Hospital charges $9,000 to bandage cut middle finger

[+Random Stranger Subscriber¹]

emergency rooms are always a bad idea, unless it is a REAL emergency.  like heart attack or something, or bullet wound.

 

 

i got to emergency by ambulance after a fight.     after sitting there for 4 hours as not priority, i took a cab to nearest drugstore, and got the pharmasist to give me antibiotic cream and and bangages, as well as getting some advice.

 

 

for small time injury such as hammer to a finger, pharmacy stuff, or an on duty nurse should be fine.        

going directly to emergency is pointless.  I got a TERRIBLE FLU from sitting there for 4 hours, surrounded with seriously sick old people!

[HoochieMamma]

LOL 'murica

[FiB3R]

My handy work from a few days ago :)

 

http://1drv.ms/1oDxjBB

 

~?5

[adrynalyne]

Yay obamacare. keep it up!

I don't like obamacare either, but this crap was going on well before Obama or the ACA.

[+Red King Subscriber²]

emergency rooms are always a bad idea, unless it is a REAL emergency.  like heart attack or something, or bullet wound.

 

 

i got to emergency by ambulance after a fight.     after sitting there for 4 hours as not priority, i took a cab to nearest drugstore, and got the pharmasist to give me antibiotic cream and and bangages, as well as getting some advice.

 

 

for small time injury such as hammer to a finger, pharmacy stuff, or an on duty nurse should be fine.        

going directly to emergency is pointless.  I got a TERRIBLE FLU from sitting there for 4 hours, surrounded with seriously sick old people!

Then he should have been told to go to Urgent Care instead, not raped for 9K

[benthebear]

Then he should have been told to go to Urgent Care instead, not raped for 9K

 

Agreed. Urgent Cares are going up faster than McDonald's. You get the same care for about a third of the price. 

[LaP]

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

 

Yeah i broke one of my teeth when playing hockey last winter (broken in half) and it did cost me not much more to get the missing part replaced (was 1400 i think). The whole process took 4 rendez-vous. One to sculpt the remaining part of the tooth and to make a mould of my teeth (around 1 hour). A second one to glue the tooth pillar in place and to take another mould of my teeth with the pillar (around 30 minutes). A 3rd rendez-vous at the teeth maker bureau to paint it the right color (15 minutes). Finally a last one to glue to fake half of the tooth in place and to polish everything and be sure it's all fine (around 15 minutes). The whole thing was 1400 so not much more than ... getting a finger bandaged WTF !!!!!!!

[+Warwagon MVC]

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.

 

I wouldn't even go to the MD. Obviously it didn't need stitches, I'd just wrap it or put a band-aid on it. I even sprained my ankel 8 years ago. Never went to the ER or Doctors office.

 

I haven't been to the doctors in um... since 1997, so 16 /17 years.

 

i know this one girl who says she goes to the ER every time she pukes.

[compl3x]

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. 

 

 

 

Yeah, but we're a pack of socialists here in Aus. Medicare, PBS, etc.

[Defcon]

Where's the obligatory "but the USA has the BEST healthcare in the world !!!!". Of course no one mentions its only for the rich.

 

And urgent care centers are a scam as well. They're privately run, only open up in areas with affluence (none in poor areas) and negotiate prices with medical providers/insurance. There's no way in this country to find out exactly how much a procedure will cost before doing it, so that they can rip you off. In any other ocuntry in the world its a simple phone call, in most cases they are obligated by law to disclose costs. Not in the US of course.

[timster]

serves him right for wasting their time. Last time I checked, hospitals were for emergencies.

 

a cut on a finger is hardly an emergency, just get a band-aid at CVS or Walgreens. much much cheaper.

[techbeck]

Drs are a rip off.  I was going to a chiropractor because I had been having some back issues.  I sprained my ankle the day before a visit so the Dr pulled on it and it popped.  Took all of 2 seconds to do and I was charged an extra $20 for it.

[Circaflex]

After working on a hospital for two years now, its laughable how much of a scam and ripoff hospitals are. Gouge for this and that, doctors go by for a few minutes at most, it is usually some nurse or assistant doing most work, yet they charge for doctors time as if the doctor was there for hours. It is pathetic.

[techbeck]

serves him right for wasting their time. Last time I checked, hospitals were for emergencies.

 

Depending on when the incident occurred, there may not have been a Dr office open and the only option then is an emergency room.  Back in high school, I went to the emergency room to get stitches on my foot since it was late at night.  not sure how much my parents had to pay.  Hell, I have had stiches a few times and always went to the hospital.  And not everyone can tell if a bandaid is needed, or stitches.

[Hum]

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.

Actually, most of that $9000 is to pay for those who can't or won't pay their own hospital bills.

[spenser.d]

Actually, most of that $9000 is to pay for those who can't or won't pay their own hospital bills.

It's not though.

Hospital chargemaster prices are typically 10x more than the actual cost of whatever it is they're giving if not more, the reason being is it gives them more leeway when negotiating the price that insurers will pay, not because they need to charge that much to recoup other costs.

That's why a single payer system is far better than what we have - similar to Medicare here or single payer care in other countries, they'd only pay what the care actually costs. Instead we get this, and somehow people seem surprised every time one of these stories come out.

[compl3x]

Drs are a rip off.  I was going to a chiropractor because I had been having some back issues.  I sprained my ankle the day before a visit so the Dr pulled on it and it popped.  Took all of 2 seconds to do and I was charged an extra $20 for it.

 

 

Well there is your problem.

[wrack]

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. 

 

And that $7 caused quite a stir!

[benthebear]

Where's the obligatory "but the USA has the BEST healthcare in the world !!!!". Of course no one mentions its only for the rich.

 

And urgent care centers are a scam as well. They're privately run, only open up in areas with affluence (none in poor areas) and negotiate prices with medical providers/insurance. There's no way in this country to find out exactly how much a procedure will cost before doing it, so that they can rip you off. In any other ocuntry in the world its a simple phone call, in most cases they are obligated by law to disclose costs. Not in the US of course.

 

Depends. When I was self pay and going to an urgent care for my gall bladder, I was told the cost of each procedure before they did it. I didn't solicit the information because they were very up front about what everything cost. I didn't worry about it when I went back to being insured because I knew what I had to pay on my end. 

 

But at ERs, man, they run a bunch of test, and the lady with the computer on a cart comes around to collect before you find out if you have cancer or not.

[Tha Bloo Monkee]

Slightly misleading title:

 

 

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.

 

Not saying he wasn't overcharged, but it's for more than just a bandage.

 

So glad I live in a country where we don't have to worry things like this.

[blerk]

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 can understand a concern of infection and a concern that a wound should be professionally closed. Better safe than sorry after all. 

 

But looking at this story, I can't but help think that the patient is a bit of an idiot (victim blaming, I know). Judging by that little wee band-aid on the wound, the actual cut underneath will be rather ...small. Also, he banged himself with a hammer - they don't cut too good generally. 

 

Keep the ED for emergencies. You know, serious stuff. While I'm sure that the typical staff response is more 'LOL' than 'WTF' when someone comes in with a small cut on their middle finger, presenting at A&E for such a minor complaint just smacks of (inadvertently) abusing the system and tying up resources. Charge away in my opinion (though $9k is a ... bit too much)

 

I do understand coming in to A&E for (slightly) larger facial lacerations though. 

[Colin.B]

Yay obamacare. keep it up!

 

Pretty sure it would cost that much pre Obama care as well.

[nosense]

I have first hand experience with BS that goes on in hospital bills. I was visited by 3 different doctors 3 times euch just to say Hi and check my heart rate\breathing\gave me their business card. For every visit it costs me $300. Their visits had nothing to do with my health issues.

[jakem1]

And that $7 caused quite a stir!

 

As it should.  The Australian system is already very expensive and a $7 minimum fee for GP visits will lead to poor people avoiding doctors that they can't afford.  Australians shouldn't be crowing about how bad the US system is when their own system is only slightly better.

[Guest]

Say no to social communistic healthcare!