What do you do when you get in the mail one of those innocuous “This Is Not A Bill” letters for your 3-day hospital stay, while they ruled out bacterial meningitis (the cause of your stay turned out to be viral meningitis)… and the line for Account Balance has 5 figures (plus decimals): $60,714, 98?
I mean… this is going to be billed to my insurance company, but let me rewind to the beginning:
- I didn’t get hospitalized for a month. I was in the hospital for 3 days.
- I didn’t give birth to a baby. I was basically in bed most of the time, getting blood work done and a bunch of tests performed to rule out the bacterial kind of meningitis.
- I have insurance, but… what if I didn’t?
The hospital I went to (Alta Bates Summit Medical Center, in Berkeley) offers discounts for uninsured people, but… still, $60K+ for a 3-day stay in the hospital?
Does anyone else think this is simply wrong, even if my insurance ends up footing the bill in its entirety? I am certainly demanding an itemized bill tomorrow and I will make sure to go over it with a big magnifying glass to spot any possible overcharges!
Ah! Did I mention this is only the hospital bill? Specialists still haven’t sent theirs!
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OMG! That is outrageous! How is that justified? That would be utterly terrifying to receive that in the mail if one didn’t have insurance.
Manny, an amazing amount. I’ve seen bills for a single test strip usage of $60 when visiting an emergency room in Massachusetts, so I’ll bet you’re going to be surprised by the itemized bill!