Outrageous!

I'm not really sure if this belongs here or in Grievances, but here goes. I just MUST vent...

When DH and I were home last (just before Christmas), we were involved in a car accident. I was driving my mother's car at the time it happened. We were not at fault -- some old woman pulled right out in front of us and we T-boned her -- and she was given the citation. We were very lucky that we walked away with only minor bruises and some whiplash. It could have been so much worse. Still, we decided to go to the ER to get checked out because we were both pretty stiff and had headaches and neckaches. We decided against going in the ambulance; instead, my mom drove us in my dad's truck. Good thing, because we would have been slapped with an ambulance bill.

While we were at the ER, they put us in neck braces just to minimize our movements until the doctor saw us; this is pretty standard, apparently. We didn't have to wait too long to be seen, which was a miracle in itself, but once the doctor did see us he was only in the room for about 10 minutes. He performed no tests, took no X-rays -- he simply felt our muscles, asked us a few questions, and prescribed us some pain killers and muscle relaxers. That was it.

The hospital/doctor's bill finally arrived at my mom's house yesterday. Our 10 minute visit cost a grand total of... (drum roll, please)... $1,933.00!!!

Yes, that's right. $1,933.00. That's $417.00 each for the ER doctor and $549.50 each for the hospital (including $292.00 for supplies, meaning the neckbrace; for $292.00, it should have been gold-plated!). I was dumbfounded. Of course, the other woman's insurance is covering this, but still. Imagine if the other woman hadn't had insurance!

I realize the NHS isn't perfect by any means, but I have truly come to the conclusion that the U.S. healthcare system is the equivalent of highway robbery. There is absolutely no excuse for this. DH and I have often talked about someday moving back to the U.S., but I think this would be the biggest thing to readjust to.

Oh, well, just had to vent. This makes me realize more than ever how important November's election is.

AMEN!

wow that is some bill for 10 minutes! I agree about the NHS. It's not perfect no but the alternative is just frightening. Not sure I could go back to having to worry about every little doctors visit. It's nearly like you need permission to get ill in the first place and making sure your illness was actually covered!

That'sa lot of money for 10 minutes, I agree. What about your travel insurance though?

What about your travel insurance though?

I think our travel insurance would have covered most, if not all, of it, but thank goodness we don't have to worry about that. Still. What about some poor U.S citizen/resident who works three jobs and can't afford health insurance (don't even get me started on the corruption of that institution!)? What if it had been that person to get in the accident and the other party didn't have insurance? I consider ourselves very lucky, but the system is definitely broken.

Its horrible! I recently received a bill from my GP in the US from when I was at home once and needed to refil my birth control prescription and just to chat with her for 3 mins about how the pill was doing it was $190 (nothing compared to your bill, but still she didnt do anything)! Not to mention I paid $70 for 3 months worth of that pill. What a rip off! Of course, this was before I knew that birth control was FREE in England.  I have nothing but good things to say about the NHS and do worry about healthcare when we move to America. 

I had a bad kidney infection in April 2006 when I was visiting my now husband in the States.  I can't remember how much the bill was for my hospital stay but it was $15,000+.  Thankfully my travel insurance covered it (although they did say I would have to pay and claim it back later, yeah right!  Like I have that much money lying around) but the whole thing was incredibly stressful.  I've appreciated the NHS SO much more since then.

Yes. I agree with everything here.

How about my husband getting DENIED heath insurance because he has a ventilin to prevent asthma? We were totally shocked when he was refused on our policy.

Oh, and, I should mention that we pay $800 a month for our family and average about $200 on top of that for prescriptions/incidentals.

 

i feel your pain.

when dh & i were back in the states to visit around christmas '06, i had an appointment with my tmj specialist. he sent me to hospital for an emergency mri, which ended up costing us over £3,000.

my parents & grandmothers had intended to give us money to help furnish our new house, but we ended up using every last cent of it to pay off the hospital bill.

i'll never go back to the us "healthcare" system--been screwed way too many times now.

Many years back I seen a programme about this. On the hospital bill it charged somewhere in the hundreds for something called "mucus cleaner"...........it turned out to be TISSUES

My mother never gives up on trying to get us to move to the US, something that is never going to happen, mainly because we have no insurance, no skills that will get us jobs that provide insurance cheaply and after going through bankrupcy there nearly 7 years ago due to medical debt I don't want one simple thing to put me in debt forever to a hospital.

She can't seem to get that through her head, how risky it is to take four people there, including a man with disabilities and a child with disabilities, with no health insurance to live and expect it all to work out.  She's on Medicare now, but never had to work and my dad always worked for Shell, which had good insurance, in a high-level job because he was an engineer.

Things will never change there.  So here's where we'll stay! 

If you haven't seen the movie Sicko, you need to. It highlights everything we have been talking about. No matter what your political views are, it will infuriate you, but it is definitely worth seeing. The bottom line is health care should not be a for-profit business. But then again, what isn't for profit these days?

Well to put the shoe on the other foot if you are not resident of the UK the hospital and doctors bill are just as extortionate.  We were here several years ago looking for houses and schools when my son swelled up with a horrible rash.  The GP sent us to the local hospital as that was where the paediatrician was  We sat there for several hours, were given a cup of tea (how very British - nice) and then the doctor came, looked at my son for about 5 minutes and sent us home.  We later received a bill from the hospital for  over £500.  Luckily our insurance paid for it but still it was outrageous.

My now wife has been over to the USA many times and she touch wood never had to use it for herself or the children, though Oliver was sick the day they had to travel back the one time and she took him straight to the hospital as soon as she landed in the UK, He got sick when they went through to wait for the plane turned out to be flarengitus (poss spelt wrong) but now we are in the same boat we could not afford to go back and Sonya just will not risk it as I am disabled and she also has asthma and with 4 children we would be lose everything without health insurance, it's crazy, I hope they do change the system as health care should be afford to everyone, I had to be rushed to hospital in December 05 whilst here in the UK on holiday I had pnomonia sorry can't spell it and was really sick they just took my travel insurance card and that was that.

I got good care from my wife and meds from the hospital for a week.

I have to go into hospital every 3 to 6months for an over night study for my bipap machined (ventilator) and if I were in the USA it would cost a fortune and for perm ventilator you have to rent it even though it is keeping you alive last time I looked it was around $50,000 a year ish to rent and that is on top of medicare or whom ever paying some.

I quiet like being alive and feel it should not be something you should have to worry about if the situation changed and you needed something like this and the NHS does offer piece of mind in that way, it is not perfect but then at least you do not have to sell your home and everything else to stay alive.

I was recently in the hospital for four days, have no health insurance, and now owe the hospital $9,000.  I'm a college student, work part time, and survive on around $200 a week. I'm in total shock. I don't know how I'm ever going to pay it off. When I first opened the bill, I was literally sick. That was a few days ago, and I still cry just thinking about it. :\\\'(