ER bill of 1,899 scared s*!*less!!

[sunshine20]

The er claim finally posted on my insurance companies website. They billed my ins 1,899 for my er visit. I feel sick. I'm terrified of what I'm going to end up having to pay out of pocket. We have weird insurance thru Aetna where we have a fund and no idea what our copays and stuff are until the fund is used up. Needless to say, the fund is used up since I hurt my foot and then my gp visit and my ob visit and now this. I believe there was something like 567.89 left in the fund before my er visit and I won't know how much my ins is paying toward the er charge until it clears which could be a few days. I'm seriously freaking out right now. I knew the er visit was going to be alot but I didn't think it would be that much

 

[albs]

that's crazy! i bitch and moan about having to pay $100 everytime i go to the doctor's (I upgraded my insurance in January, but have to wait a year before i can claim anything baby related). But at least emergency hospital appointments are covered by Medicare here in Australia. healthcare people take the piss sometimes. i hope you get it all sorted out. If all else fails move to England. I used to think the NHS was rubbish, but now i don't have it i realise how amazing it is.

 

[sunshine20]

My ins will cover 80% of all maternity costs I guess. But since my er visit wasn't technically maternity, I doubt they will cover 80% of it. I'm just freaking out now because I won't know how much i owe until it clears. The doctor in the er isn't in network from what I can tell by my searches so I'm even more freaked out.

 

[sunshine20]

Thank god it just updated. 281 is what I owe. That's not as bad as I thought it was going to be. But now my "health fund" is drained so if anything else happens between now and January 1st (when the new health fund kicks in and we resign for the ins) I'm going to owe them a fortune.

 

[sunshine20]

Still feel like I'm going to vomit though

 

[Canada8]

Wow that sucks you need to pay or medical attention. That's crazy! I will all workout

 

[JessPape]

Wow! I couldn't even think of paying that or even $500... Hope all works out for you

 

[notmommyyet]

Come to Canada!! free everything!

 

[alaskagrown]

Well, if you ever have to go through that ordeal again, just know that ER's will be glad to take any kind of payment, even if it's small.

Last year, I had moderate/heavy bleeding and cramping with my pregnancy at 6 weeks - an obvious, inevitable miscarriage - and the doctors recommended I go to the ER (what for, I will never know...). They did a scan and basically confirmed I was having a miscarriage. That'll be $800 for your ultrasound please. UGH!! What a waste of time and money that was!!

 

[daydreaming22]

I know the feeling! I had to go to the er for my last miscarriagaree
because I was hemorrhaging really bad. They billed me 2645 for the ultrasound, 1500 for a pathology report i have yet to see and thousands for bloodwork etc. I'm fighting most of the charges because they are super inflated! July 5 (the worst day of my life) ended up costing $26000!

 

[luckybreak]

I choose to do deductibles on my insurance..glad I did my first ER visit for this pregnancy was $4500 that wiped out my whole deductible for the year so everything else since is 100% covered. Make a payment plan with the hospital they will take 20 bucks a month if it is all you can afford.

 

[breakingdawn]

I owe roughly 1500 from my ectopic in August. Talk about kicking you when you're down.

 

[TwinsFanMTB]

Depending on where you live you can try and apply for Medical Assistance. In Minnesota pregnant women can apply even if they already have insurance, it's kind of like dual insurance. It just helps pay a little more of the bills. We have had 3 ER visits and would have had to pay over 4k in bills but thanks to MA we only have to pay around 500. It will also help cover the delivery. Hope this helps

 

[luckybreak]

Twinsfan has a great idea! you can sign up for medicaid they have one just for pregnant women, the way that works is let's say your insurance covers 80% of your bills then medicaid will pay a % of the 20% depending which insurance you have you could end up paying pennies on the dollar or nothing at all...since insurance companies don't coordinate with the medicaid..I work for one lol so I know we pay whichever is less for medicaid. But it is better than the whole 20%

 

[zofranks]

holy crap - I never realised how expensive your health bills were, as much as we whine about the NHS in the UK at least it is free, you know you will never get a bill & they do try to do their best, you may have to wait for hours but we don't have the money worries. It is almost too expensive to be sick in the US.

 

[xcited4mybump]

omg those costs are horrendous,i will never complain about the nhs againi cannot believe how much all you ladies have to pay outi feel so sorry for you and am super shocked about the expenses!and to charge families so much when going through mc and etopics omg they should be so ashamed of themselves.xx

 

[luckybreak]

Yes, it is expensive but sometimes having a good insurance is great! When my little girl was born with Down syndrome it was pretty bad and our bill came out to be about $150,000 dollars on top of the birth but because at the time I had good insurance I only paid $100.00 dollars.

 

[kat2504]

thank god for the NHS. I dread to think how much I would have had to fork out so far with 2 failed pregnancies (including 1 d&c and one trip to A&E) and investigations, and now a pregnancy that is continuing with some expensive drugs and extra ultrasounds.
This reminds me of when I watch stuff like Extreme Makeover Home Edition. I have been known to actually cry because I think it is so so wrong that people can't put a decent roof over their heads because they have to find money to pay for care for a a very sick child.

 

[katstar]

Yes thank god for the nhs. But can i point out that it is not free!!! Everyone who works has to pay national insurance contributions and this is what goes towards the nhs. YOu have to have lived in the uk and paid national insurance for 6 months before you can benefit from help - ie hospital trips.

I have worked 13 years now (due to age - i have many years to go ) and i pay around £250 per month. This is £39,000 so far. I have no way had this amount of care but its reasuring to know if there is anything wrong i can go without having to worry about a bill and i feel so sorry for you hun. All of you that have to pay. We are lucky in the uk. Didn't the US talk about having a system like the uk?
Its awful waiting for a bill. And this is a lot of money.

I do hope its not too much or nothing at all.


Breaking - yes i can imagine getting a bill after the ectopic. I have had two and i had great care both times and if i had a bill on top of this, well i would be worried constantly. Good luck on your scan today hun.

xx

 

[kat2504]

Not all of your income tax goes to the NHS you know!! It does pay for other things and NI is more for state benefits and the state pension. Taxes also pay for state education, defence and many many other things.

It isn't free. Nothing in life is free. But it is free when you need it and you never need to worry about the cost of treatment. Some people will take more than they pay, especially if they are unfortunate enough to become very sick with something like cancer in their life. Most of us will take less than we pay in. We are subsidising the people with severe illnesses which is how a fair society should work. We do this because we would not want to be in a position ourselves where we had a newborn child spending six months in the NICU, or an partner needing chemotherapy, and we couldn't afford to pay for it.

Of course, it won't be long before our current government starts privatising out our hospitals to private companies and the slippery slope begins.