Hi All,
I cut my finger while opening a tin can last month and went to the ER (location – NJ, USA – 1st time health situation of any kind in the US ). I stopped the blood flow and walked into the ER (in-network hospital). At the ER, they noted down my info, SSN, insurance (united healthcare), took blood pressure, temperature and put two sutures on my finger. I got no special treatment or was not placed in a fancy suite/room etc. A nurse opened my wound, said I did a good job wrapping my fingers up and stopping the blood flow. Cut was not deep and a couple of sutures should do the job to patch things up.
A few weeks later, I received a bill for 14.5K – just for 2 sutures! My insurance is a United Healthcare high deductible and it kicked in to pay only 8K and applied 6K to my deductible (my annual deductible is 7K – I had met only USD 100 in deductible up until then). Now, the bill I received was only 2 line items – insurance paid 8K, you owe 6.5K.
So, after doing some research, I called the billing help desk for 2 weeks straight and the operator kept transferring me to the billing department – only to hang up the phone every-time. Finally after 15 calls, I got frustrated and called the corporate phone number and left voice mails for the customer service rep. A week later, they returned my call and I requested an itemized bill. I received the itemized bill yesterday which lists the following 2 line items (see below) and a stamp which reads “For information purposes only not valid for insurance billing”
ER repair wound suture – $1,248
ER Intermediate – III – $13,270
Total – 14.5K
Authorized Insurance Adjustment – $8K
Now, I am in no position to pay a $ 6.5K bill and I don’t believe it is a reasonable amount for only 2 sutures. I did some research and found a couple of new articles where this hospital (ER) overcharged patients for similar suture related incidents. This is the first time I have been to a hospital (ER) and this outstanding bill is stressing me out. I need help understanding my options on how to reduce the amount on my bill and my questions below
- Does the itemized bill make sense? I do not understand why there is an ER intermediate charge of 13K. I found the patient price info list on the hospital’s website and level 3 ER charges are listed as $1,165 only.
- Do I need to file a dispute with my insurance? I chatted with a rep and they would not provide any details regarding this bill and the EOB listed on my accounts says insurance paid 8K, you owe 6.5K.
- How do I go about negotiating the amount especially when it took 2 weeks of calling to get through 1 time to the billing department?
Honestly, I knew the healthcare system was messed up but never realized it would stress me out so much even with a decent insurance. I appreciate all the help this sub has provided (reading through the resources) and would like to hear your input on my situation.
submitted by /u/Raccoon_Unlikely
[link] [comments]
Hi All, I cut my finger while opening a tin can last month and went to the ER (location – NJ, USA – 1st time health situation of any kind in the US ). I stopped the blood flow and walked into the ER (in-network hospital). At the ER, they noted down my info, SSN, insurance (united healthcare), took blood pressure, temperature and put two sutures on my finger. I got no special treatment or was not placed in a fancy suite/room etc. A nurse opened my wound, said I did a good job wrapping my fingers up and stopping the blood flow. Cut was not deep and a couple of sutures should do the job to patch things up. A few weeks later, I received a bill for 14.5K – just for 2 sutures! My insurance is a United Healthcare high deductible and it kicked in to pay only 8K and applied 6K to my deductible (my annual deductible is 7K – I had met only USD 100 in deductible up until then). Now, the bill I received was only 2 line items – insurance paid 8K, you owe 6.5K. So, after doing some research, I called the billing help desk for 2 weeks straight and the operator kept transferring me to the billing department – only to hang up the phone every-time. Finally after 15 calls, I got frustrated and called the corporate phone number and left voice mails for the customer service rep. A week later, they returned my call and I requested an itemized bill. I received the itemized bill yesterday which lists the following 2 line items (see below) and a stamp which reads “For information purposes only not valid for insurance billing” ER repair wound suture – $1,248 ER Intermediate – III – $13,270 Total – 14.5K Authorized Insurance Adjustment – $8K Now, I am in no position to pay a $ 6.5K bill and I don’t believe it is a reasonable amount for only 2 sutures. I did some research and found a couple of new articles where this hospital (ER) overcharged patients for similar suture related incidents. This is the first time I have been to a hospital (ER) and this outstanding bill is stressing me out. I need help understanding my options on how to reduce the amount on my bill and my questions below
Does the itemized bill make sense? I do not understand why there is an ER intermediate charge of 13K. I found the patient price info list on the hospital’s website and level 3 ER charges are listed as $1,165 only. Do I need to file a dispute with my insurance? I chatted with a rep and they would not provide any details regarding this bill and the EOB listed on my accounts says insurance paid 8K, you owe 6.5K. How do I go about negotiating the amount especially when it took 2 weeks of calling to get through 1 time to the billing department?
Honestly, I knew the healthcare system was messed up but never realized it would stress me out so much even with a decent insurance. I appreciate all the help this sub has provided (reading through the resources) and would like to hear your input on my situation.
submitted by /u/Raccoon_Unlikely [link] [comments]Read Morer/HealthInsurance