Question About ER Visit Cost

Hi all, I’m new here. I’ll keep this high level for the right now but can supplement if I’m asking the impossible. I didn’t grow up in the USA and I’m really not sure how anyone comes to understand what they should owe after medical treatment. Note that I can pay, but the money is very meaningful to me and the family. Just looking for reactions to the following because I can’t imagine an ER trip involving any less actual medical treatment and surely something has to be wrong. Surely?

Location: NY

Patient: Toddler

Insurance: Blue Cross, paid up, never lapsed, policy in place for around 7 years

Incident/Treatment: Suspected arm fracture, dad (me) stupidly took the kid to an ER because I didn’t know that’s an urgent care thing, turned out to be dislocation. Doctor fixed the issue in about 5 seconds in a hospital hallway. Didn’t even have a curtain. In and out in 45 minutes. No ambulance, no scans, no drugs … nothing except a few seconds of elbow squeeze. (Irrelevant Bonus: After we had all been in responsible isolation, the kid caught COVID.)

Insurance/Bill: Kid is on my wife’s Blue Cross insurance via work, a very large org with decent benefits. Total bill for the ER was around $2500. After insurance we purportedly owe $900.

Questions: Should I challenge this? Is the ER system really that broken? Am I being dinged for wasting time with a non-ER issue? How on Earth can anyone afford more than an elbow squeeze? An ambulance, overnight stay, drugs, scans … surgery? Bananas!

Many thanks for your thoughts!

submitted by /u/thor_barley
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Hi all, I’m new here. I’ll keep this high level for the right now but can supplement if I’m asking the impossible. I didn’t grow up in the USA and I’m really not sure how anyone comes to understand what they should owe after medical treatment. Note that I can pay, but the money is very meaningful to me and the family. Just looking for reactions to the following because I can’t imagine an ER trip involving any less actual medical treatment and surely something has to be wrong. Surely? ​ Location: NY Patient: Toddler Insurance: Blue Cross, paid up, never lapsed, policy in place for around 7 years Incident/Treatment: Suspected arm fracture, dad (me) stupidly took the kid to an ER because I didn’t know that’s an urgent care thing, turned out to be dislocation. Doctor fixed the issue in about 5 seconds in a hospital hallway. Didn’t even have a curtain. In and out in 45 minutes. No ambulance, no scans, no drugs … nothing except a few seconds of elbow squeeze. (Irrelevant Bonus: After we had all been in responsible isolation, the kid caught COVID.) Insurance/Bill: Kid is on my wife’s Blue Cross insurance via work, a very large org with decent benefits. Total bill for the ER was around $2500. After insurance we purportedly owe $900. ​ Questions: Should I challenge this? Is the ER system really that broken? Am I being dinged for wasting time with a non-ER issue? How on Earth can anyone afford more than an elbow squeeze? An ambulance, overnight stay, drugs, scans … surgery? Bananas! ​ Many thanks for your thoughts!
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