Huge ER Bill from Texas Children's Hospital (credit report, buying)

[fnh]

Originally Posted by hounewhome1

When 5ml tylenol cost 13 dollars, it has to be broken but that's not the point. If walmart charges me $500 for a bag of chips, I'll walk away but if someone says 5ml tylenol is $100 when my child has fever and they have tylenol in their hand and they won't allow to use the tylenol I bought from walmart (for $4.00), then I won't speak since we're talking about someone's life here. So, as of now I don't care about the system, I just need to sail through this and see if the docs and hospital are co-operative or not; I hope they could give me a 50% discount and I could pay the 6K over two years.

I'll try to call all the hospitals and ask for a discount/payment plan; let's see what they say.

Yes, this!!!! Healthcare is *not* just another discretionary consumer good!

The next time we had to use the ER after paying $3K for my son's forehead was after DH was injured in a cycling crash and we did in fact ask at the front counter whether the attending physician was in our network. Standing there with a gash in his forehead, eye swollen shut, all his front teeth knocked out, the counter staff refused to answer that question and said it was ILLEGAL for them to do so. Um, what choice do you realistically have?

[wheretogo]

I remember reading an article about this long time back on kiplignger.


This may give you some options

Originally Posted by hounewhome1

Hi Y'all,

Life happens and it happened to us this week when our kid had to be admitted to Texas Children's hospital; the total bill is around $70,000 ($48,000 after insurance discount) and I have the high deductible insurance plan so my share has comes to around $12,000.

The insurance company has already paid the $36,000 and the balance on me is $12,000. I have a few questions:

1.) I have got bills from many docs (8-10) along with the hospital (the biggest bill); why can't they send one bill so I can talk directly with one person.

2.) Is this bill negotiable? I don't fall under the poverty lines but this bill is HUGE for me. Even If I Pay $500 per month, It will take me 2 years to pay it off. We have already cancelled all forms of unnecessary expenditure immediately - cable, swimming classes, eating out etc but this amount is still huge for us even after that.

3.) Does TCH offer any discounts or generous payment plans (4-5 years) to people in order to pay the balance portion off? Do I have call each of the 8-10 docs that I'm getting bills from or can I just call someone in TCH to negotiate/request discount on the bill?

Thx.

[Schumacher713]

Originally Posted by jasonamd

Maybe this is part of the reason our healthcare system is broken. People don't pay bills or demand a lower bill or they won't pay and they allow it to happen. So to compensate for those people, they raise their rates...

Were you dropped as a baby at the hospital?

[coconutbutter]

Originally Posted by oceangaia

How is it broken? Medical services are expensive. If I can't afford a new house does that mean the housing system in America is broken? If I buy a $200k house can I just pay $150k and demand they write off the balance since they already got a huge chunk of money from me?

This is a horrible, terrible example.

If the OP can't foot the ER bill, should his/her child not receive emergency services when the child needed them? I would think that most people with extremely sick children who go to the ER aren't there because it's a fun place to go. If they can't afford it, where do they go?

Yes, the OP should pay for emergency services but not when they're priced to financially ruin a household.

[jasonamd]

Originally Posted by Schumacher713

Were you dropped as a baby at the hospital?

I have family in the medical field as well a friend that has her own practice. I constantly hear about how she has to deal with non-paying patients or those that demand lower bills or they won't pay. With all the costs involved in running her own practice, there are months she barely makes enough money to survive on...and it's not for lack of patients, just lack of ones who want to pay their bill.

[Htown2013]

Originally Posted by fnh

Yes, this!!!! Healthcare is *not* just another discretionary consumer good!

The next time we had to use the ER after paying $3K for my son's forehead was after DH was injured in a cycling crash and we did in fact ask at the front counter whether the attending physician was in our network. Standing there with a gash in his forehead, eye swollen shut, all his front teeth knocked out, the counter staff refused to answer that question and said it was ILLEGAL for them to do so. Um, what choice do you realistically have?

THIS makes is very hard to raise a family these days. Those prices are ridiculous. I believe it's a combination of overly burdensome and onerous government regulations, greedy malpractice lawyers and frivolous lawsuits skyrocketing malpractice insurance rates, and possibly some hospitals being run more like businesses vs. purely nonprofit organizations meant to help people in medical need.

Like I said - squeezed from all angles.

[hounewhome1]

Originally Posted by coconutbutter

This is a horrible, terrible example.

If the OP can't foot the ER bill, should his/her child not receive emergency services when the child needed them? I would think that most people with extremely sick children who go to the ER aren't there because it's a fun place to go. If they can't afford it, where do they go?

Yes, the OP should pay for emergency services but not when they're priced to financially ruin a household.

The hospital has already received around 38K. I'm willing to pay 6K (half of 12K, which is my share), if all of the 8-10 docs involved agree.

That would bring the total to 44K for 5 days at hospital and I sincerely hope that I'm not ruining someone else's house like mine by asking for a 50% discount. If the doc tells me he can't afford to give me a 50% discount and he'll have to cancel his cable and cut on other spending, I won't ask for the discount but 44K for 5 days seems reasonable to me if they let go of their super overpriced items. As I said, we're doing everything we can to pay them - cable cancelled, swimming classes for kids cancelled, birthday cancelled....all I'm trying to get is a 50% discount for my portion but there are 8-10 different docs/services, lets see how it goes. Someone mentioned hiring a patient billing advocate - anyone used this service before?

[coconutbutter]

Originally Posted by hounewhome1

The hospital has already received around 38K. I'm willing to pay 6K (half of 12K, which is my share), if all of the 8-10 docs involved agree.

That would bring the total to 44K for 5 days at hospital. As I said, we're doing everything we can to pay them - cable cancelled, swimming classes for kids cancelled, birthday cancelled....all I'm trying to get is a 50% discount for my portion but there are 8-10 different docs/services, lets see how it goes. Someone mentioned hiring a patient billing advocate - anyone used this service before?

I'm sorry that you are in this predicament, and I think it's something that most of us will find ourselves in one day. I'm glad that your child is better, and I hope that you're able to come to a fair compromise for services rendered. (Just to clarify, I wasn't saying that you were trying to avoid paying anything - I think working with TCH and/or going through a patient billing advocate are great suggestions. I know for a fact if I had a 12K bill as a result of providing care for a child, I would be in your shoes.)

Article from WP about hospital costs and a start (database) with how much services rendered cost at ~3,000 hospitals - an interesting read to see the variation in costs for services.

[Scientific]

OP, your best bet is just trying each one individually. Things happen, but providers and hospitals do discount prices if all else cannot be paid.

Originally Posted by fnh

Yes, this!!!! Healthcare is *not* just another discretionary consumer good!

The next time we had to use the ER after paying $3K for my son's forehead was after DH was injured in a cycling crash and we did in fact ask at the front counter whether the attending physician was in our network. Standing there with a gash in his forehead, eye swollen shut, all his front teeth knocked out, the counter staff refused to answer that question and said it was ILLEGAL for them to do so. Um, what choice do you realistically have?

That's because Hospital ED's are heavily regulated under EMTALA. They can not deny care to patients, and will not provide pricing or financial screenings at the front. There is absolutely no way of knowing the extent of an injury without the assessment of a physician.

People throw out all sorts of reason why ER wait times are so long, and why healthcare is broken. In all honesty, I dont think people are educated enough. You CAN NOT expect to go to any Hospital ER to get pricing at the door. It is against the law.

For minor care, you can go to a freestanding clinic or ER they're not regulated the same as Hospitals. But if the injury is severe enough, you will eventually have to to a Hospital ED anyway. in the case of the OP, going to a hospital is inevitable.

Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[DanielWayne]

I am surprised there are people on here defending US healthcare pricing. Either y'all are independently wealthy or you never get sick. And possibly you never watch the news.