Hospital charges $9,000 to bandage cut middle finger

[Hum]

A New Jersey teacher said he was charged nearly $9,000 after he showed a cut middle finger to a hospital emergency room aide.

Baer Hanusz-Rajkowski said he went to the Bayonne Medical Center last August after he cut his finger with a hammer and thought he needed stitches. He didn't. Instead he was sent home after he got a tetanus shot from a nurse practitioner who also sterilized the cut, applied some antibacterial ointment to it, and put a bandage on it.

Then he got the bill: $8,200 for the emergency room visit, $180 for the shot, $242 for the bandage and $8 for the ointment, plus hundreds of dollars for the nurse practitioner.

"I got a Band-Aid and a tetanus shot. How could it be $9,000? This is crazy," Hanusz-Rajkowski told NBC 4 New York Wednesday.

The hospital's CEO Mark Spektor told the station Hanusz-Rajkowski's visit cost so much because his insurance carrier United Healthcare refuses to offer fair reimbursement rates.

But UnitedHealthcare responded by saying the hospital was just trying to gouge its members.

Linda Schwimmer of the New Jersey Health Care Quality Institute said the right price for getting a finger bandaged should be $400 to $1,000.

She told NBC that New Jersey needs a public database showing the average price for medical procedures.

source

[+Random Stranger Subscriber¹]

Linda Schwimmer of the New Jersey Health Care Quality Institute said the right price for getting a finger bandaged should be $400 to $1,000.

 

Now this is the scary part...     $400-1000 for getting a finger bandaged?!

[JustGeorge]

Linda Schwimmer of the New Jersey Health Care Quality Institute said the right price for getting a finger bandaged should be $400 to $1,000.

 

What a bunch of BS! If there was no such thing as medical insurance, there is no way they'd get away with charging this much, let alone the $9,000 charge. Why? Cause no one but the rich could afford to pay for anything medical related.

[simplezz]

Wow. I'm glad I live in the UK. Although the NHS is slowly becoming privatised as well.

[Max Norris]

A New Jersey teacher said he was charged nearly $9,000 after he showed a cut middle finger to a hospital emergency room aide.

After that bill, I'd probably be showing that middle finger to a bunch of other people at the hospital too.

That's just nuts.

[Crisp]

I'll bandage your finger for $399, or give you a wiki or ebook on how to do it for $299.

[Jason S. Global Moderator]

Yay obamacare. keep it up!

[Cnónna]

I'll bandage your finger for $399, or give you a wiki or ebook on how to do it for $299.

i'll do the same offer for $398,100 cent's and $298.100 cent not a penny less though :devil:

[He's Dead Jim]

I'd do it for twenty dollars,

 

and spit on it to disinfect first....

[Hum]

This is why I do self-surgery. :laugh:

[Cnónna]

I'd do it for twenty dollars,

 

and spit on it to disinfect first....

a real medical malpracticer would urinate on it  first :no:

 

you SIR!! are a fraud :crazy: 

[+Ryster Subscriber²]

The real question is... why would you go to an emergency room with a cut on your finger in the first place. Hardly an emergency condition. Go and see your MD instead.

[spacer]

The healthcare system in this country, like many other things in it, is such a freakin' joke. Not only was this man charged $9000 for something so small, but an insurance carrier's response was that should have been $400 to $1000...which is STILL stupidly high. Ugh, this country...

[Raa]

I've got a box of bandaids here. No charge, i'm that generous. :P

[Hum]

The real question is... why would you go to an emergency room with a cut on your finger in the first place. Hardly an emergency condition. Go and see your MD instead.

Probably have to wait days for an appointment. :/

[spacer]

The real question is... why would you go to an emergency room with a cut on your finger in the first place. Hardly an emergency condition. Go and see your MD instead.

Regular MD's don't work like that most of the time. You can't just show up to your doctor's office for an injury, without an appointment. They'll just tell you to the emergency room. That's what it's there for. It's dumb, I know. But most doctor's are so over-worked and over-booked, they simply can't do it any other way.

[(Account no longer active)]

:laugh:

[compl3x]

I've heard of aspirin being $15 each and all of that stuff.

 

9K for a boo-boo on your fingy? da fuq outta here!

[Hum]

For 9 grand, I'd want a real doctor, a lollipop, and a get well card. :crazy:

[Crisp]

For 9 grand, I'd want a real doctor, a lollipop, and a get well card. :crazy:

 

I'd want a stripper nurse (with benefits) :shifty: :ermm:

[neufuse Veteran]

Yay obamacare. keep it up!

 

I don't want to get political, but this has nothing to do with "Obamacare" we had bills this high for basic first aid many years ago also.... heck hospitals would charge $500 for a box of gloves when they used a single pair.....

[Piggy]

You have to think about the resource he was using. He's taking a precious spot in the ER.

 

If you go to a hotel and use the room for 1 minute you're still getting charged for the night.

 

Also, the expertise of the Nurse practitioner are not free. All the costs add up one way or another, so $400 to $1000 is reasonable, especially for an ER.

[LittleNeutrino Veteran]

American Healthcare is more about profit than helping people and sadly it is not about to change.

[+Red King Subscriber²]

It is just capitalism, nothing to see here. Cost is not redistributed among the sick and healthy and regulation is lax.

[+Anarkii Subscriber²]

Hahahaha wow it must really suck to live in the USA when you read stuff like that. 
O.O

Here in Australia with Medicare - costs $7 from July 1st next year, currently, it cost nothing for the same procedure.