I HAVE insurance, but failed to read the deductible part of it. Went to the emergency room for a cut open hand, like, you could see fat tissue and nerves, that cut. Was told as i was leaving they had my insurance info, no problem. Turns out theres a 1 grand deductible on emergency room visits that are not life threatening, even though THEY told me to go to the emergency room and not urgent care.
for 5 hours sitting in a waiting room, 15 minutes seeing a doctor, and 3 stiches, 890 dollars. I net about 500 a week. Thats not bankrupting, but it is bank busting for me. and i HAVE insurance. On Mon, Apr 21, 2008 at 7:14 AM, Jed Rothwell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > A friend of mine in his 50s has no health insurance. Normally this is not a > problem because he is a vet who goes to the VA hospital. He has a lot or > problems, including some service related ones. The other day he suffered > from a minor stroke and passed out while at a Lowe's hardware superstore. > They called an ambulance, which took him to Grady Hospital, because that is > usually the only hospital in Atlanta that take uninsured patients. He was > there for 4 days, mostly doped up or asleep to keep him from moving. He is > much better now. > > At Grady they did not have to do much for him other than to take some cat > scans and keep him immobilized. They sent him home and he went to the VA > hospital a few days later, where they did a bunch more tests and declared > him okay. > > Anyway, the point of this story is to relate the appalling fact that Grady > just sent him a bill for $82,000. This is an self-employed, ordinary, middle > class guy who probably doesn't earn that much in a year. In other words, > four days of hospitalization for a relatively minor health problem cost > enough to bankrupt an ordinary person. This is insane. The U.S. healthcare > system is unsustainable. > > Bush correctly pointed out that anyone in the U.S., even an uninsured poor > person, can get healthcare at an emergency room, just as my friend did. He > did not say that after a few days in the hospital you will be billed more > than your net worth, and then hounded by bill collectors until they run you > out of house and home. > > - Jed > > -- That which yields isn't always weak.
