Hospitals Are Ripping people off
 

Emerg Room Drs have monthly Quotas to ADMIT .so many a month or risk being fired . I have Very good insurance . Ambulance took wife to Emerg Room for Bad Nausea . ,, Seemed OK when I got there Hosp was about 40 miles away . She'd got sick at a Bingo . Dr Said they wanted to keep her overnight for Obs, THATS WHEN RED Flags shoulda raised and I shoulda took her home .
They Kept her there 2 Days and ran $32000 in TESTS Insurance wont pay . ITS A SCAM WHEN YOU HERE THE WORDS "ADMIT" , you better RUN the other way unless it is drastic , but NAUSEA PLAHEEEEZ .... Spoke to a DR friend and he said all hospitals are doing it . he took his wife in for minor bladder surg and was billed $95,000

I don't see it getting better any time soon,either.

I am sorry for the OP's situation, but he doesn't make it clear where/which country this occurs.

I'm aware that most (but not all) on this forum live in the USA, and so I assume that this issue has occurred in the USA, but this was not made clear.

Most other "western" nations have a very different health system.

In the UK, for instance, hospital and ambulance services and (often) medicines are free at the point of delivery. It is over stressed, somewhat disorganised and underfunded, but generally speaking it works very well, and doesn't charge people for treatment.

British hospitals are reluctant to admit unless really necessary and they now release patients much sooner than they used to, with frequent check-ups booked for some time thereafter.

I have spent much of this year visiting a hospital not local to me - in the next city west, but I can't complain about the service or the people working there. The drugs they heaped on me boggled my mind and I have the top of one of our refrigerators piled high (think a cubic yard) with meds that (I sincerely hope) I will never use, but cannot return by law.

Since April, I have lived mostly on a food substitute I'm still living on plus other drugs are delivered to my door on demand and free of charge.

Last week I visited my GP to discuss my pain meds situation, (working to reduce them) and mentioned a problem with my right shoulder (massive weight loss has caused me a lot of joint issues). I have just received a letter for physio next Thursday.

The week before I had an appointment with MAX-FAc and my first speech therapy appt., made on the same day for my convenience.

My costs in this matter have been limited to fuel to drive the 40 mile round trip, and hospital parking costs, (although they made my daily visited F.O .C.)

So, just to make it clear, things are different in different countries.

I live in the US, and the OP's post is absolutely true in my experience. I had to go to the emergency room recently to take care of a household accident. They ran up the bill so fast it made my head spin. I had no control over what was being done to me and what the costs were. All I saw was the final bill. At this point, I would rather die than enter a hospital again.

Had you taken your wife to our ER, a level one trauma center, you would have sat in the waiting room for hours if not days. Nausea or bad headaches won't triage on a fast path to the back.

Basically, ER's will see people who have a good chance of dying if not seen soon. Those folks go back first.

About your billing claim. Do you know the insurance paid $95,000? What I see is only a fraction of the amount charged actually paid to the facilities.

I always try to balance medical bashing with a question, would you prefer to not have the hospital and staff in place? Would you prefer to have the pharmaceuticals available from the Civil War? Most people want the latest, greatest, most talented and competent provisions for their loved ones. Also, have you checked into the expenses of these institutions? Are you aware if not one walks through the door the expenses remain? Do you know the cost of the diagnostic equipment? Are you aware of the cost the build these facilities?

Everything is too extreme.

Politics, Religion, Profits, Losses, Opinions.

;)

Is the behaviour of the hospitals simply a symptom of underlying causes?

$32,000:eek::eek:In Canada the bill would have been $0. I have no issues with paying my taxes.

The bill was still $32,000, it just got sent to someone else.

Everybody chipped in and paid a few cents. ;)

Yes you're right. It got sent to all of us. :)

This might be the reality post of the year! Bravo! :)

You have the authority to stop , change and OK everything . You simply chose not to .
Be your own advocate .
What was the nature of your household accident ?
What was done upon entering the emergency room ?
How much was the bill ?
What would you have changed or stopped during all of this ?
How much of what was done did you simply disregard because you had insurance and figured that most , if not all , was going to be paid by someone else ?
Why did you not question things at the time ?
Just asking .

edit/never mind

Sorry to hear that. We've got excellent hospital systems around us and have had good luck. Our last three or four ER visits ended up with an evaluation and sending us home so we didn't have that "must be admitted" experience.

I know our prior health plan (called Health Care Plan) was forcing doctors into quotas and how long they could spend with patients at their office, etc.

Well on a Friday they all quit. Like, literally ALL the doctors quit. On Monday they opened their own office (they obviously had this planned) that they now own. We never missed a single appointment and continue to see the same doctors. The docs fought back against a greedy corrupt HMO that ended up going out of business (because they had no doctors).

So, I know that stuff happens. But I don't think it's the "norm".