hospital bills

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One Bill for Treatment of COVID-19 Nears $35K

'I will never be able to pay' that much, patient says

(Newser) - Thousands of people, if not millions, experts predict, will be admitted to hospitals during the pandemic. They'll not only be facing a disease, COVID-19, but a bill—in one Massachusetts woman's case, $34,927.43—that they might not be able to pay. "I was pretty sticker-shocked,...

Mom Who Gave Birth in Car Must Pay $7K Delivery Room Fee

'That's a little outrageous,' says Paula D'Amore

(Newser) - There was no ambulance, no epidural, and no hours of labor in a delivery room—yet a Florida woman who gave birth this year says she still faced a hefty hospital bill that included a $7,431 delivery room charge. "I think that's a little outrageous," says...

Brit Gives Birth Weeks Early in NYC, Faces $200K Bill

On vacation, Katie Amos delivered son Dax 11 weeks early

(Newser) - Brits Katie Amos and fiance Lee Johnston didn't expect to become a family of three until 2015, but at just 29 weeks pregnant, Amos went into labor—while walking through Central Park during "a last getaway" to the Big Apple. She delivered son Dax, weighing three pounds, on...

Canadian Mom Gives Birth in US, Gets $1M Bill
Canadian Mom Gives Birth
in US, Gets $1M Bill
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Canadian Mom Gives Birth in US, Gets $1M Bill

She was 6 months pregnant when her water broke while on vacation in Hawaii

(Newser) - Jennifer Huculak-Kimmel thought she'd dotted all the i's. Six months pregnant in October of 2013, she was cleared by her doctor to vacation in Hawaii with her husband, and she made sure to get Blue Cross insurance coverage before her trip. Just two days in, though, her water...

Insured Woman Treated at 'Wrong' Hospital Billed $50K

In a coma, she couldn't tell paramedics to take her to hospital up the road instead

(Newser) - After suffering a heart attack that nearly killed her at age 29 last year, Megan Rothbauer would love to be celebrating being alive, not to mention planning her wedding and future family. Unfortunately for her, she was in a coma when paramedics arrived and could not ask them to take...

Man Goes to ER for Snakebite, Gets Billed $89K

Eric Ferguson was in North Carolina hospital for 18 hours

(Newser) - When a North Carolina man was bitten by a snake in August, he was successfully treated over 18 hours at Lake Norman Regional Medical Center—for which he was billed $89,227, the Charlotte Observer reports. Some $81,000 of that was for four vials of anti-venom, which Eric Ferguson...

Psych Ward Holds Woman Against Her Will, Bills Her

Christina Schumacher fighting to get out of hospital

(Newser) - The day after Christina Schumacher's estranged husband killed the couple's 14-year-old son and then himself on Dec. 18, Schumacher was detained by police and admitted, against her will, to a hospital psychiatric ward. She's still there—and Fletcher Allen Health Care is billing her for the stay....

Why Hospitals Can Charge $500 Per Stitch

'NYT' takes an extensive look at hospital billing

(Newser) - Hospital billing is notoriously complicated—and treatment at a US hospital is notoriously expensive. The New York Times highlights those issues in an extensive piece today, and uses stitches and similar treatments as an example of both points: One patient at a California hospital was billed $2,229.11 to...

Royal Birth Cost Less Than Most American Births
Royal Birth Cost Less Than Most American Births
OPINION

Royal Birth Cost Less Than Most American Births

And Kate got better care: Sy Mukherjee

(Newser) - Rolling your eyes at all the pomp and fuss surrounding the newest prince in Britain? Well, dear American, allow New York Times reporter Elisabeth Rosenthal to temper the condescension with one eye-opening tweet : “British royal born in fanciest ward: $15000. Average US birth: billed $30,000; paid $18,000....

It's Official: Hospital Bills Make No Sense

$5K for a procedure in one hospital costs $223K in another

(Newser) - The charges on US hospital bills often seem entirely random and inconsistent, and now we know why: they probably are. The government has released data today on what 3,300 different hospitals charge for the 100 most common procedures. The results show massive variation, reports the Washington Post . One DC...

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