Englishmum

A New Jersey woman visiting a friend in Arizona was bitten on her feet by a rattler.

She was uninsured (she's a licensed acupuncturist and massage therapist) and as she's not a resident of Arizona, did not qualify for charity care.

Her hospital bill is $92,000 and according to the newspaper report, the hospital has so far been unwilling to negotiate.....

http://www.nj.com/starledger/stories...580.xml&coll=1

(Personally I think I would have died of shock.....from the snake bites!)

Elvira

I'd be interested to see the breakdown of the costs...... $400 every time a doctor looked at her for 10 seconds, $250 for a dose of ASA, $150 for Kleenex......... plus thousands for 'tests' etc that may or may not have been necessary.

Redlippie

There goes my blood pressure.

koogar

OMG.
I used to drink them every friday and saturday night.
Did they use too much Cider?

scrubbedexpat091

65000 of it is for the anti-venom as the article says, and she spent a few days in intensive care, none of which is cheap.

Canadian hospitals are no better if you dont have insurance.

Adnams

The US med system is corrupt. Nuff said. Vile usurers the lot of 'em.

scrubbedexpat099

A classic example of the need for a basic knowledge of Spanish.

elfman

Nora Johnson, director of education and hospital billing compliance for Medical Billing Advocates of America, who advocated for Marilyn Hess, estimates “eight out of every 10” hospital bills she scrutinizes contain multiple errors. And while bills from doctors’ offices and labs tend to contain fewer mistakes, consumers can still end up paying unnecessarily.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21527433

Poppy girl

Being quite ignorant here, but what does one do if faced with a large medical bill as above and has no meens of paying it, its something that has crossed my mind a few times, what happens to the bill if they plain and simple can't and never likely able to pay it!!

Jerseygirl

The major cause of bankruptcy in the US is because people can't pay the healthcare bills.

Elvira

Except Shrub closed that loophole - you can no longer go bankrupt for medical expenses.

In other words, they'll take you for every last penny and asset you've got...

Jerseygirl

Oh yes that's right...I forgot.

Journeyman Electrician

My goodness that's a lot of dosh in anyones currency !

Poppy girl

Alright I know I am stretching this but what if after the assets there is still not enough, what if they have no assets in the 1st place?

scrubbedexpat099

Bankruptcy varies by State, generally speaking you do get to keep quite a lot more than you would think.

But that assumes that a Hospital would go to the expense of Bankrupting somebody who clearly had nothing they could get their hands on. I always assumed that they sold them on for pennies on the dollar.