Thread. A year ago I got an astounding health care bill: $629 for a Band Aid delivered in an emergency room. (1/11)pic.twitter.com/9zZTNyOqLl
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In the case of the $629 Band Aid, the bill broke down to $7 for the Band Aid and $622 for the facility fee. (3/11)https://www.vox.com/2016/5/13/11606760/emergency-facility-fees-american-health-care …
I’ve been obsessed with facility fees since. Hospitals keep them secret. How much are facility fees? Do they vary? How are they set? (4/11)
Today, I’m launching a big project to answer these questions. We are crowdsourcing a database of facility fees using YOUR bills. (5/11)
Facility fees are a small window into the biggest problem in American health care: our outlandish prices. (6/11)
Today, I wrote a story about a $25,000 bill for an MRI. That only happens in America. (7/11) https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/10/16/16357790/health-care-prices-problem …pic.twitter.com/cJ8iEoSyk9
We need help. Because these fees are secret, we need you to share your ER bills through our secure website: http://erbills.vox.com (8/11)
I’ll use this data for a year long project on health care billing. We’ll bring transparency to one corner of American health care. (9/11)
Thank you, thank you, thank you so much in advance! So thrilled to see where this story goes (10/11)
And if you want to learn more about that $629 Band Aid, check out the first episode of The Impact! (11/11)https://www.vox.com/the-impact/2017/10/16/16387298/band-aid-er-bill-truth-american-health-care …
if i had an axe stuck in my head (or something that tragic) i'd goto the ER. anything else i'd avoid the ER....it's the most expensive.
That is how Urgent care evolved, they also have stand alone ERs who take care of critical care stabilize and then admit to a hospital unit
Thank you for this from someone who now has $250,000 in medical debt because my husband wanted to not die at 40 (he had a double resection).
Next time don’t go to an ER for a stomach cramp.
Ok sorry to be snarky. I’m sensitive to piling on ERs. There is a lot of misuse, which drives the cost way up. ERs lose $ for Hospitals.
In your work, please correlate $ with the discharge diagnosis. I suspect you'll encounter some costly, inefficient use of resources.
you shouldn't have clogged the ER for a visit for a bandaid. go to urgent care, or visit to PCP or CVS minute clinic... not an emergency
Sounds like a case for @chcosts
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