Unauthorized charges

Melmoth

New Member
Jurisdiction
California
So a couple of month ago I caught pink eye and had to be seen by a doctor. I went to Cedars Sinai (Los Angeles), which happened to be close to where I lived, and told the nurses in the reception area of the emergency room that I needed to be seen by a doctor for my eye, that I had no insurance, and asked how much such a visit was going to cost me. I was quoted approximately 300$ for the visit. Since that amount was something I could afford I agreed to that and proceeded with providing my personal details. Long story short, I waited patiently in the emergency room, somebody took my pressure, and then the doctor visited me for ten minutes and prescribed me some eye drops. When the bill came in I found out that I had been charged not only 300$ for the visit and 150$ for the eye drops, but also 6500$ for the use of the emergency room, kindly reduced to 1200$ by the hospital management. Leaving on the side that it seems absurd to be billed 1200$ for having your pressure taken, I feel like I've been swindled by the hospital personnel, because if simply walking through the emergency room entrance warrants charges in the range of thousands of dollars I should have been informed about it, as I would have definitely went somewhere else to be visited. In conclusion, do I have any grounds to dispute that part of the bill?
 
So a couple of month ago I caught pink eye and had to be seen by a doctor. I went to Cedars Sinai (Los Angeles), which happened to be close to where I lived, and told the nurses in the reception area of the emergency room that I needed to be seen by a doctor for my eye, that I had no insurance, and asked how much such a visit was going to cost me. I was quoted approximately 300$ for the visit. Since that amount was something I could afford I agreed to that and proceeded with providing my personal details. Long story short, I waited patiently in the emergency room, somebody took my pressure, and then the doctor visited me for ten minutes and prescribed me some eye drops. When the bill came in I found out that I had been charged not only 300$ for the visit and 150$ for the eye drops, but also 6500$ for the use of the emergency room, kindly reduced to 1200$ by the hospital management. Leaving on the side that it seems absurd to be billed 1200$ for having your pressure taken, I feel like I've been swindled by the hospital personnel, because if simply walking through the emergency room entrance warrants charges in the range of thousands of dollars I should have been informed about it, as I would have definitely went somewhere else to be visited. In conclusion, do I have any grounds to dispute that part of the bill?

Cedars has a financial assistance program:
Financial Assistance Information | Cedars-Sinai

Having said that, the fact is that you asked a question and your question was answered. Unfortunately (and not uncommonly), you just didn't know what question(s) to ask. Going to the emergency room is just about the most expensive way to do things. Your matter was not an emergency and could have been just as effectively treated at a neighborhood urgent care center for a lot less money.

Lastly - why don't you have insurance? It's required by law.
 
I did not have insurance because I couldn't afford it.
And my question was "how much is it going to cost me being visited by a doctor here?". If I need to go through the emergency room in order to be visited by a doctor, then the cost of the emergency room becomes an integral part of the expense of the visit. Ergo, saying "oh it's going to be around 300$", especially after I told you I don't have insurance, becomes a duplicitous response.
 
I did not have insurance because I couldn't afford it.
And my question was "how much is it going to cost me being visited by a doctor here?". If I need to go through the emergency room in order to be visited by a doctor, then the cost of the emergency room becomes an integral part of the expense of the visit. Ergo, saying "oh it's going to be around 300$", especially after I told you I don't have insurance, becomes a duplicitous response.

Look - from a practical, real-world view, I agree with you. However, once you go to the ER, you're no longer in that "practical" real-world place. They do it because they can.

Check out their financial aid services.

For the future, check out Covered California™ | The Official Site of California's Health Insurance Marketplace. If you are low enough income, you may qualify for free coverage.
 
I feel like I've been swindled by the hospital personnel,

Yes, you have been swindled by the entire health care industry. Happens to everybody every day.

A bigger rip off is when you don't have insurance you get charged several times what the medical providers charge insurance companies. Kind of backward, isn't it? But that's the system.

do I have any grounds to dispute that part of the bill?

Other than any financial assistance from each provider, probably not. If you don't find a way to pay it or get waivers it'll go to collections pretty soon.
 
The OP can be put on a payment plan though and as long as he/ she is making gainful means to pay on the bill then they will not send it to collections.

I agree with other poster statements the ER is not the best place to go seek normal urgent care needs.
 
The OP can be put on a payment plan though and as long as he/ she is making gainful means to pay on the bill then they will not send it to collections.
If the OP has a low enough income, the charges might be waived entirely. My link gives the required information.
 
But you don't need to go through the ER to see a doctor. You chose to go to the ER. There are Urgent Care and optometrists all around you.

I didn't know that, that's why I asked. If they had been transparent about the charges I was about to face I would have gone somewhere else to be treated
 
I didn't know that, that's why I asked. If they had been transparent about the charges I was about to face I would have gone somewhere else to be treated

I feel for you. Now you've learned something. Next time you have a minor medical issue, the last place you want to go to is the emergency room. The emergency room is for, well, emergencies.

(The line you will hear from them goes like this: There are many components that go in to what you are billed. The charge for the ER personnel, the charge for the doctor, the charge for the use of the facility, meds, and other charges. There is no way the admission clerk at the front can (or should be expected to) know what those charges will add up to in your particular case.)
 
I did not have insurance because I couldn't afford it.
And my question was "how much is it going to cost me being visited by a doctor here?". If I need to go through the emergency room in order to be visited by a doctor, then the cost of the emergency room becomes an integral part of the expense of the visit. Ergo, saying "oh it's going to be around 300$", especially after I told you I don't have insurance, becomes a duplicitous response.


All of that could be the truth.

Your problem, if this goes to court, will be to prove your allegations.

Think about this, mate.

Do you REALLY think that if someone (or many someones said that, maybe more to you) said that, the person(s) would ever admit to it?

I hope you now begin to see that anyone can say anything, proving it was said is the hard (often IMPOSSIBLE) part.
 
You asked what the doctor's bill would be, and you were told what the doctor's bill would be.

Had you asked if there would be additional fees over and above the doctor's bill, no doubt they would have told you that too.
 
I did not have insurance because I couldn't afford it.
And my question was "how much is it going to cost me being visited by a doctor here?". If I need to go through the emergency room in order to be visited by a doctor, then the cost of the emergency room becomes an integral part of the expense of the visit. Ergo, saying "oh it's going to be around 300$", especially after I told you I don't have insurance, becomes a duplicitous response.

Have you considered Medi-CAL?
 
ATLANTA (AP) — A Georgia woman who left an emergency room after waiting for hours without seeing a doctor said she walked away with her injury untreated and a $700 charge simply for showing up.

Taylor Davis told WAGA-TV she went to the Emory Decatur Hospital emergency room in July for a head injury and decided to leave after no end in sight to her seven-hour wait for care.

A couple of weeks later, a surprise arrived in her mailbox: a $700 bill from the hospital.

"I didn't get my vitals taken. Nobody called my name. I wasn't seen at all," Davis said.

She was convinced it was a mistake, but was told it was an emergency room visit fee. An email sent to Davis by an Emory Healthcare patient financial services employee says: "You get charged before you are seen. Not for being seen."

Davis said she's reluctant to go to an emergency room now if she needs care.

Emory Healthcare told the TV station in a statement that it was "looking into this matter and will follow up directly with the individual."
 
ATLANTA (AP) — A Georgia woman who left an emergency room after waiting for hours without seeing a doctor said she walked away with her injury untreated and a $700 charge simply for showing up.

Taylor Davis told WAGA-TV she went to the Emory Decatur Hospital emergency room in July for a head injury and decided to leave after no end in sight to her seven-hour wait for care.

A couple of weeks later, a surprise arrived in her mailbox: a $700 bill from the hospital.

"I didn't get my vitals taken. Nobody called my name. I wasn't seen at all," Davis said.

She was convinced it was a mistake, but was told it was an emergency room visit fee. An email sent to Davis by an Emory Healthcare patient financial services employee says: "You get charged before you are seen. Not for being seen."

Davis said she's reluctant to go to an emergency room now if she needs care.

Emory Healthcare told the TV station in a statement that it was "looking into this matter and will follow up directly with the individual."

Yes, I assume the free care is over and Socialized medical works after all.

:rolleyes:
 
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