Two stitches and a tetanus shot...$900

Couple weeks ago I cut my hand on a saw blade. It looked bad, so I went to the ER and ended up getting two stitches and a tetanus shot. On Friday, I got the bill. I'm expecting $200 or $300, maybe $400. It's not like they had to do major surgery. Nope.
It was $816.
For two fucking stitches.
And that doesn't include the $120 that I paid that day. So $936 for two stitches, a tetanus shot, a lidocaine shot for the pain, and some handsome parting gifts (gauze, couple of bandages and a stitch cutter). What the fuck is wrong here? I'm never going to the ER again unless my liver is laying on the side of the highway.

 

Insurance, no?

 

[chef]That's why I handle all my own medical issues[/chef]

 

I have insurance, but I need to make sure it's gone through. The day of the ER visit, I was confused on who my carrier was. Went back the next day and thought I had sorted it out, but still the bill came instead of an insurance invoice. Still, $936 for THAT!? I don't care who's paying, that's freakin' ridiculous. Or, as a favorite coach used to say, re-dicky-do.

 

That $936 is the rate they charge folks with no insurance. Your insurance company will negotiate it down, methinks.

Why would this surprise you when aspirin are about $50 per pill in the hospital?

 

I hadn't been to the ER since I was a kid, Ace. I guess it was just sticker shock. No wonder my folks always told me to slap a band-aid on it and walk it off.

 

Some insurance is very particular about what ER visits get covered and what ones don't get covered.
Last December, I was having a severe ear ache over the weekend. I was going to wait two days until I my appointment with the ENT. My wife convinced me to go to the ER to have it looked at, assuming like I did that the insurance would cover it.
Since it wasn't a life-threatening emergency the insurance didn't cover it so I got hit with a $660 bill from the hospital just for going to the ER and another $230 bill from the non-emergency doctor's service that helps staff the ER.

 

Last year, I cut a finger pretty deep washing dishes. It was too late in the night to go to urgent care, so I went to the emergency room. Had to deal with some snarky 20-something staff member who acted like he was auditioning for Scrubs. Doctor came, gave me a shot and dropped some liquid skin on the cut. Scrubs boy came back and put the splint on my finger. But he put the splint down too hard and the liquid skin bonded to the splint. So when I took the splint off a couple days later, the liquid skin went with it and I was bleeding again. Taped it up myself.

A little later, I got the bill. I had insurance and I can't remember the full amount, but it was a few hundred bucks and way more than I thought. A little later, when I was moving, I cut another finger pretty bad on a broken piece of glass. Taped it up myself. And, of course, the worse scar came from my emergency room visit.

I'm with Batman. The only way I'm back in an emergency room is if I'm wheeled in with my wife carrying my severed head in a cooler.

 

A tiny scar and fond memories: Priceless.

 

When my cat mauled me about a month ago, I went to what my dad said was an urgent treatment center. It was not. So my insurance is not covering it.

A tetanus shot, a shot of some antibiotic in my hip...$396. Unbelievable.

 

Keep your insurance cards handy. On the way in, have someone call the number on there and ask where you should go.

If it's a heart attack/life threatening event, etc., most insurance companies I've seen take a "Fuck it. Get to where help is" approach.

Otherwise, call ahead. It'll save you a lot of time and anguish. And money.

 

I get a tetanus booster shot every 10 years. That way I don't have to worry about needing an emergency shot if I happen to cut myself.

It's pretty cheap to have it done during your annual check up.