I just got threatened to be sent to collections because I can't pay for an ambulance

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KevinCow

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The one that took me to the hospital in October when I almost died.

Crotchety old bitch called me and demanded I pay up today or she'd send me to collections. Repeatedly refused to believe me when I told her I was on my mom's insurance on account of I have no job so I'd need to talk to them. Then she just hung up on me.

Because MURICA. Clearly nothing wrong with our healthcare system.
 
Don't worry about it, let the bitch whine.
 
I started a new job in September, which didnt provide any sort of healthcare options for the first 8 months of employment. Not a big deal, I never get sick.

As "luck" would have it, two months in, I get my first kidney stone. Pain, so... much... pain. Went to a hospital near Cincinnati that my physician recommended me to as they were known to help those without insurance.

Here was my bill breakdown with no insurance consideration.
Hospital - $4755
Physician - $667
Radiology - $253
Lab - $68

For an hour and a half at the hospital (which I was only there that long due to that they have to keep you like 45 minutes after they give you morphine or something like that). I saw the doctor three times MAYBE totaling 5 minutes.

You get so many bills, you wonder what the hell the hospital bill is even for if everything done while you are there is billed individually on top of it! Hell, at one point, I was semi-expecting a bill from Time Warner Cable for having the cable on while I was in the room.
 
I never got how they could charge for the ambulance ride when they don't ask even ask for your consent when they shove you into one.
 
Fuck that bitch OP..let it go to collections..not like they can collect anything if you don't have a job. Besides if your on your moms insurance then shouldnt it cover the ambulance and what not?
 
They charge you for the ambulance?

I mean fine if you called and you only had a splinter or something ridiculously silly but damn.

NHS fo lyfe.
 
Does Obamacare address this in a viable way? All I see is employers cutting staff and hours so that they don't have to pay for their health insurance.
 
how much is the ambulance bill? and if you are on your mom's insurance, why isn't the ambulance billing your mom's insurance. why didn't you give your mom's insurance information to the collection agency? i am sure you have recieved a bill from the ambulance in the mail several times already. you don't just suddenly get whacked with a collection's notice for no reason. you must have ignored it for a while now.
 
braves01 said:
Emergency situations kinda make implied consent ok. If you're conscious you can always refuse to get in.
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Not exactly. I was almost forced into one after a car accident, even though I was ambulatory. They pressure you because they will suffer liability consequences if they don't take a conservative and better-safe-than-sorry approach.

Everyone in that chain of events is being crushed by a retarded system.

My bill was $800 for a 1/4 mile trip. And $50 for a tylenol.
 
KevinCow said:
The one that took me to the hospital in October when I almost died.

Crotchety old bitch called me and demanded I pay up today or she'd send me to collections. Repeatedly refused to believe me when I told her I was on my mom's insurance on account of I have no job so I'd need to talk to them. Then she just hung up on me.

Because MURICA. Clearly nothing wrong with our healthcare system.
Click to expand...

You have to pay for an ambulance? What kind of fucked up healthcare system is this?
 
Stinkles said:
Not exactly. I was almost forced into one after a car accident, even though I was ambulatory. They pressure you because they will suffer liability consequences if they don't take a conservative and better-safe-than-sorry approach.

Everyone in that chain of events is being crushed by a retarded system.

My bill was $800 for a 1/4 mile trip. And $50 for a tylenol.
Click to expand...

your out of pocket was this or that is what was billed to your insurance. or did you have no insurance.
 
frey said:
Why does America not have a NHS?
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Because "SOCIALISM!!!!!", pull you by your own bootstraps, "FUCK YOU I GOT MINE" and nonsense in the like. I don't really know how people (by that i mean the average Joe) can believe in that bullshit and live by it. Don't really can comprehend that.
 
You probably don't have to worry any. Call insurance and see if you can sort it out. If they won't work with you or refuse to pay (for whatever reason) apply for financial aid through the hospital. Your bill will likely drop to $0.

America's health care system is a mess sure, but there are things you can do individually to mitigate things for yourself.

Collections probably won't do anything anyway. Just biweekly calls.

If you are sure this should have been covered by insurance, fight for that.
 
It was in october? Just call your moms insurance, see if they received the claim, covered it and if they have paid for it. If the ambulance company is out of network, the insurance might send their payment to your moms address.

Collections can be dicks, but im sure your insurance will help you out
 
Takuan said:
Does Obamacare address this in a viable way? All I see is employers cutting staff and hours so that they don't have to pay for their health insurance.
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Specifically, I believe PPACA cuts reimbursement to hospitals (in medicare and medicaid) for ambulance services.
 
Erasus said:
Patients have to pay out of their own pocket when riding an ambulance?

What

the

fuck

?
Click to expand...

Yes. And they get an itemized bill for services performed in the Ambulance. If you had an artery severed, they may not charge you for the tourniquet, but they would charge you for the ride, the application of the tourniquet and the bandages. A $5 badnage would have its price inflated by potentially 100s of percent. And I am not making this up. Here is the most disturbing part: About 50% of Americans think this is a great system and that any alternative is socialism. But they also think socialism is the same as communism.

Everything I just typed is literally true.
 
OP, don't screw this up. Figure out immediately if you're covered by your mom's insurance. Don't assume it, call them (or if necessary have your mom call them) and find out.
 
Stinkles said:
Not exactly. I was almost forced into one after a car accident, even though I was ambulatory. They pressure you because they will suffer liability consequences if they don't take a conservative and better-safe-than-sorry approach.

Everyone in that chain of events is being crushed by a retarded system.

My bill was $800 for a 1/4 mile trip. And $50 for a tylenol.
Click to expand...

Should have had your overshield on when you got in the car. ;)
 
Stinkles said:
Yes. And they get an itemized bill for services performed in the Ambulance. If you had an artery severed, they may not charge you for the tourniquet, but they would charge you for the ride, the application of the tourniquet and the bandages. A $5 badnage would have its price inflated by potentially 100s of percent. And I am not making this up. Here is the most disturbing part: About 50% of Americans think this is a great system and that any alternative is socialism. But they also think socialism is the same as communism.

Everything I just typed is literally true.
Click to expand...

You forgot the part where using the sirens costs extra.
 
Well that's incredibly stupid. What the fuck America?

Cat Party said:
OP, don't screw this up. Figure out immediately if you're covered by your mom's insurance. Don't assume it, call them (or if necessary have your mom call them) and find out.
Click to expand...

Yeah this. Hope it works out for you Kevin.
 
BTW, I honestly can't blame the hospital. The EMTs needs to get paid, and they'll be the first to tell that these services are expensive, due to other factors putting cost pressure on them (and those factors will point to other sources).

My point is that the true blame should be placed on the government for not passing any real reform that changes the system from the ground up.
 
Detox said:
So what happens if it's someone clearly broke who needs an ambulance and/treatment?
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They get care. They have to by law. If they can't pay, then the hospital just eats the cost, and the burden for it usually gets pushed onto other people.

20% of all ER services are usually to people who can't pay.
 
JB1981 said:
well that's the fault of the biller, not your insurance.
Click to expand...
Most big ambulance companies dont want to contract with big insurance companies because they would have to negotiate their rates to a level they wouldnt want to accept. Because theyre not contracted, theyll usually bill the patient and leave it to them to send it to the insurance...so this happens a lot, unfortunately.
 
SoulPlaya said:
BTW, I honestly can't blame the hospital. The EMTs needs to get paid, and they'll be the first to tell that these services are expensive, due to other factors putting cost pressure on them (and those factors will point to other sources).

My point is that the true blame should be placed on the government for not passing any real reform that changes the system from the ground up.
Click to expand...

the whole health care system financially is inflated to all hell. Some people are getting fucking rich off the backs of the sick.
 
Slurmer said:
It was in october? Just call your moms insurance, see if they received the claim, covered it and if they have paid for it. If the ambulance company is out of network, the insurance might send their payment to your moms address.

Collections can be dicks, but im sure your insurance will help you out
Click to expand...

My insurance refused to pay it because I haven't met my deductible.

But I don't have $2000 to pay for my deductible. I don't have any money. But apparently my insurance doesn't pay anything until I meet it. I've gotten a few bills, but my mom said not to worry about it because insurance would take care of it.

Furthermore, everyone's asking for the deductible. The ambulance, the hospital, the mental hospital. I don't even know how this works. Will my insurance pay all of them if and when I'm finally able to pay one of them? Do I need to do something to let them know that my deductible was paid elsewhere and it should go through now?

Fuck, this shit's so confusing. Nobody ever explained any of this to me. I don't know how they expect people to understand this shit. I just suddenly have a million people demanding money that I don't have and I have no fucking idea what to do about it.
 
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