Are Hospital ERs guilty of Price Gouging?

Originally posted by angrymomma
Don't forget the unnecessary tests that are sometimes ordered.

Last year I went to the ER b/c a medicine I was prescribed for migraines started making me lose my sight over the course of a couple of hours (I got better

). Instead of doing a simple pressure exam, that the on call eye doctor told him to first, (that consists of blowing a tiny puff of air into your eyes to check pressure) the first thing the doctor did was give me a spinal tap. ?

Well, to be fair, an ER doctor who has never seen you before and has only your account of your medcial history, has to rule out other serious possibilities before releasing you - for liability reasons.

This is why people using ER's as primary care is driving up insurance and health care costs. Not saying you were, but many do.

reply to post by kosmicjack


We called our normal "doc in the box" first and immediately told me I needed to go to the ER.

I was just upset with it 1. because needles scare the bejebbus out of me and 2. the actual eye doctor had told him the pressure test was what he should do first.

But I see what you are saying. There are unfortunately those people that go to the ER for the most minor things. And there are unfortunately those people that go for the most minor things AND never end up paying their bills.

We always go to or call our "doc in the box" first. But like I said earlier, that particular office is associated with our local hospital. We go there b/c my husband (who works as a transporter at said hospital) can have our copay and any other bills come out of his paycheck over time.

Here's something to chew on:
www.meps.ahrq.gov...

Emergency room visits involving surgery were most expensive on average while those where no special services were provided (such as laboratory tests and various radiological diagnostic procedures) tended to be least expensive.

This makes absolutely no sense.
Necessary treatments (real emergencies) were most expensive, while the ones who could've waited to see a doctor were the least expensive?
Now, I'm quite aware that surgery costs more than bloodwork, but the way this is worded, it seems as though those with true emergencies are being gouged.

I also found this to be odd:

The average expense for an emergency room visit was somewhat higher for metropolitan statistical areas than other less urban areas.

So, are they being kind and charging minorities' visits less?

Then, we may have descrimination against seniors:

The average expense for an emergency room visit was highest for persons age 45–64 and lowest for children under 18 years of age.

I know kids are important, but should age matter when it comes to helping those in a medical emergency?

Another interesting article to help shed more light on this issue:
"Hospitals Eliminate 1 in 4 U.S. Emergency Rooms Since 1990, Study Finds"
www.bloomberg.com...

Closing a hospital emergency room “displaces tens of thousands of patients, many of them uninsured and low income, which leads to increased crowding at other emergency departments and can create a domino effect,” said Caroline Steinberg, vice president for trends analysis at the American Hospital Association in Washington.

So, if hospitals are closing ERs, it would make it so people and ambulances had to travel even further.
It would also create more crowded waiting areas and longer waits in general to get seen. It almost seems as though we're being forced like cattle to converge on ERs making the rooms more packed, which is obviously less healthy since people are having to be in closer proximity to one another even if there's a disease pandemic situation.

I would be compromising myself to say exactly what professional status I have in the medical field. However I will just point out one thing. It isn't only the Emergency rooms that have extremely inflated prices. Leave out all the tests leave out all the hospital rooms and outpatient facilities. Then examine this one thing.
Say a single Aspirin tablet. -----Now you can buy 100 generic tabs at the dollar store for a buck.
perhaps two at the most. that puts the price of that tab around 1-2 pennies each.. that is per tablet.
but if you are given one in the hospital and you look at your bill closely you will see a charge for a generic aspirin tablet of around 4-7 dollars per tab! That is just one tiny little drop in the bucket.
Now consider a second thing such as say a test: In this case a Cardiac Cath.
We have a local hospital well known for cardiac care. they do more than perhaps 30 cardiac characterizations daily raking in thousands of dollars per test. did you know appx 80% of those tests come back negative?
that is 8 out of ten dangerous heart caths show no anomaly at all! Who knew?
Now they make tens of thousands of dollars putting a patient at risk, and exposing them to dangerous drugs and there was truly no need even to do the test in a large percentage of those cases.....
If the Dr suggests any test that is expensive and or dangerous, be certain you have a direct indicator that test is needed.
The ER is a very unsafe environment. Every single person working there is in constant danger, from f being injured by someone who has gone completely bonkers to some of the most dangerous diseases and chemicals known to man. If there were any place in the entire Hospital that there should be inflated prices it is the ER. but there is no need for it anywhere else.
I couldn't begin to tell you of the medical personnel that have become infected with HIV, Hepatitis, Airborn and blood related diseases. Just being in an ER places everyone at risk especially the staff. If you do not need to go there. don't.
I do not agree that in the ER everything is inflated beyond the need. There is great danger there, and every single medical person in that environment is basically in danger....
Do keep in mind however that the field of medicine is the one business where a Dr, hospital, nurse, and other therapists get paid irregardless of the outcome of your illness.
You may remain ill or even die..but they will get paid either way.
Not so with auto mechanics, construction workers, or nearly any other field.
If you want a paycheck regardless of the outcome of your work. The field of medicine is the way to go.
If you like working in a dangerous setting for lots of money, the ER is the way to go. But it is a gamble for every person there.
DH

reply to post by DavidsHope


Thanks for adding that important information.
It really goes to show that our wallets are being raped by the medical industry. Our government needs to crack down on this. If they did, insurance costs would be at a normal rate and would stop increasing every time we turned around. It's amazing how deep the rabbit hole goes when it comes to the medical industry.
It really is a complete shame and they should all be embarrassed.

Most people are so consumed with outrage over the pharmaceutical industry that things like you've mentioned go overlooked and ignored.

You also need to realize that many of the patients in the ER, shouldn't really be visiting an ER.

They have the flu, or a cold, or they sprained their finger. They should be going to an urgent care facility.

Also, many of those same patients don't have the money to pay.

So, hospitals have highly trained personnel to deal with true emergencies treating people without insurance and/or means to pay.

So, all the prices get jacked up to cover for those who can't pay.

reply to post by Wildbob77


Very true.
Hospitals have ways of taking care of the patients who have financial problems as well though.
A long time ago, one of my friends was dealing with flu symptoms. Suddenly, she couldn't wait anymore to go since she began having severe stomach pains. Once she got to the hospital, she discovered that she had to have an emergency appendectomy.
After the surgery, the hospital made payment arrangements with her, but her bill was still around $20,000.
When Christmas came around, she got a letter from the hospital stating that $15,000 of her bill had been written off as charity. That was the best Christmas gift she'd ever received!

reply to post by Wildbob77


That is what completely pisses me off. I have a sister-in-law who runs to the ER for Everything. The other day she had an infected tooth, instead of just making a dentist appt, she waited till the weekend and went to the ER. They live with my wife's parents, have a newborn, neither have had a job for over a year [ he just started one ] and they have a state medical card that she thinks is a license to get free care for any and everything. Being a hypochondriac doesn't help either. If you can think of it, she's had it. And boy does she love vicodin. People who have fallen on hard times and have one of those cards doesn't bother me at all. The ones like her who constantly abuse them are what gets me.