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A year and a half ago I ended up in Zuckerberg General with a severe throat infection, I spent the night and was discharged the next day. I do not have medical aid and I am not a US resident. I work on a L1 Visa in America and I was on holiday in San Francisco when I ended up in the Hospital. I received and paid a bill for roughly $2000, however last week I received a surprising letter from the San Francisco Treasury saying I owe them $40, 000. I reached out to the hospital and they confirmed that I owe that amount, obviously my brain short circuited that someone can try to charge me 40K for one nights stay in hospital. I've requested an itemized bill and once I received that I will be contacting the hospital to go through the charges step by step. A quick search shows that I'm not alone with getting played by the hospital https://www.vox.com/health-care/2019/1/24/18195686/vox-zuckerberg-hospital-emergency-room-bill I would appreciate any guidance and input on what steps I should take next? I have informed the hospital and treasury that I am disputing the charges and will be requesting legal council, however I have no experience in any of this. What should I do next?
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Nov 24, 2019 19:09
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LansLeFleur posted:A year and a half ago I ended up in Zuckerberg General with a severe throat infection, I spent the night and was discharged the next day. I do not have medical aid and I am not a US resident. I work on a L1 Visa in America and I was on holiday in San Francisco when I ended up in the Hospital. I received and paid a bill for roughly $2000, however last week I received a surprising letter from the San Francisco Treasury saying I owe them $40, 000. Does your insurance not cover this? Out of network, I assume?
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Nov 24, 2019 21:14
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Nope not covered by insurance at all
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Nov 24, 2019 21:25
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Zuckerberg hospital has gotten flak for not being in network with any insurer. Supposedly they are planning on cutting back their aggressive billing tactics but seems they aren't doing that yet. https://www.vox.com/2019/4/16/18410905/zuckerberg-san-francisco-hospital-bills Before you try legal means I'd recommend seeing if someone at the hospital can make an income based exemption in your case. Generally if you call their billing line and claim hardship and push back they might write off all of most of your care as "charity care". If you have insurance, call your insurer and ask for their advice (worth a shot). If that doesn't work, there are medical advocates who can help negotiate your rate down - otherwise you might have to go down the legal path you've been considering. It's horrible but that's the US health care system! For what it's worth, $40k is insane but "normal" in regards to what the typical US hospital will charge for a single night stay.
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Nov 25, 2019 05:16
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Tomfoolery posted:Zuckerberg hospital has gotten flak for not being in network with any insurer. Supposedly they are planning on cutting back their aggressive billing tactics but seems they aren't doing that yet. Thank you so much for sharing this information!
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Nov 25, 2019 05:37
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If all else fails, with medical bills, you can literally pay like $5 a month and they aren't allowed to send you to collections or hurt your credit. It's awful knowing you're in debt like that, but that makes it manageable. That said, it shouldn't even have to be a thing in the first place- our healthcare here is a loving joke.
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Nov 25, 2019 21:37
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Tomfoolery posted:Zuckerberg hospital has gotten flak for not being in network with any insurer. Supposedly they are planning on cutting back their aggressive billing tactics but seems they aren't doing that yet. Go for this approach. This particular hospital pulls that poo poo all the time to the point where they're being individually targeted by the state legislature in an attempt to force them to stop. You're getting hit by a combination of (1) bad hospital ethics, (2) only hospital of its scale / literally only lvl 1 trauma center in the area, and (3) CA allowing balance billing for out-of-network services. The hospital basically said "gently caress it, why accept ANY insurance when nobody has a choice and we can bill whatever we want?" and ran with it. I'm having trouble finding the article now, but apparently something like 25% of everyone admitted into that hospital's trauma center--insurance coverage or not--ends up declaring medical bankruptcy as a result. Aim for the charity writeoff first. After that, you could either aim for advocacy or creating a public image crisis for them so that they conveniently change your bill to seem like they're not vampires.
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Dec 22, 2019 01:52
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Sundae posted:The hospital basically said "gently caress it, why accept ANY insurance when nobody has a choice and we can bill whatever we want?" and ran with it.
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Dec 23, 2019 01:59
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Appreciate all the input! Had to go the lawyer route because I never recieved the bill / itemized billing from the hospital. They handed over the debt to the state. According to the very ‘helpful’ people at the hospital my account with them has been zeroed and they can no longer do anything for me. Found a lawyer who is willing to take my case and he is reviewing the documentation and will get back to me in the new years. Again grateful for the wonderful responses.
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Dec 23, 2019 17:03
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Sundae posted:Go for this approach. This particular hospital pulls that poo poo all the time to the point where they're being individually targeted by the state legislature in an attempt to force them to stop. You're getting hit by a combination of (1) bad hospital ethics, (2) only hospital of its scale / literally only lvl 1 trauma center in the area, and (3) CA allowing balance billing for out-of-network services. The hospital basically said "gently caress it, why accept ANY insurance when nobody has a choice and we can bill whatever we want?" and ran with it. I'm having trouble finding the article now, but apparently something like 25% of everyone admitted into that hospital's trauma center--insurance coverage or not--ends up declaring medical bankruptcy as a result. I appreciate them in that they're getting the people who normally would be fine with the American healthcare system as-is to start bitching about it, and gently caress the state legislature for stepping in just because they've decided to not restrict their loving to just poor people or people who happen to have the wrong insurance through no choice of their own.
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Dec 28, 2019 02:07
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Thanatosian posted:I mean, the whole American healthcare system is completely hosed, but at least Zuckerberg General fucks everybody. Techbro with techbro-level insurance? hosed. Union member with union insurance? hosed. Uninsured? No more hosed than you'd be anywhere else.
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Dec 28, 2019 02:39
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Rich folk will probably pay the billed rate just to not be annoyed by the bills and inevitable phone calls.
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Dec 30, 2019 04:36
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I still haven't paid a $4K bill from some group of surgeons (after I did pay the hospital's all inclusive insurance pricing piece) who tried to bill me after the fact, been about 9 months now. I figure I might here from collections in 6 months but possibly they gave up since none of their billing and the doctor names associated to it matched the hospitals own records of who did the surgery. Not very helpful OP but I will say that if you don't have any need to take on loans in the near future to where your credit matters if it goes down slightly you should ride it out longer and longer so they are willing to take a smaller amount to settle and get something. But actually as I read again and see they handed the debt to the state? How the gently caress does a hospital give the state the debt to collect? WTF.
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Dec 30, 2019 06:30
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Rich people put their name on the hospital, they don't go to the loving hospital lol. Could you even imagine going to a hospital? What a nightmare that must be. Private medical corp on call, that's how they've been doing it since the 1990s at least.
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Apr 21, 2020 01:39
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Pryor on Fire posted:Rich people put their name on the hospital, they don't go to the loving hospital lol. Could you even imagine going to a hospital? What a nightmare that must be. That comment was worth a four-month necro?
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Apr 21, 2020 02:25
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As a positive spin, after I had a lawyer review the hospital stated that the bill was 0 USD, checked on the online platform and the treasury rep who communicated with me had deleted all the emails...I still have pdf copies of them. But no contact has been made from them. Stay healthy all!
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Apr 23, 2020 17:45
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It’s dystopian a hospital named after the 5th richest person on the planet is awful about overcharging and hunting people down.
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Apr 23, 2020 20:12
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Hyrax Attack! posted:It’s dystopian a hospital named after the 5th richest person on the planet is awful about overcharging and hunting people down. And yet strangely fitting. It would almost be weird if it wasn't, let's be real. I'm not celebrating that, just stating it.
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Apr 24, 2020 06:47
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although this thread is old as poo poo and necroed because someone said "rich people don't go to the hospital" which isn't true at all, but even if the lawyer comes back and says you do owe it, just don't pay it. You aren't immigrating, you don't live here, the credit score here doesn't matter
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Apr 28, 2020 15:53
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Vomik posted:although this thread is old as poo poo and necroed because someone said "rich people don't go to the hospital" which isn't true at all, but If you don't yet know about the private memberships at every hospital that gets you into the real hospital then you're in for a depressing google journey. Don't start unless you're feeling brave and caffeinated.
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Apr 28, 2020 16:37
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Pryor on Fire posted:If you don't yet know about the private memberships at every hospital that gets you into the real hospital then you're in for a depressing google journey. Don't start unless you're feeling brave and caffeinated. yeah I know they have private wings and poo poo, but I read that as you saying they just have a surgeon drop by their house and do it or something. my bad.
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Apr 28, 2020 16:39
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When rich people go to the hospital:quote:The feverish patient had spent hours in a crowded emergency room. When she opened her eyes in her Manhattan hospital room last winter, she recalled later, she wondered if she could be hallucinating: “This is like the Four Seasons — where am I?” quote:A waterfall, a grand piano and the image of a giant orchid grace the soaring ninth floor atrium of McKeen, leading to refurbished rooms that, like those in the hospital’s East 68th Street penthouse, cost patients $1,000 to $1,500 a day, and can be combined. That fee is on top of whatever base rate insurance pays to the hospital, or the roughly $4,500 a day that foreigners are charged, according to the hospital’s international services department. https://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/22/nyregion/chefs-butlers-and-marble-baths-not-your-average-hospital-room.html When poor people need medical treatment: quote:WISE, Va. — Anthony Marino, 54, reached into his car trunk to show a pair of needle-nosed pliers like the ones he used to yank out a rotting tooth. quote:Making his way through a livestock barn where sheets divided makeshift examining rooms, Gov. Terry McAuliffe argued, as he has fruitlessly through four years in office, that if the Republican-controlled General Assembly in Richmond would expand Medicaid, 400,000 low-income Virginians would be helped. Republicans, who hold all seats in southwest Virginia, say the Affordable Care Act is a failure. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/23/us/healthcare-uninsured-rural-poor-affordable-care-act-republicans.html
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Apr 28, 2020 16:57
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VIP medicine is a hilarious scam and I love it - though it's worth noting that afaik only a small proportion of medical centers do it. One reason why not: because the plush setting means deviations from standard of care for things like infection control, your outcomes if you go through a prestige care setting are often much much worse.
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Apr 29, 2020 16:42
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Tomfoolery posted:If you have insurance, call your insurer and ask for their advice (worth a shot). If that doesn't work, there are medical advocates who can help negotiate your rate down - otherwise you might have to go down the legal path you've been considering. It's horrible but that's the US health care system! 14 months later I received a $3k bill from the anesthesiologist. After I flipped the gently caress out, I called my insurer and they took care of it. What upset me the most was the having it come back over a year later and the realization that I had to add "there is no limit to when you can be billed" to my understanding of America's poo poo vulture healthcare system. If today in the mail I received a bill related to my son's birth nearly 5 years ago, I'd be pissed but not surprised.
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Jun 9, 2020 15:14
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Though small comfort, it may help to know -- In the normal working of hospital billing, the number that they write down is a fantasy. When hospitals and insurers write contracts, the contract sets the "real" price of a service. As a rule of thumb, the number written on paper by a hospital pre-contract is 10x what they actually get paid. If you are an insurance company, this is largely fine because everyone at the table knows that that number is bullshit. If you are not an insurance company, this is how you get absolutely screwed. In spite of the fact that that number is a pure fiction, it gets attached to services that have not been negotiated by your insurance company.
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Jun 23, 2020 17:15
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Also it’s good to remember: bad credit? Low credit? No credit? Don’t pay it ever
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Jun 23, 2020 18:06
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