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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)https://www.vox.com/2018/5/1/17261488/er-expensive-medical-bill …
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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 awesome. Wish you were looking at medical billing in general. Cause I have some great ones...
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Shall I send a copy of my $1/4Mill medschool debt racked up at 7% interest while in Emergency Medicine residency since you think emergency Docs &services aren’t worth sh@+? Your data collection is problematic in so many ways. Your vilification of Emergency providers is dangerous
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Calm down Tara. The point is not to vilify providers. The point is to figure out a way to manage costs better. Why did you go to med school for 1/4M? Bananas. High malpractice? Bananas. But to get angry that billing schemes are now out in open? Bananas.
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I love that you are doing this!
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Data collection is important and can improve our lives and make them a hell of a lot easier!
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