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Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Scam Alert: Hospitals All Over America Are Wildly Inflating Medical Bills

The next time you visit a hospital, it is your wallet that may end up hurting the most

All over the United States, it has become common practice for hospitals to wildly inflate medical bills. For example, it has been reported that some hospitals are charging up to 30 dollars for a single aspirin pill. And as you will see below, some victims report being billed tens of thousands of dollars for a non-surgical hospital visit that lasts only a few hours. When something is seriously wrong with us, most of us never stop to ask our health professionals how much it will cost to actually treat us. In that moment, we are desperate and we just want someone to help us. Many doctors and hospitals take full advantage of this by billing their “customers” as much as they feel they can possible get away with. It is a legal scam that is bilking ordinary Americans out of billions of dollars every single year.

Over the weekend, the New York Times reported on one case that is a perfect example of the outrageous medical billing that I am talking about…

Before his three-hour neck surgery for herniated disks in December, Peter Drier, 37, signed a pile of consent forms. A bank technology manager who had researched his insurance coverage, Mr. Drier was prepared when the bills started arriving: $56,000 from Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan, $4,300 from the anesthesiologist and even $133,000 from his orthopedist, who he knew would accept a fraction of that fee.

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3 comments:

Anonymous said...

A friend of mine needed surgery. Went to the financial office at the hospital and was told that the total cost of the surgery and stay at the hospital would be 11,0000.00. Obama care kicked in day of surgery = Bill was received 15 days later - Total cost $26,000.00 Explanation due to law they had to adjust all procedural and medical instrument costs.

Anonymous said...

When will this end????

Anonymous said...

We can look out all we want and be aware of what the hospitals are doing, but how do we prevent this from happening? You get the bill, you have to pay it. What recourse is there for anyone?