How much does an ER visit normally cost?

[Dan Murphy]

.....ambulance came and tranported her to the ER in Celebration. They did a bunch of tests (she did end up with a concusion due to hitting her head on the floor when she fainted) and I got a bill for over $7,000. Insurance co-pay ended up being $2400 since it was a non-preferred location?????...

If this was a real emergency (sure sounds like it, head injury), insurance should waive the out-of-network cost difference and treat as in-network. I would check into that and have it corrected.


(not to be considered insurance advice)

 

[CindyKansas]

Thanks Dan, I will check into that. I hate dealing with insurance companies but if they would waive some of the bill that would be great.

 

[EthansMom]

Sounds about right. ERs are required by law to accept all patients without regard to their having insurance or having any proof of ability to pay. So, folks who don't have insurance and have no intention of paying will go to the ER for problems that are best handled by a regular visit to the General Practitioner (colds, flus, sprains, stomach ache of a non-emergent nature). Then, everyone else's time to wait for service at the ER is increased due to non-emergent folks having to be seen AND everyone else's costs are increased to cover the hospital's expenses due to people who don't pay.

We recently went to the ER at NYU (due to complications from surgery) and I'd say about 50% of the patients should have been in a clinic or GP's office.

 

[JoiseyMom]

We have been to the ER 3 times since Feb.. we went Presidents weekend, DS broke his wrist. We went 1 month later DS was running a 105 fever, ped said to bring him there for them to run lovely tests. Then last time was Memorial Day weekend...DS needed 5 stitches in his chin.

I really want frequent flyer miles..they don't offer them .

Each visit will cost me $50.00 co-pay.

The bills for each visit was about 1300 each time. Haven't gotten the last one yet!

Thank G-d for COBRA!!

 

[eliza61]

If this was a real emergency (sure sounds like it, head injury), insurance should waive the out-of-network cost difference and treat as in-network. I would check into that and have it corrected.


(not to be considered insurance advice)

Some times, some times not. I have Aetna (run away as fast as you can if you are ever offered it). Under aetna I have 8 hours after admittance to call, so if some one in my family has a serious injury I have to call aetna to get approval while the injured is being looked after. I'm not kidding!! I actually had the representative ask me over the phone why couldn't I call while my son was in surgery. I really wanted to jump through the phone line and strangle her so then she would know exactly how traumatic it is to take your kid into the hospital because he's not breathing. The last thing I was thinking about was calling aetna and answering questions.

Anyway if I don't call within 8 hours (Aetna just extended it to 24 hours as a result of a lot of bad press) then they have a right to deny the claim or only pay parts of it.

Any body get the feeling I'm a little bitter toward Aetna right about now.

 

[kidzmom3]

Sad thing AC is that I was in the ER once ( son broke his collar bone) and a man runs in, half crazy with a kid in the middle of an asthma attack, I mean the kid was seriously turning blue and the nurse kept saying to him "Sir we need to see your credit card, sir we need to see your credit card"

Every body's sitting there like "are you going to wait for the poor kid to drop dead before you decide to get help for him"

I find this incredibly hard to believe. Not that I think your lying, but I have worked in an Emergency Dept for 16 years and this does not happen. No nurse or doctor could care less how a person pays, if they have insurance or if they have a copay. Why? because they see the patient regardless. Its the law.

Now the registration people, they will ask for these things.

Plus, even the worst nurse or tech I have ever worked with can recognize a child in respiratory distress and would give immediate help.

 

[Piglets Mommy]

That bill sounds about right...
DD had stitches in her forehead back in Feb...the Hospital's portion of the bill was $1200 and the Doctor's bill who did the stitches was $1475.
Fortunately, insurance paid for most of it...we had to fight for it though, becausr the Dr was "out of network" They finally paid most of it, as it's not like you have a choice in who you see when your DD's head is gushing blood.

 

[drag n' fly]

Holy Guacomole!!!

 

[MScott1851]

I find this incredibly hard to believe. Not that I think your lying, but I have worked in an Emergency Dept for 16 years and this does not happen. No nurse or doctor could care less how a person pays, if they have insurance or if they have a copay. Why? because they see the patient regardless. Its the law.

Now the registration people, they will ask for these things.

Plus, even the worst nurse or tech I have ever worked with can recognize a child in respiratory distress and would give immediate help.

I agree. It's against the law to ask for ANY type of payment or insurance information in the emergency room until the patient has a medical screening by a QMP (qualified medical provider) which can ONLY be an MD, NP, or PA...not a nurse or tech.

Even the registration people know that. It's called EMTALA, the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act, and violating it will cost your facility tens of thousands of dollars, and probably cost you your job.

Anywho...that total seems about right. I had an ER visit last year for a migraine, and my total was $3000. I had blood work, a urine pregnancy test, a CT of my head, a bag of IV fluids, IV pain medicine and IV nausea medicine. There was a separate bill from the ER doc (who waived his bill...love him) and one from the radiologist for reading my CT scan. Luckily since I work there, I didn't have to pay the ER copay and I skated out with just paying $49.

You're lucky your abdominal workup didn't include a CT scan or IV fluids (which still puzzles me...most abdominal pains get those, or if you're female you get a pelvic exam) or you'd really owe a lot of money.

I tell patients who are worried about their bills to see if the hospital will accept the same amount of money as a typical insurance reimbursement would have paid. I mean, we write off millions of dollars per year for insurance companies, why can't we do the same for people who are really trying to pay their debt? I have really outstanding insurance. I had surgery last year and the grand total was right at $29,000. I paid $200 out of pocket, and insurance paid right at $3600. The hospital wrote off the rest. Now tell me why if I DIDN'T have insurance, that I would have owed the whole $29,000?

 

[antmaril]

I took my DS (22) to the ER in November because his finger was infected. We saw a PA, who lanced the finger and told him to continue his antibiotic (when this first started we saw a Nurse Practitioner who prescribed the antibiotic). Unfortunately, it was getting worse, hence the ER visit in the middle of the night. Anyway, it cost me $1,000. We have BC/BS, but the deductible had not been met.

 

[laughinplace199]

Wow! We've been to the ER three times in the past few years. Each time we've been there, we just had to pay a $50 co-pay.

 

[monkey68]

You're lucky your abdominal workup didn't include a CT scan or IV fluids (which still puzzles me...most abdominal pains get those, or if you're female you get a pelvic exam) or you'd really owe a lot of money.

I think the OP said she took her son for abdominal pain, he's definitely not going to get a pelvic But with peds, in my experience at least, they don't always CT scans. There's quite a bit of radiation that comes along with CT scans, and if it seems like a benign abdomen, they won't order the CT, it's not worth the radiation risk. As for IV fluids, maybe he did get them? I can't imagine somebody not getting IV fluids, it's a standing order at some places for abdominal pain, there are certain labs that get drawn and an IV gets placed.

But I'd say that bill sounds about right. Try calling the hospitals' billing department, they're sometimes able to cut off some amount if you call and speak to them.

As for the poster who said they saw somebody in respiratory distress being asked for a credit card, I find that really hard to believe. The nurses and doctor's don't ask for insurance information in the ED, they're not allowed to. Last time I went to the ED for a suspected appendicitis, my insurance info had changed from the last time I was there. During check in, the triage nurses ask if you were ever there because everybody is logged on the computer, and I said I was. She made sure the basics were the same, like my address and stuff like that. I tried telling her that I had a new insurance since the last time I was there. She said they're not concerned with that, somebody else will come around to get my insurance information later on.

 

[bumbershoot]

I had to take my oldest DS (12) to the ER a few weeks ago for severe abdominal pain. While there, he had blood taken, an Xray of his stomach area, and peed in a cup. After waiting around for what seemed like forever (they really didn't seem to be in any hurry even though it was the ER), the doctor finally tells us it is probably just gas.

The hospital seems to think this was worth over $1200. Due to copay and deductibles I am going to be responsible for almost $700. That is so much more than we were expecting. Does this sound reasonable? Is there anything we can do to get this reduced or do we just have to pay it?

Since you hadn't met the full deductible (or any) yet, you would definitely expect to pay that, and then a percentage of what that goes over.

If he were to go back to the ER next week, it would be a much different OOP situation.

DS fell and hit his head and changed personality, so we called 911 and had an ambulance ride. During the ride he came back to himself, and by the time we got inside and the MD came in, it was really just a skin cut they were looking at (as opposed to what I was thinking had happened). They put a numbing gel pad on his head, then rinsed the blood off with saline to make sure it was just a cut.

He was seen by a nurse and an MD, and the above was all that was done (apart from chatting with each parent separately to make sure stories meshed appropriately).

Our portion was...1400. Now that's b/c we had just, the day before, signed up for a high deductible plan that covered from the week before, so our deductible portion of that bill was, of course, high. But it was also a percentage. On top of that, we got a bill directly from the MD, and his few hundred bucks went towards deductible as well.

So yeah, since we had almost nothing *done*, mainly just evaluation, and your son had some things done, it actually sounds low to me. Though your deductible is probably lower than ours, so the percentage kicked in, and that might be why.

Be aware you might get a physician bill as well! And be glad he didn't go in an ambulance, if you are in an area where ambulance rides aren't tax-payer-covered ("free") like we are!

 

[Disneycrazy!!]

I went to ER a few weeks ago over a weekend for severe pain from strep throat. I got my billing statement from my insurance showing what they paid and it said the remaining balance is $49.00

 

[Mermaid02]

Sad thing AC is that I was in the ER once ( son broke his collar bone) and a man runs in, half crazy with a kid in the middle of an asthma attack, I mean the kid was seriously turning blue and the nurse kept saying to him "Sir we need to see your credit card, sir we need to see your credit card"

Every body's sitting there like "are you going to wait for the poor kid to drop dead before you decide to get help for him"

That is illegal in an ER.

 

[bicker]

My initial instinct was that an ER visit would cost between $500 - $1000 to start, so I'm not really surprised.

 

[disneyfanforever]

OP here, they didn't mention anything about IV fluids. However, he wasn't vomiting or having diarrhea so maybe that is why. Also, by the time we were called back and the doctor saw us, he was not in as much pain as he was when we arrived. Thankfully, he is fine now and was actually fine within a few hours.

I am not happy about having to pay so much for the ER bill, but I do know the most important thing is that he is healthy.

 

[eliza61]

I agree. It's against the law to ask for ANY type of payment or insurance information in the emergency room until the patient has a medical screening by a QMP (qualified medical provider) which can ONLY be an MD, NP, or PA...not a nurse or tech.

Even the registration people know that. It's called EMTALA, the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act, and violating it will cost your facility tens of thousands of dollars, and probably cost you your job.

Anywho...that total seems about right. I had an ER visit last year for a migraine, and my total was $3000. I had blood work, a urine pregnancy test, a CT of my head, a bag of IV fluids, IV pain medicine and IV nausea medicine. There was a separate bill from the ER doc (who waived his bill...love him) and one from the radiologist for reading my CT scan. Luckily since I work there, I didn't have to pay the ER copay and I skated out with just paying $49.

You're lucky your abdominal workup didn't include a CT scan or IV fluids (which still puzzles me...most abdominal pains get those, or if you're female you get a pelvic exam) or you'd really owe a lot of money.

I tell patients who are worried about their bills to see if the hospital will accept the same amount of money as a typical insurance reimbursement would have paid. I mean, we write off millions of dollars per year for insurance companies, why can't we do the same for people who are really trying to pay their debt? I have really outstanding insurance. I had surgery last year and the grand total was right at $29,000. I paid $200 out of pocket, and insurance paid right at $3600. The hospital wrote off the rest. Now tell me why if I DIDN'T have insurance, that I would have owed the whole $29,000?

I guess that lady in Brooklyn who died in the hospital waiting room and was left for 2 days without so much as anyone even checking on her didn't know it was illegal.

 

[mommytomy3]

We took my son to the ER in April after he ate a cashew and began vomiting and broke out in hives. After we gave him benadryl, he threw it up, and his breathing seemed 'funny' When we took him in, he was given some more benadryl, and prednisone, and watched. The bill was $1,187.06
(we have since brought him to an allergist and he is a '6' to cashews and '3' to the other tree nuts, and '2' to peanuts)

 

[bunny]

We never go to the ER anymore, not because of cost but because of the wait times. We have an office here called MedExpress which is like a private ER. You almost never have to wait there and the cost is much less. The difference between MedExpress and the ER, though, is you have to pay at the time of service. I have really good insurance, so I only have a very small copay. If you don't have insurance, though, I think it is still cheaper than the regular ER. They can do x-rays, stitches, etc. If you need to go on the hospital, they can help get you admitted.

I think the reason it is so expensive at the ER is because of people without insurance. The people who don't have insurance and don't have regular doctors come into the ER, since they can't be refused treatment. The paying people are supplementing the non-payers.