Unrealistic Expectation of Hospital Finance Personal
Unrealistic Expectation of Hospital Finance Personal.
In May while I was at a city council meeting my phone text buzzer went off. It was a message from my wife telling me I must leave now as she quickly broke out with a rash and some major swelling of her face,throat and limbs.
I got home and yes she was in horrible shape and in 5 minutes we were in the hospital emergency room. They took her back to a room, did all the vitals and then she laid there for 20 minutes waiting for the Doctor.
When the Doctor came in she looked her over and went to a medicine cabinet and had her take two bynadryls(something like that) and she left the room for about 20 more minutes. In the mean time the swelling started to go down and the rash subsided. The Doctor returned and spent 10 minutes writing a script and advising her on how to handle the issue for the next few days.
The next day she was fine.
So we are not currently covered by insurance and the bill for 1 hour plus 2 pills was $2500. While there the financial person came in the room and told us if we paid that night in full it would be what the insurance company would be billed of $500. I don't have the money right now can I pay $50 tonight and qualify for the discount. Yes the women said.
So last month we got the bill and it was for $2450 so I called the billing department and reminded them of the $50 I paid and the discount they said I would get for the partial payment. I reminded them we were not covered and a 1 income family so they sent me some charity paperwork that I filled out and sent in that day.
Yesterday they called demanding full payment NOW or else our credit would be damaged. I reminded them about my request for assistance and reminded them of the charity application. The agent said well we need your full payment now and if charity pays we will refund you. I said to her I don't have a spare $2450 to pay you, I can sent you $50 more dollars.
She got demanding and I asked her if she could pay up $2450 today on any bill TODAY... NO she said, I said then why do you expect me to, I am unemployed looking for work and my wife works a min wage job. And then I said why is it you will take $500 the day of the visit and that is the only time, could you pay even $500 today, she said no again. I said I guess your rep was lying right?
I said to her then then don't expect me to either. If you want to set up payments of $50 a month I can do that otherwise this conversation is over until the charity group finishes up their review. She then said if you accept a payment plan the charity offer is off.
You cant win, It is just great how some business can exploit you in a time of need.
= new reply since forum marked as read
makes me livid.. sorry you have to deal with it 
hope you can hold out for the financial help... in your financial situation you don't need to be spending outrageous amt of money on an ER visit...
one reason I like Vermont is their commitment to health care accessibility...
my partner and I worked together for the past 8 years and he had good BCBS insurance (which he never used but paid large premiums 
) Well, he officially retired in January (and lost ins) and Medicare doesn't kick in until next month (he assumed all would be ok in the interim) He ended up in the ER a few weeks ago (not being able to breathe well and retaining serious water) and was admitted for a few days. He filled out all the paperwork (as his only income now is SS) and the hospital will pay 100% coverage... We would have been in serious trouble if they hadn't helped.
We desperately need single payer, universal coverage in this country...
