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Friday, January 31, 2014

SnakeBite Causes $89,000 Hospital Bill For North Carolina Couple

The couple visited the emergency room in August to receive treatment. The sticker shock comes as Americans continue to battle high health care costs following the introduction of the American Care Act

A couple in North Carolina is speaking out against hospital pricing after receiving a bill for an 18-hour emergency-room stay which they say cost them a whopping $89,000. The Charlotte Observer reports that Eric Ferguson visited a hospital near his home in Mooresville, N.C. over the summer after being bitten by a snake.

The four vials of anti-venom medication Ferguson received reportedly cost about $20,000 each. Ferguson and his wife Laura researched the price of the medicine and found its retail price was between $750 and $12,000 per vial. Medicare, they reportedly found, would have paid about $9,460 for the total treatment

Though their Blue Cross Blue Shield Insurance reduced the bill to a little over $20,000, according to the Charlotte Observer, and they only ended up paying about $5,400 to cover their deductible and co-pay, the couple said they were shocked by the price of treatment.

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3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Better off dying at home and collecting the life insurance money.

Anonymous said...

I have been bitten twice by snakes & did not go to the hospital either time.I got as sick as a dog the first time and hallucinated for a while,but then I got OK.The 2nd time I didn't get quite as sick.Both were timber rattlers.

Anonymous said...



Check your bill and see what 1 tylenol costs when you are patient at PRMC.