DKOS: Uninsureds Experience with Healthcare...hospital tried to rip him/her off big time.

[dkf]

Finally she printed out the itemized bill. There I saw a surgical procedure which had never happened, crutches for $352, x-rays for $632 and ER room charges at level 4. I objected to the whole bill. First there had been no surgical procedure. Second, my doctor was selling crutches for $30. Third, the x-ray charge looks like it is for 4 films, not 3, and besides $632 is far too expensive. Fourth, when the surgical procedure charge is removed, the ER room level will drop and so will the price. I asked for the bill to be audited and commented that it seemed to me the 7-day window of opportunity for a 40 percent discount should start when the hospital has an accurate bill ready.

That's when things got mean. "Look, we're trying to do you a favor and save you some money. If you want us to audit your bill, you will lose the discount offer and have to pay the full 100 percent." I put my checkbook away and took out a credit card. My elderly landlady listened to the whole exchange with a look of incredulity. In the car she said she never knew any of that stuff about hospital bills, especially the part where you can request an audit of the bill...

Read the whole thing. It is absolutely sickening what this hospital tried to get away with.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/6/14/212843/573/891/536095

[smoogatz]

1. All for-profit hospitals do this shit.

The whole health-care industry is crooked to the bone, IMO. Hospitals routinely over-charge (good luck even getting an itemized bill from most of them), insurance companies pay whole cadres of employees to find ways to deny patient claims. You have to be incredibly aggressive as a consumer of healthcare—first to insure that you get decent care, second to guard against getting ripped off by both the hospital/provider and your insurance company.

[conscious evolution]

2. Have the hospital mail you the bill

Then take it to a federal prosecutor and press charges for mail fraud.