American tourist dumbfounded by cheap medical bill after getting blackout drunk in Croatia, EU

[Razgriz417]

I was in the ER for a couple of hours once. They gave me some crutches and had two different doctors take a look at my muscles. no pills, no IV, no xrays or any other kind of cat or mri scans.

sent me insurance a $2.5k bill. had to pay the $500 deductible after the $75 ER copay. fucking scam.

my son was in the ER for like 4 nights after he was born. $18k bill. i only had to pay the deductible. but $18k for four nights is insane. the problem with the u.s health system is that the doctors get paid way too much. pretty much all the doctors make over 500k a year. even pediatricians working 9-5 make well over $300k. i highly doubt the croatian doctors are making more than the American president.

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While its true doctors do get paid more here in the US, it isn't the biggest reason for crazy healthcare costs. Doctors also generally come out of med school with a ton of debt (my friend is sitting at 100k+ of debt due to school) and depending on their specialty have crazy high insurance costs as well.




Check out this quick documentary and you'll see a ton of money gets wasted in administration and paying drug companies crazy high rates. Hospitals are also for profit businesses that know they can get a bunch of $ out of insurance companies as well from these obscure ass billing codes.

 

[Protein]

I went into an emergency/urgent care clinic hybrid. I requested urgent care. Saw the doctor. Was supposed to be $100 with insurance. Apparently they billed me under 'emergency' incorrectly, bill ended up being $15,000.

My private insurance refused to pay and noped out of it. Fought it. Clinic wanted to settle for $5,000. I just changed my number the next day.

So yeah. America.

 

[Grug]

Apart from the financial aspect, you want to believe and trust that your doctor is giving you the most appropriate, considered care, not rorting you like a car mechanic preying on your ignorance and treating you like a sucker to be milked for every cent. That's the last thing you want to be worried about when you are already scared and vulnerable.

The American system is so counter to the principles of what healthcare is supposed to be about. Feel so sorry for you guys.

 

[Roy]

I was in the ER for a couple of hours once. They gave me some crutches and had two different doctors take a look at my muscles. no pills, no IV, no xrays or any other kind of cat or mri scans.

sent me insurance a $2.5k bill. had to pay the $500 deductible after the $75 ER copay. fucking scam.

my son was in the ER for like 4 nights after he was born. $18k bill. i only had to pay the deductible. but $18k for four nights is insane. the problem with the u.s health system is that the doctors get paid way too much. pretty much all the doctors make over 500k a year. even pediatricians working 9-5 make well over $300k. i highly doubt the croatian doctors are making more than the American president.

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Don't American health care providers and even hospitals have CEO's with big salaries?

 

[Braaier]

I recently had a 2 hour stay in an ER room (back in early May). I have 10 separate bills now (Ambulance ride, ER room stay, IV bag, blood work, etc. coming from various people that supposedly did something on my behalf) all coming out to about $4,000 USD and that is WITH insurance paying in.

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Yeah this is such bullshit. After my wife and I had our second child we got about ten bills from various folks (anesthesiologist, hospital, doctor delivering our son, etc.). Like, why can't the fucking hospital consolidate this shit so it's not so damn confusing for patients?

 

[MarioW]

of all the insane health care stories I've read over the years... yours definitely takes the cake. Straight up mafia methods.

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It sounds intimidating, but it was actually just comical in the moment. Between things like them seriously considering I'd run out on my girlfriend to avoid the bill, there only being one manual visa "zip zap" machine in the whole hospital, and watching one admin person read my girlfriends info off one computer so another next to her could type it back into another computer, the whole system just seemed antiquated and broken. And this is a hospital in San Francisco city, one of the most prosperous and "tech savvy" cities in the world.

And to think a large number of Americans think they have the best health care in the world.