A Traveler and his Cat exploring America.





Tuesday, December 1, 2020

This is So Wrong!

 

Here is the amount charged for my visit to the emergency room at Palo Verde Hospital in Blythe, Ca. when things went haywire with me while in the desert last month.  I was in there for about three hours with only having a catheter and collection bag installed being the extent of services.  I have no problem with this.  I was in a bad way and will be forever grateful for them being there and nurse Adrianna saving my life.  I am not trying dramatic here.  I later asked nurse Michelle at Kaiser who was treating me “What did people do in the olden days when what happened to me did so with them before modern medical care?”  She simply said “They died.”  What a horribly painful death that would be.



Yesterday this came in the mail.  This doctor stepped into my cubicle after Adrianna began draining my tank.  He wasn’t in there more than a half a minute and said no more than a dozen or so words to me asking me if I drank beer?  “Say what?!”  He was just a hard of hearing doddering old man who shuffled along in the hallway generally being in the way of the personnel there trying to do their job caring for people.  $746 for doing nothing!


Maybe this is just a way to bill for services by staff and the name of the doctor on duty at the time is used and the other charge by the hospital is for the use of a bed, the room and equipment.  I don’t know how things work in the medical industry but I hope that is it and that useless old man isn’t receiving $746. 

My plan with Kaiser by the way is paying for all except $250.  I am glad to pay my share.



6 comments:

anonymous said...

My primary care provider is a nurse practitioner,she can practice medicine as a doctor by having a physician as her consultation oversight. So some bills I get list the physician as the service provider. She gets the money, pays him a set amount to "partner" with her practice.The dr. asked if you drank beer because beer can cause yeast infection that becomes bladder and kidney infection.I am glad you have Kaiser so only paid the smaller amount.-Mary

John @ Beans and I on the Loose said...

Thank you for that insight Mary. I will say I would much rather have any of the three nurses I have dealt with be my doctor and told them so.

Shammickite said...

WOW that's a lot of money, I'm glad that you have insurance that is covering a large percentage of the bill. Do you have to pay up front and then get reimbursed by the insurance?

RedPat said...

I'm glad that we have universal health care in Canada.

CS said...

Just wait. You'll receive 3 or more bills randomly over the next few weeks or even months, for various other services. That's how billing in the medical industry works.

shadowcat410 said...

I'll hold back my comments on your bill. Glad you have decent insurance though.