...may I have another?" Not to beat a dead horse, but:
Toby probably did not ingest any cough stuff one night earlier this month, but we took Poison Control's advice and took him to the ER anyway, "just to be safe". For hours, the doctors and nurses did nothing but monitor his heartrate and his breathing (from afar), both of which confirmed that there was no problem. When we wanted the doctors to answer some questions for us, they were nowhere to be found. Toby didn't receive any medicine while at the hospital. Toby didn't have his stomach pumped or any sort of medical procedure done. Even though there was no sign of a problem, the doctors essentially wouldn't let us leave. They admitted Toby for an overnight stay, which pretty much royally sucked goats. Then they still wouldn't let us leave after the supposedly-magic "12 hour window" was up, even after everyone mercifully agreed he was finally safe. It was pretty much a crappy 15 hours of life, any way you put it. The only redeeming part of the evening was that Toby was safe, although he would have been just as safe (and had the opportunity for a full night's sleep in his own bed) had they let us go 12 hours earlier).
We got the bill today. Two-thousand, nine-hundred thirty-nine dollars. Freaking $2,939! For NOTHING! $1,551 for "ER charges". $124 for "Supplies". (WTF kind of "supplies" were used?) And $1,264 for "Treatment Room", which I assume was the whole being admitted thing. The health savings account is now gone. Wanna know what percentage of my family's annual income this "emergency" cost? (I'm not going to tell you what percent, because then you could use your mad math skillz to figure out how much my family makes... but you get my sentiment...)
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4 comments:
scott,
is that $3,000 all out of pocket?
ian
some of it will be. i have a high-deductible plan, which can certainly have its benefits. i used to have an HMO... which cost $300 more per month than this high-deductible plan. our family deductible is something greater than $2000, less than $3000... honestly i can't remember what it is off the top of my head.
there's a $5000 out-of-pocket maximum, which we will now most certainly hit this summer when baby #2 arrives. i've been stashing away that $300/month paycheck savings in anticipation of baby #2, but i don't have $3000 yet, so some of it will be out of pocket. bummer.
WOW,...talk about the Green Weenie. You guys got took in so many ways.....all in the name of
cautioning on the safe side for Toby,..which is what any good parent should do! The 12 hr. thing is nuts, the cost is nuts and the aguish all were put through would make one think better of cautioning
on the safe side. Just NUTS..!!
Dan
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