Wellness

[granddi]

Our community has numerous walk in Urgent Care Clinics but lately we are seeing Walk In ER. I didn't think much about the name difference until reading an article about a man in the Phoenix area. He sought care at walk in ER for sinusitus and was shocked to see an insurance billing for $9,000.00. He was expecting a C-pac and a steroid shot but got a $6500.00 base fee for Emergency Room and CT scan and then Rx for infection. 

Insurance covers ER visits with higher deductibles so your out of pocket could be a surprise. Az proposed legislation would require disclosure of "ER" fees before treatment but apparently Hosp Lobbiest are objecting. 

[MaggieMack]

ER would always be my last choice unless I was brought in via ambulance. I have had a few visits to Urgent Care clinics in the past few years, UTI and something in my eye, and have been very pleased with their care and charges.

[I am still oxox]

What is a C pak, could you mean Z pak

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@granddi wrote:

Our community has numerous walk in Urgent Care Clinics but lately we are seeing Walk In ER. I didn't think much about the name difference until reading an article about a man in the Phoenix area. He sought care at walk in ER for sinusitus and was shocked to see an insurance billing for $9,000.00. He was expecting a C-pac and a steroid shot but got a $6500.00 base fee for Emergency Room and CT scan and then Rx for infection. 

Insurance covers ER visits with higher deductibles so your out of pocket could be a surprise. Az proposed legislation would require disclosure of "ER" fees before treatment but apparently Hosp Lobbiest are objecting. 

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[Kachina624]

I got a shock once when I went to one of my insurance approved hospital ERS for treatment.  Only after the fact did I learn that the ER physicians worked for a private corporation that billed separately and was not on the insurance approved list.  I never did pay their bill except for what insurance allowed and they didn't pursue it after I threatened to call the attorney general's office.

There should be full disclosure at hospitals just like everywhere else.

[I am still oxox]

Of course they should, I was treated at an ER that no longer accepted my insurance and I was also treated 3 times at a local urgent care that was no longer accepting our insurance. The registration desk should take an extra second to pre certify the visit. The urgent care mess was strange, my visit was early in the year and the previous year they accepted my insurance

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@Kachina624 wrote:

I got a shock once when I went to one of my insurance approved hospital ERS for treatment.  Only after the fact did I learn that the ER physicians worked for a private corporation that billed separately and was not on the insurance approved list.  I never did pay their bill except for what insurance allowed and they didn't pursue it after I threatened to call the attorney general's office.

There should be full disclosure at hospitals just like everywhere else.

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[millieshops]

In my community, I would choose an urgent care facility every time for pretty much anything that didn't appear to be a heart attack or a stroke.

[LTT1]

@granddi@millieshops@I am still oxox@Kachina624@MaggieMack

It keeps happening ... these "out of network' charges! You were right to question these charges.

Medical charges are getting so complicated that I am tempted to make a list and keep it in my wallet.

Has anyone else had the "demand up-front" payment? That is a "bear" to get back $$ owed back to you after the fact!

[depglass]

Our insurance company, Blue Cross, has the same allergy to these "rooms," whatever they are called.  After footing virtually the entire bill twice, we have learned to avoid them unless we are half dead or in excruciating pain. 

[151949]

In our small town we do not have any urgent care clinics. There are a couple doctor's offices that will see walk in patients during their regular office hours but when they are closed the ER is the only choice, unless you want to drive 30 miles. We have only used the ER twice - when DH had  his stroke and when I had pneumonia I got an IV heplock in and went over to the outpatient center in the ER twice a day for my IV antibiotics. i can't imagne that outrageous bill! I got my outpatient treatment preapproved by the insurance co. so they paid for it 100%. It saved them a bundle as my doctor wanted to admit me to a monitored unit due to my asthma. The only reason he agreed to this arrangement was that I live right next to the hospital and I am a retired nurse so totally capable of caring for my IV site at home.

[winamac1]

I live in a large city so we have many urgent care clinics within a 15 to 20 minute drive.  Most of the physicians at these clinics have practices of their own or are in a group practice.  They work at the urgent care for extra money.  They are very competent clinicians.

After my failed attempt at having a colonoscopy 4 or so years ago, I ended up in an ER as I was so constipated and in excruciating pain.  I have good insurance and they still charged me $2200 for 4 hours in the hospital and an enema.  I avoid the ER's unless it's a very bad situation.  I don't want to pay these egrecious fees.  My insurance paid around $7,000 for those 4 hours, and I paid over $2200.