This is from the newest story in my ER billing project. For the past 6 months we’ve been collecting ER bills from readers. We’re up to 1,100 from all 50 states! Having a bigger data set helps us sees trends in emergency room billing. http://erbills.vox.com (2/9)
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That’s how I started working on this story: I saw a half-dozen bills for people who went to the ER, but never got treated. They left because the wait was long, or concerns that the bill would be too high. All were billed hundreds or thousands of dollars. (3/9)
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Do ER nurses and doctors deserve a fee for triaging those patients? Absolutely. Should it be $5,751, like Jessica was charged? Absolutely not. (4/9)
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One ER doc I talked to in Kentucky said that Medicaid typically pays $50 for this service. Medicare usually pays $129. He thought this bill was “excessive and unrealistic.” (5/9)
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Because of the ER Database, I’ve been able to write all sorts of story about ER billing. I’ve looked at the very high cost of rabies treatments (TL;DR an encounter with a bat can cost more than $10k)… (6/9)https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/2/7/16851134/rabies-treament-expensive-emergency-room …
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….and I've investigate insurance plans that are denying coverage for visits they say aren’t emergencies. That left one woman I talked to with a $12,000 bill. https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/1/29/16906558/anthem-emergency-room-coverage-denials-inappropriate … (7/9)
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I want to keep writing more stories like this, and I need your help! The bigger the database we have, the more we can identify trends in medical billing. (8/9)
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Have an ER bill from the past 5 years? Share it with us at http://erbills.vox.com . Don’t have a bill? Share the project with others who might. It’s a huge help to bringing a bit more transparency to a very untransparent health care system. (9/9)
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This is not healthcare. This is a scam. There's no other way to describe this.
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Compare this to equivalent bills in European ER, the difference will be staggering. The difference? Private, profit oriented vs. universal with price controls.
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German here. Our hospitals are also for-profit (generally). Still, this does not happen. Odd. Fight for change. This is nuts.
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Are your doctors and other healthcare providers trained at public cost?
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In US usually private pay and very onerous due to loans To pay for tuition. Privatized means fees are higher partly to repay those loans.
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This is awesome work. When I contacted NY electeds about the fact the NY offers no plans with out-of-network coverage AND no plans with out of State coverage, the response was "no worries, in an emergency, your insurance has to cover you anywhere."
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That's an inadequate response to begin with, but it's especially absurd since it's impossible to know in advance what your insurance company will consider an emergency. If they disagree with you after you're treated, you're screwed
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Yeah I went to urgent care for a urine sample, didn’t see a doctor, and was charged 1200$ For profit hospitals are ridiculous and need to be regulated, as do the insurance companies they collude with
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Another facet of this absurd billing model is that patients rarely have sufficient time with their medical providers and so they don't receive adequate info about diagnosis and treatment. And only 12% of patients understand the medical info they do get. https://health.gov/communication/literacy/quickguide/factsbasic.htm …
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Ironically, it's often the lowest paid (least formally trained) caregivers who have time to really talk with patients in detail - and so they develop extensive practical knowledge but they no authority over patient case management.
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@sarahkliff, if you'd like to interview a highly capable paramedic who has seen this dynamic occur with numerous patients, please DM me and I'll share her contact info with you.
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PLEASE keep writing these articles! I believe that YOU Sarah Kliff can make a difference & cause Congress or the President to make changes (ok it’s a long shot but so was the passage of the 27th Amendment).
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On October 16, 2016, Jessica Pell went to the ER for a deep cut in her ear.
She got an ice pack and bandage but left when she learned her doctor would be out of network.
Her bill? $5,751. (1/9)