Random musings

[letsgocards89]

Has anybody tried those urgent care places as an alternative to the ER?

Yes, we've used the adult and pediatric versions and I would recommend them to anyone. Faster, cheaper, and equal or better service/diagnosis.

IMHO.

[wart57]

My baby had a 104.5 fever last night so we went to the ER, on doctor's aide's instruction. She received what is essentially going to be a $2000 dose of Tylenol. Viva life.

Been there - we got a bill for over $10,000 for one of my girls pneumonia visit to the ER and Children's hospital. Even with my insurance I had to foot close to $6,000 of that. This was before Obamacare - so maybe I would have gotten everything free and a free i-phone thrown in now that we have Obamcare.

Good grief. Did that bill get stuck on you because of deductible or some other trick?

Has anybody tried those urgent care places as an alternative to the ER?

Deductibles, and out of network care, as well as an ambulance trip ($1,900 that insurance would not pay) from the ER down to Phoenix Children's hospital because they were to worried to take her off the I.V. and let us drive her to Phoenix Children's hospital.

My wife wore the billing offices out, and she got them to cut about $2,000 off, but still cost us $4,000 out of our pockets - nice long payment plan on that one.

[Jocephus]

man that is awful. another tally in the "no children" box for me!

[wart57]

man that is awful. another tally in the "no children" box for me!

That was the sickest we had ever seen one of our girls, we would have promised to pay anything as long as they helped her.

[Jocephus]

man that is awful. another tally in the "no children" box for me!

That was the sickest we had ever seen one of our girls, we would have promised to pay anything as long as they helped her.

of course

[Arthur Dent]

My baby had a 104.5 fever last night so we went to the ER, on doctor's aide's instruction. She received what is essentially going to be a $2000 dose of Tylenol. Viva life.

Been there - we got a bill for over $10,000 for one of my girls pneumonia visit to the ER and Children's hospital. Even with my insurance I had to foot close to $6,000 of that. This was before Obamacare - so maybe I would have gotten everything free and a free i-phone thrown in now that we have Obamcare.

Good grief. Did that bill get stuck on you because of deductible or some other trick?

Has anybody tried those urgent care places as an alternative to the ER?

Deductibles, and out of network care, as well as an ambulance trip ($1,900 that insurance would not pay) from the ER down to Phoenix Children's hospital because they were to worried to take her off the I.V. and let us drive her to Phoenix Children's hospital.

My wife wore the billing offices out, and she got them to cut about $2,000 off, but still cost us $4,000 out of our pockets - nice long payment plan on that one.

That's awful. Was the ambulance ride part of the $2000 knocked off? I'd be mad as hell if insurance refused to pay for services requested by an ER doctor. Also, it should go without saying that charging $1900 for a ride between hospitals is criminal regardless of insurance. And the out of network thing especially for emergency care is total BS. There really ought to be mandatory price controls for emergency care if not more broadly.

[Joe Shlabotnik]

man that is awful. another tally in the "no children" box for me!

That was the sickest we had ever seen one of our girls, we would have promised to pay anything as long as they helped her.

And this, my friend, is why we don't want capitalists involved in medicine. Because they know this and they will take advantage of that fact and then blame a black muslim for why you are spending most of your dollars on health blackma - I mean health care.

[wart57]

My baby had a 104.5 fever last night so we went to the ER, on doctor's aide's instruction. She received what is essentially going to be a $2000 dose of Tylenol. Viva life.

Been there - we got a bill for over $10,000 for one of my girls pneumonia visit to the ER and Children's hospital. Even with my insurance I had to foot close to $6,000 of that. This was before Obamacare - so maybe I would have gotten everything free and a free i-phone thrown in now that we have Obamcare.

Good grief. Did that bill get stuck on you because of deductible or some other trick?

Has anybody tried those urgent care places as an alternative to the ER?

Deductibles, and out of network care, as well as an ambulance trip ($1,900 that insurance would not pay) from the ER down to Phoenix Children's hospital because they were to worried to take her off the I.V. and let us drive her to Phoenix Children's hospital.

My wife wore the billing offices out, and she got them to cut about $2,000 off, but still cost us $4,000 out of our pockets - nice long payment plan on that one.

That's awful. Was the ambulance ride part of the $2000 knocked off? I'd be mad as hell if insurance refused to pay for services requested by an ER doctor. Also, it should go without saying that charging $1900 for a ride between hospitals is criminal regardless of insurance. And the out of network thing especially for emergency care is total BS. There really ought to be mandatory price controls for emergency care if not more broadly.

Yep, Mrs. Wart was a bear dealing with the insurance and the providers. We got the Ambulance bull cut in half, and she got some of the cost from the ER cut back as well. Phoenix Children's Hospital on the other hand, would't do a thing for us.
And then 6 months later our then 2 year old fell at Chuck E. Cheese and broke her elbow - that was another 3 grand out of our pocket after all was said and done.

I was able to get a little back in taxes for all the medical expenses.

Now you may know why i am all for some sort of Universal health care, we had to come up with an extra $7,000 in a 12 month period, and they already take about $7,500 out of my pay to go to insurance premiums and my employer pays almost $21,000 per year for the insurance plan for me.

Insurance is a racket.
Health Care is a racket.

[heyzeus]

My baby had a 104.5 fever last night so we went to the ER, on doctor's aide's instruction. She received what is essentially going to be a $2000 dose of Tylenol. Viva life.

Dang that stinks. Did you all give her any ibuprofren/tylenol before that?

Little AW got a lot of fevers when he was younger and a combo of those two otc drugs worked wonders. Maybe not the best for his long term health, idk, but they sure did make him happier.

Yeah we did. Fever hadn't come down an hour later, and it was night, so we were told to bring baby in for blood tests (that they ultimately didn't even do). Really frustrating.

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

My baby had a 104.5 fever last night so we went to the ER, on doctor's aide's instruction. She received what is essentially going to be a $2000 dose of Tylenol. Viva life.

Dang that stinks. Did you all give her any ibuprofren/tylenol before that?

Little AW got a lot of fevers when he was younger and a combo of those two otc drugs worked wonders. Maybe not the best for his long term health, idk, but they sure did make him happier.

Yeah we did. Fever hadn't come down an hour later, and it was night, so we were told to bring baby in for blood tests (that they ultimately didn't even do). Really frustrating.

Sorry to hear that. Hope she's feeling better.