A wee rant!!The American Medical System..Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!

Aieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Don't EVER have an emergency in the USA if you are not insured. Well, don't have one, period.

When Warren got that splinter under his finger nail into the nail bed and we rushed across the road to Terrebonne General Medical Center in Houma, Lousiana. I doubt that this problem is peculiar to the South.

At the time of the incident and consequent fixing of the problem, we asked to pay in full as we were moving on and it was practical to do so there and then. We were charged what we thought was an appropriate amount (of course we did! lol) and left, after ascertaining that THOSE were the ONLY charges and we would not have to pay more. WRONG!!!!

Not long after, a bill arrived for almost $140 MORE than we had paid. By the way, our charges had been discounted 50%...yes...because we were uninsured in the USA. (We have insurance in NZ so we need to pay cash in the US and send the receipts back to NZ for reimbursement.).

What a rort! 50%!! discount for cash!!! The American public who are insured are being screwed by their insurance companies, to my way of thinking. I recommend that everyone pay cash then ask for reimbursement from their insurance companies. How else do you keep it somewhat honest. No wonder the system us screwed....and Obama is trying to fix it with Obamacare. Not that there wont be rorts there too. Sheesh.

anyway....

We paid the extra $$ to Terrebonne, and thought that would be the end of it. NOOOOOO!

We just received a bill from a company in Philadelphia (huh?) called HOUMA EMA. Who??

Look more closely and you will find that this is the bill from the attending Emergency Room Physician. It says, in very small print on the Terrebonne Bill (now that we search for it) that the physician MAY bill separately. WHAT? Isnt this person paid by the Hosptial?? I bet he gets his dollar from the hospital as well!

So, now the Physician is charging us almost the SAME amount as the Hospital charged for all the rest of the incident. Yep...almost $600 for a five minute splinter pull that the nurses couldn't pull.

Oh, and it says: Insurance information not on file...50% discount offer in consideration of your uninsured status. We are willing to extend a 50% discount for prompt pay.


Part of the problem is that we are so used to the Public Health System in NZ, where the Hospitals are PUBLIC. These institutions in the US, are Privately owned for profit!!!

So...After my own emergency visit to the Ochsner Baptist Hospital in New Orleans, we have been billed twice, so far...once for $13.00, huh?? and no explanation for that charge...and now have a bill for just over $2k...it says that we have already paid $1,300. WHAT? I have NOT paid that amount. I have only paid $13, so far and that amount is not shown on the bill.

So...Does that mean they are discounting our bill $1,300 for prompt payment? No Idea. It looks like they are! We will take all the discounts we can get. We do look forward to submitting it to our NZ insurance company for payment however.