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The hospital immediately offered to knock 60% off, but they're still demanding monthly payments greater than my daughter's gross income. I'm sure they'll be willing to reduce the bill even more.
My friend's wife does collections for a hospital in California, so she's been giving my daughter plenty of good advice.
My 22-year-old daughter has insurance through her employer, but it doesn't kick in until 1 September. She finished a 2-week stay in the hospital last weekend and yesterday a bill for $51,000 arrived in the mail. Her eyes are about to be opened to the cruel world of bill collectors.
You know what really stinks? The bill to the insurance company would have been substantially less. Our daughter's official medical bill from birth was ~$210K. The actual billed to the insurance company was ~$130K. Thank God we had insurance.
The health care system in this country is REALLY screwed. IMO, no health care should ever be for profit.
I'm very sorry for your daughter.
Fierce - I forgot to mention the UHS - it's excellent, and there are clinics throughout town.
Have you tried Centro Med? They have locations on the South and East sides, and I think the west sides.
I've interacted with them professionally, not as a patient, but have always been impressed.
Or move to Germany or France....excellent state-funded health care
(I work in health care, and support a single payer system based on those models - not the UK, but it'll never happen in the US)
I will check out CentroMed... are they the same as Centro del Barrio/Barrio Comp though?
I am confused because there was a lot of moving around/changing names with Barrio Comp.
Thanks for all the replies.
What I was saying is that, from my past experience it's fine to go to the sliding scale places I've been to for something that's obvious... i.e. a sinus infection, allergy treatment, a sprained ankle. It's when the problem isn't so obvious that it becomes a waste of time.
I just don't want to go anywhere where I'll rack up a bill I can't pay. I have ER bills from a wreck in November 07, other driver was not insured, he rear ended me, sent us about 40 feet forward because he hit us so hard, totaled my little Honda Civic and my son ended up with a broken leg. I applied for Medicaid for him and they're covering the hospital bills for him but I have an ER bill I cannot pay and bill collectors on my case, and I was only "screened", x-rayed, and not even treated for anything.. just told to "wash off" the windshield glass that covered my neck, back, and arms.. It boggles the mind that it is over a grand for that. Anyway. I don't need any more bills.
Case in point: Last year my partner's arm and shoulder was hurting her as it has off and on for decades. When she was 14 she had a severe back injury and docs were amazed that she wasn't paralyzed. She suffered nerve damage and has recurring pain, sometimes weakness in the legs or arms (legs will just "give out" and she'll almost fall), etc. It's nothing new but it was acting up and her boss insisted she go to the doc before coming back to work because she was in obvious pain and struggling to do her job with one arm not functioning properly.
Of course she didn't have insurance so she went to Brady Green, the clinic across from it actually.... waited hours, was examined for five minutes, told she had a "rotator cuff injury" (yeah, she got it playing tennis on her one day off a week ) regardless of her repeated explanations about her previous injury and the fact that she had all sorts of symptoms NOT associated with a rotator cuff problem, plus the shooting pains down her back and legs, legs going weak, numbness in the fingers, etc. She was given a prescription for 800 mg motrin and a paper-fiber sling and a note for "light duty" for the next 3 days and sent on her way, and ended up with a bill for $800 for this.
As for what is wrong with me right now... it's not the sinus problems I want to be seen for. It's a multitude of things leading me to believe I have something going on such as anemia, thyroid problems, allergies, I don't know. It's way more than a sinus infection which I can deal with. I'm just really really run down and exhausted all the time.
I have had health coverage through work before and I realize it's no perfect answer and there are still issues with quality of care but when I had insurance at least I had a few choices with regard to doctors... if one was blatantly WRONG or uncaring or whatever I could go through the list and choose another. My issues with the clinic is that I fear they won't want to work to find out the real cause of my problem and will just tell me to take some OTC allergy meds or get more sleep or whatever.
Example, the last time I got really fed up with the Ella Austin clinic was years ago when I went in for sinus problems and the doc told me I had to stop breastfeeding in order to take the antibiotics, when A) the antibiotic he prescribed was not a contraindication to nursing and B) even if it had been, there were SEVERAL other options he could have prescribed... but his pat advice was to just wean my baby. Dumb. A less educated mom might have followed his advice and for what? Because he was too lazy to look it up in his PDR.
You can get medicaid yourself you know, just apply, my stepdaughter applied, and got it she only makes about 500 a month, and gets it every month. 26 years old.
You can get medicaid yourself you know, just apply, my stepdaughter applied, and got it she only makes about 500 a month, and gets it every month. 26 years old.
Is she pregnant or disabled? That's the only way to get Medicaid as an adult in Texas.
Women can get "womens' health" care through the WHP program (state funded) which is birth control and paps, which I don't need.
But other than that, no Medicaid unless you're pregnant, have had a baby on Medicaid (you get to keep it for one year), or you've got a disability that can be verified...
They were known as Centro Med del Barrio, which is different from Barrio Comprehensive History of Communicare Health Centers (http://www.communicaresa.org/history.html - broken link)
Quote:
Originally Posted by fierce_flawless
What I was saying is that, from my past experience it's fine to go to the sliding scale places I've been to for something that's obvious... i.e. a sinus infection, allergy treatment, a sprained ankle. It's when the problem isn't so obvious that it becomes a waste of time.
I will say that any place which takes non-insured patients/medicaid will require a long wait. That's just the way it is, unfortunately, given the way our system works. I can't promise you'll find what you want at CentroMed, but I've been more impressed with the staff I've worked with there than with Barrio Comprehensive.
I understand your concerns re: a full work up vs. the quick 'here's an antibiotic', but keep going until you find a health professional who listens (doesn't need to be an MD, a Nurse practitioner or Physician's Assistant can be as good if not better). Have a list of your symptoms, some details about timing, how long, when they come on, etc. Also, if you have any medical history have that ready in writing, for you and your family. Some docs find this annoying, some appreciate it. Overall, though, it helps to identify your potential problems. Now, it may be very non-specific and hard to diagnose. Remember doctors aren't omniscient, and some medical problems are beyond the scope of many, and some just can't be diagnosed. It's frustrating as can be, but there's not always an answer. The key is to be as clear as possible with as much information as possible to help them figure it out.
I have very good insurance, but had 3 horrible ER visits in January of this year. The first time I was basically blown off and told "You can't be having an ectopic because you're not in enough pain." When I went back a few days later, doubled over in pain, was told "We already did an ultrasound, they're not going to find anything now." However, a few days after that I was sent in for emergency surgery by my OB (Dr Kuhl, my hero) for an ectopic pregnancy about to rupture (having dangerously low BP didn't help; fatality rate is 10%). Then a few days after that the OB's office told me to go to the ER as I was having some issues (different ER than the first 2). The MD totally treated me like an idiot, blew off all my symptoms, tried prescribing a bunch of stuff that was unrelated. WHen I politely told the nurse I'd rather not take medication until I knew why these drugs were prescribed, the MD got pissy. He also bordered on a confidentiality breech by yelling to me across a crowded nurses station (filled with patients and staff) about his specific medical orders (and why he felt I wasn't following them). I just told him I'd like to discuss my treatment plan first, in private. In effect, he was acting like he'd seen too much ER on TV....totally inappropriate and unprofessional behaviour.
Anyway...all that's to say even when you have insurance, and go to a private place that is supposedly "higher caliber" you can get treated like crap and dismissed. The important thing is to be educated and stand your ground.
Quote:
Originally Posted by fierce_flawless
Example, the last time I got really fed up with the Ella Austin clinic was years ago when I went in for sinus problems and the doc told me I had to stop breastfeeding in order to take the antibiotics, when A) the antibiotic he prescribed was not a contraindication to nursing and B) even if it had been, there were SEVERAL other options he could have prescribed... but his pat advice was to just wean my baby. Dumb. A less educated mom might have followed his advice and for what? Because he was too lazy to look it up in his PDR.
Unfortunately, this problem is not limited to lack of insurance/sliding scale places. Many many physicians have NO CLUE about breastfeeding, and will automatically say 'wean" when they prescribe antibiotics. Not to mention there are still many very uneducated physicians who think it's not necessary/ok to breastfeed past a certain age (like 6 months) so will push for weaning on any grounds...but that's another rant.
Is she pregnant or disabled? That's the only way to get Medicaid as an adult in Texas.
Women can get "womens' health" care through the WHP program (state funded) which is birth control and paps, which I don't need.
But other than that, no Medicaid unless you're pregnant, have had a baby on Medicaid (you get to keep it for one year), or you've got a disability that can be verified...
No, she is neither, she applied, gets the notice every month,
No, she is neither, she applied, gets the notice every month,
I don't know how.. can you ask her? I worked (indirectly) for Health and Human Services, screening medicaid and food stamp applications.. just last year. Does she have a disabled child? I've just never heard of this..
Also tell her to start researching "negotiating medical bills". EVERYTHING can be negotiated down!!
Also, in order to keep from being harassed, tell her to get one of those online, free phone numbers with voicemail and to give them that number as opposed to her real one which she needs to make private if it's not. 51,000 will not realistically be collected anytime soon and if she does get assigned to someone unscrupulous they wont take that into consideration at all!
Yes, ma'am, he's/she's right. I have been a claims adjuster (bodily injury/personal injury/workers' compensation) for the last twenty years and negotiating payment of medical bills comprise a large percentage of my work. It flows more smoothly, of course, if you are an adjuster, because they know you are accustomed to negotiating and know what you are talking about, and an adjuster will have access to U&C (usual & customary charges) for various geographic locations, but an individual can also do so successfully.
The reality is that most medical bills are inflated and providers' offices actually often EXPECT to have them negotiated.
(A different scenario exists if you have any health ins at all, but... you don't, so it doesn't matter here at this time... LOL)
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It boggles the mind that it is over a grand for that. Anyway. I don't need any more bills.
