]

2. stories like these need to be in our faces

until we get a single payer program that covers all citizens.

[dixiegrrrrl]

14. Dunno about other places, but our ER is contracted out

hospital told me that ER docs are independent contractors
as is the ambulance system here.
same doc owns ambulance system and heads the private doc firm that runs the ER.

And the ambulance firm was begging for more money from the Mayor, saying it was not making enough money,

45 minute ER visit, no treatment, followed by hospital admit for collapsed lung, cost us 800.00.
We had no choice, it was on a Sat.

[XemaSab]

3. I saw an accident a couple months ago

Broken leg, broken ribs, lacerated spleen: ONE MILLION DOLLARS.

[schmice]

4. I got off easier. I passed out. Somebody panicked and called 911.

I was forced to spend the night in the hospital. Cost $14,000. Diagnosis: Patient fainted. Nothing found.

[woo me with science]

5. Two hours in the emergency room. One pain pill. No other treatment.

Over two thousand dollars.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

6. I was forced to go to the ER against my will

My visiting neighbor called 911 because I was acting lethargic and having a diabetic bout with low blood sugar. I took some glucose and I started feeling fine and told her so but she called 911 anyway. The paramedics came and I told them I was feeling fine and I wasn't the one who called them. My blood sugar was at 80 and rising. They told me I had to go to the ER. When I refused, they restrained me and told me they would have me arrested by the police if I didn't cooperate. I ended up with an ambulance bill of $1500 for something I didn't want or need. The ER gave me a sandwich, checked my blood sugar level and released me less than an hour later. I live one and a half blocks from the ER and the ambulance bill was still $1500 for something I didn't want. On top of that, I had obscenities shouted at me by one of the paramedics when I refused to stand up and they forced me onto their gurney. The sandwich and blood sugar reading at the ER for less than an hour's stay was another $3000.

[GulleyJimson]

10. Bastards!

It would have been cheaper to have been arrested.

[BlueMTexpat]

7. B-b-b-ut Mittens said that

emergency room care is an option for the uninsured.

You mean that Mitt was wrong?

[Berlum]

11. Precisely. THIS is the Republican "Health Care Plan, Inc." they want to maintain

[jsr]

12. .

[mrs_p]

8. The hospital wanted me to come in for my miscarriage

Costs for 2 hours to confirm what i already knew was happening was over $2500, of which I paid about $1500 out of pocket. Adding pain to misery, those fuckers.

[silverweb]

9. What an obscene racket!

[elias7]

13. Single Payer n/t