Current Events > Woman gets $900~ bill for being informed her son had died. Healthcare in America

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From comments:

BLS examination = determination of death aka pronouncement of death. Technically its a patient contact so many systems bill for pronouncements. Medicare actually pays about $65 for this.

What happens if they don't pay

She should put it in her special filing cabinet:
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stories people sharing:

On September 30, 2000, My uncle died in our house days after a surgery of a stroke. The ambulance took more than 40 minutes to arrive, even though we live right up the hill from the garage. He had no family of his own other than us. He wasn't married and didn't have kids.
We got a bill. My mom refused to pay. We were harrassed for a few months until my mom went to a lawyer. He threatened them with a lawsuit. It ended after that.

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Am a Paramedic. One of the worst calls I went too was the most mundane.
We got called for a status check on a woman in a parking lot. 60-65 year old woman was wandering around in a parking lot, around my Moms age. She had gone with a friend to the local state fair. They had driven to a shuttle lot (she didn't drive, her friend had driven her there) then subsequently split up. A few hours later, without a cell phone she took the shuttle back to where her friend had parked so they could go home, to find out her friend had already left.
She had no ride back home, no acute medical problems, allowed us to take her vital signs which all checked out. She was on a fixed income, and just wanted to eat some deep fried snacks at the fair, and have a good time. A bit poor at planning, something my own mother would do.
She didnt really have the money for a cab, so I tried calling the Police to drive her home, I tried calling the bus company of the city to come drive her closer to her house, and even tried to clear with my supervisor and boss to drive her home in our ambulance or have someone come and get her in our sprint vehicle. None of which panned out. We wound up calling her a cab, which would cost her more money.
The part that really affected me was that the company I worked for, billed for medical refusals. She had no medical issues, she wasn't the one that called us. She didn't need our assistance. And at the end of the day, we still sent that poor lady a bill for 50$ she probably couldn't afford. Her poor (but understandable) planning really ruined her day. All she wanted to do was have a good day at the fair, eating some treats, watching some shows, and people watching, and yeah...by now yall figured out she reminded me a lot of my mom, and I contributed in ruining her day. Its been almost 10 years since that call and it still makes me sad. I wish our medical system viewed people more than as a paycheck.

My dad had a heart attack and died at my house. The EMTs loaded up their gear and without rush loaded my dad into the ambulance. They then took him to the hospital where the hospital did open heart surgery amassing a $10,000 bill on my dead father. Luckily though one of the doctors thought I earned the right to hear that my dad's heart ripped in half and had he been on the table and ready for surgery he would have died. Anyway. Still cash that $10,000 check. It's not about universal healthcare. It's about predatory medical practices.

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Heartbreaking.
My dad had a heart attack on the golf course in FL. His golf buddies tried CPR until the ambulance came. The ambulance came and brought him to the hospital. They claimed that they got a heartbeat back in the ambulance but once he got to the hospital he flatlined. The bill was ALOT more because he was revived for a minute or whatever. Hard to prove really. In any case, he didnt make it and that 10 minutes from the golf course to the hospital DOA was over 50k I believe. He doesnt live in FL so we had to fly him home for burial on top of that.

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I got in an accident and refused the ambulance because I knew they would do this. The ambulance still came but I refused care again and they eventually left. Then 2 weeks later I get a bill for $600 from them. I call and tell them I had refused treatment when asked and again when the techs came on scene. They said I am still on the hook for the money because they came and therefore could not go on another call. I tell them how that doesnt make any sense and ask them: youre telling me if I dont like someone and want them to pay hundreds of dollars for nothing I can just call an ambulance for them and theyre on the hook for the bill if the ambulance comes? A few seconds of silence go by and then he eventually realizes that he is a fucking idiot.

Am a Paramedic. One of the worst calls I went too was the most mundane.
We got called for a status check on a woman in a parking lot. 60-65 year old woman was wandering around in a parking lot, around my Moms age. She had gone with a friend to the local state fair. They had driven to a shuttle lot (she didn't drive, her friend had driven her there) then subsequently split up. A few hours later, without a cell phone she took the shuttle back to where her friend had parked so they could go home, to find out her friend had already left.

She had no ride back home, no acute medical problems, allowed us to take her vital signs which all checked out. She was on a fixed income, and just wanted to eat some deep fried snacks at the fair, and have a good time. A bit poor at planning, something my own mother would do.
She didnt really have the money for a cab, so I tried calling the Police to drive her home, I tried calling the bus company of the city to come drive her closer to her house, and even tried to clear with my supervisor and boss to drive her home in our ambulance or have someone come and get her in our sprint vehicle. None of which panned out. We wound up calling her a cab, which would cost her more money.

The part that really affected me was that the company I worked for, billed for medical refusals. She had no medical issues, she wasn't the one that called us. She didn't need our assistance. And at the end of the day, we still sent that poor lady a bill for 50$ she probably couldn't afford. Her poor (but understandable) planning really ruined her day. All she wanted to do was have a good day at the fair, eating some treats, watching some shows, and people watching, and yeah...by now yall figured out she reminded me a lot of my mom, and I contributed in ruining her day. Its been almost 10 years since that call and it still makes me sad. I wish our medical system viewed people more than as a paycheck.

Wow. That's not even poor planning. Her friend was her ride to the fair and they ditched her. Sucks that they had to send her a bill for that.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]


they may also try to sue depending on the amount

for $900 they might not but you never know

they expect people be too afraid to fight them in court

NoxObscuras posted...

Sucks that they had to send her a bill that.

What do you mean by

they had to ???

Who exactly do we blame here. The hospital owner? The hospital president? A board of trustees?

WingsOfGood posted...

What do you mean by

they had to ???

As in, the EMT was clearly not okay with the company billing her for that call. But the company still did it

Insurance will pay maybe $50, and medicaid will send 200 pages that basically say "we need the right five-digit code before we'll pay $20".
The bills are absurd because nobody actually pays for anything.

The mother in post #1 can likely even negotiate a write-off.

Questionmarktarius posted...

Insurance will pay maybe $50, and medicaid will send 200 pages that basically say "we need the right five-digit code before we'll pay $20".
The bills are absurd because nobody actually pays for anything.

The mother in post #1 can likely even negotiate a write-off.

she shouldn't have to do anything

NoxObscuras posted...

Wow. That's not even poor planning. Her friend was her ride to the fair and they ditched her. Sucks that they had to send her a bill for that.

at least it was only 50 bucks , many times it is much worse than that

NoxObscuras posted...

Wow. That's not even poor planning. Her friend was her ride to the fair and they ditched her. Sucks that they had to send her a bill for that.

To split up at a fair with no cell phone or way to contact your ride, and no plan in place to meet up at a designated time and place is definitely poor planning on her part.

Not that she deserved to have to pay for that, thats still unfair. But yea she should have had a plan in place if you split up and have no cell phone.

Ludwig_Von_2 posted...

To split up at a fair with no cell phone or way to contact your ride, and no plan in place to meet up at a designated time and place is definitely poor planning on her part.

Not that she deserved to have to pay for that, thats still unfair. But yea she should have had a plan in place if you split up and have no cell phone.

Fair enough. They should have made a plan to meet back up at a certain time. But I'm just thinking of it in the sense of, if you gave your friend a ride, don't just leave without them. That's so messed up.

Smallville posted...

at least it was only 50 bucks , many times it is much worse than that

If she was on a fixed income like SSI, that $50 probably still hurt a lot though.

many ambulance bills are frequently in the thousands. 50 bucks is a lot less than what almost all of them are

This is an actual first world country problem, or, not really as most of them do actually have universal healthcare, why poople fight against it here is absolutely nuts.

orcus_snake posted...

This is an actual first world country problem, or, not really as most of them do actually have universal healthcare, why poople fight against it here is absolutely nuts.

It's because Fox News tells them it's Communism and that real Freedom means being financially ruined by a trip to the hospital.

Why you never go to the hospital in America. Also hear stories of poor people being found having a stroke or heart attack on the street and hearing that someone will call an ambulance, they will flee in terror.

orcus_snake posted...

This is an actual first world country problem, or, not really as most of them do actually have universal healthcare, why poople fight against it here is absolutely nuts.

Because "muh taxes" mainly. Conservatives believe that universal healthcare will cause our taxes to skyrocket. And additionally, they believe that lazy, undeserving people will mooch off of the system (which they already complain about with food stamps).

NoxObscuras posted...

Because "muh taxes" mainly. Conservatives believe that universal healthcare will cause our taxes to skyrocket. And additionally, they believe that lazy, undeserving people will mooch off of the system (which they already complain about with food stamps).

they actually say healthcare is expensive because the lazy people mooch and don't pay and so hospitals have to charge more + Obama ruined it !

tag

Wellp, I see a lot of idealogical bullshiterry here, no wonder it is like it is.

The US is absolutely predatory when it comes to bilking the public. Same with law enforcement manufacturing ticket-able offences because all cops have revenue and arrest quotas every month.

Yet another example that the US Doctors only care about the almighty Dollar and how much money the can screw from the public than peoples actual health and wellbeing.

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Being charged almost a $1000 to be told your child had died is just ludicrous and mind boggling. I can't get my head around that.

Chocolate milf???

The people who put this system in place need all that money to pay for all the bodyguards they need to sleep at night

Why would neon do dis

I saw a 200 dollar bill from someone refusing care, because he was afraid medical care would bankrupt him.

That shit is beyond fucked up, having to pay for refusing care.

orcus_snake posted...

This is an actual first world country problem, or, not really as most of them do actually have universal healthcare, why poople fight against it here is absolutely nuts.

I heard a interesting theory that we're pretty much the only country healthcare can make any real money in. So even if we pushed back against it they'd lobby against it with everything they have and then some.

Greed is perhaps the main contributer, but also likely to help fund R&D as well for more niche medical programs. Since cost aside it takes a pretty long time actually to profit from a new drug and medical procedures.

The US is a fucking joke. I cant believe I used to believe the greatest country in the world tagline in the 90s and early 2000s.

And I say that from an outsiders perspective. Eternally grateful I wasnt actually born there.

send them a bill with 3 additional zeros for the waste of time and additional trauma

I'm so fucking tired of the American healthcare system.

So many people should be rotting in prison for running it the way they do