30 Days of US Healthcare: Surprise Billing

Day 7 - Surprise billing

[AliciaMcIntire]

This was me after a bike accident. Some good Samaritans found me in the road and asked if I needed an ambulance. I told them that I was a broke college student and couldn't afford it. They, being Americans, understood my predicament, and they drove me the mile to the ER

[hockeynpolo]

As a flight nurse, I love the fact that your patch says “Flight Ophthalmologist.”

[virginiamoss]

Every American citizen needs to view this series in full! I follow government health care stuff pretty closely and I did not know this.

[carols-corner]

Had to take my son to the ER in the middle of the night a couple weeks ago. My brain actually had to debate whether to go to the nearest hospital or drive an extra 10 miles (on wet roads after midnight) to an in-network hospital. I reminded myself that in true emergencies, I was pretty sure my insurance would cover an ER visit at any hospital… but I wasn’t completely sure… but it was my son’s health on the line…

I went to the closest hospital. Everything turned out okay (I think… still waiting for the bills to arrive). But the fact that I had to have that internal debate is MESSED UP.

[clearlyconsistent]

I once drove myself to the hospital with a spurting artery wound. The policeman who stopped me for my erratic driving understood that I had no money for an ambulance and cleared the way for me to drive the last 4 blocks to the hospital.

[celticwolff]

Any viewers who know someone who works for the press, ask them to a story on this series. They can connect it to the 2024 elections. If we can get the story to go viral, it will educate more people and increase Dr, G's views & subscribers.

[aubryreynolds]

I'm an EMT in Utah. I will probably discuss how much transport could cost every other day. The problem with this is that the crew in the truck has no idea how billing works or how much anything is set to cost. We are only told that there is a set fee to transport, and then we charge by the mile plus supplies used. Explaining that to a sick person or their family can be frustrating and confusing.

[johnswanson]

As an American Paramedic this didn't make me angry as much as sad. The amount of times I've had to tell patient's they need to go and not to worry about the bill is depressing.
At my last job - a private company - we had a phone number we could call for someone in the billing office, who would assure them their bill wouldn't be sent to collections and they'd work out a payment plan.
At my current job, a city owned service, I have tell people that billing is above my pay grade. It really hurts that I work for a public tax supported entity and people still worry about how much their city is going to bill them for ambulance service.

[thomasmoeller]

Scary but true. Over $200 per mile for ambulances. Since ambulances require prior authorization, it's an uphill battle for a patient to fight. Had to be rushed to an ER by ambulance a few years ago and insurance said it wasn't prior authorized. I shot back "I had no plan to get hit by a car while walking my dog. We do a walk at least 2x daily. How do I submit prior auth request for potential BID services for the next 10 years?!!!!" They finally paid the bill.

[gibronimo]

For this 30 days of Healthcare series, we definitely need laugh cry button instead of just the like/dislike buttons.

[offmetasounds]

Called an ambulance when my partner was having a stroke. It took him to the nearest hospital, about a 5 minute drive away. It was about $3000, with insurance covering only $1000, because that was the max that they felt the ambulance should be charging. We paid the rest out of his short term disability payments, nearly wiping them out.

[webbowser]

I feel like 70% of health insurance laws/regulations passed can be summed up with "yeah we tried to make things better, but the insurance company's found a loophole to make everything still suck."

The remaining 30% of course are "we are codifying that yes, this terrible insurance practice is totally legal."

[whoshotashleybabbitt]

“Congress typically does what it says it’s going to” 😂😂😂

[danwieland]

I’m a career paramedic and unfortunately have to have these conversations a lot. One thing I think people don’t understand is that outside of major cities the vast majority of ambulance services are not municipally run. Most of these companies are either nonprofit ambulance companies or volunteer fire companies. This means without meaningful municipal funding they are almost completely dependent on billing to support their services. Unlike large hospital systems these small diffuse companies have no bargaining power with insurance companies driving reimbursement rates down. Ambulance services are almost always out of network bc in network reimbursement rates are too low to keep the lights on. It’s a bad situation for patents and providers and is killing EMS, particularly in our rural areas.

[KvenKing]

$6, 000 for a 25 mile ride from one hospital to another. Not covered. My wife needed to be transferred from one hospital to another for a heart catheterization procedure. It cost over $6000. No lights, no sirens, no emergency care. Basically just a taxi ride.

[proudvirginian]

I have had this conversation multiple times in my career. People with life threatening problems are legitimately concerned about the cost of the ambulance. When I volunteered it was easier. No cost. When I go to work, "it's a crap shoot" "no idea" . I have even told people that"in the grand scheme of all the bills, this one will be the least." I'm expected to fill out insurance information as part of my call sheet and put "reason for transport".
#MedicLife

[MushuBear]

I was an international student in the states when my wife had an allergic reaction which required an ambulance ride to the hospital. Ended up being the most expensive part of her experience and most traumatizing as we were immediately sent to collections and dealt with that for 6 months.

[HyperLuigi]

What a guy Dr. Glauckenflecken is, posting at Midnight JST. The perfect time for my ass in Japan to sleep well knowing I’m not in the US healthcare system anymore 😌

[graysonaldridge]

Please keep up the great work! This topic is something everybody theoretically can get behind, and if we all come together we can fix!

[Bajirkus]

"Well surely with these enormous fees, the EMTs must make very good money and have very secure futures for themselves and their families!"
"Actually we don't really get paid much better than grocery store cashiers."