Alcohol Intoxication Medical Bills. WTF???

[quote name='Thongsy']If you have insurance, use it. If not, call them up and ask for the billing department and you can usually get the fees cut by a 1/3 or more. Yea, hospital fees are out of control, it's all fine and dandy if you got insurance, but for someone who doesn't one visit will sink the financial ship. My dad who went to the ER last year, no insurance and didn't make much so he couldn't afford any insurance or anything got billed over five thousand dollars, and they didn't really help at all.[/quote]

This


good luck, and just be glad you aren't dead from acidosis.
 
It's a good thing you didn't try to give a fake name at the hospital. Many states have made it a felony to give someone else's info at a hospital. Look at DMX. They charged him with a felony for giving a fake name to get out of a hospital bill. Sometimes you just gotta pay what you owe.
 
[quote name='ITDEFX']Hate to be the orderly who had to..... uh you know to you to get you to pee in a cup.

That's some scary shit right there. Who knows where the finger went...[/QUOTE]

Dude was passed the fuck out from 7 drinks. I'm sure all they had to do was wring out his underwear to get his piss sample.
 
OP,

I feel for you here, but really, as others said, your bills aren't out of line. Hospitals have huge overheads (you are paying not only for your care, but the record keeping, etc. All the people that help the hospital go, including all the lawyers for lawsuits).

Really, though, I know you feel bad, but maybe you have to look at your own life. Most people have gotten drunk. Most have puked in bathrooms, etc. That being said, most don't get hammered (and depending on the drinks, he didn't say 7 beers, 7 strong drinks could knock just about anyone out cold), stumble into a casino bathroom, and be unable to answer certain questions.

Put it this way, assume the janitor let you sit there, and you died. There would be a public uproar, and lawyers would contact your family to try and set up the lawsuit against the casino. Heck, you barely know what happened that night. I don't blame them for calling.

If you want to get piss drunk, you can't stumble around in public. If you do, you run the risk of this happening.

I would think this could be a wakeup call moment. Was this just a momentary lapse of judgement, or a life pattern?
 
[quote name='lordxixor101']OP,

I feel for you here, but really, as others said, your bills aren't out of line. Hospitals have huge overheads (you are paying not only for your care, but the record keeping, etc. All the people that help the hospital go, including all the lawyers for lawsuits).

Really, though, I know you feel bad, but maybe you have to look at your own life. Most people have gotten drunk. Most have puked in bathrooms, etc. That being said, most don't get hammered (and depending on the drinks, he didn't say 7 beers, 7 strong drinks could knock just about anyone out cold), stumble into a casino bathroom, and be unable to answer certain questions.

Put it this way, assume the janitor let you sit there, and you died. There would be a public uproar, and lawyers would contact your family to try and set up the lawsuit against the casino. Heck, you barely know what happened that night. I don't blame them for calling.

If you want to get piss drunk, you can't stumble around in public. If you do, you run the risk of this happening.

I would think this could be a wakeup call moment. Was this just a momentary lapse of judgement, or a life pattern?[/QUOTE]

Something like this has never happened to me or anyone that I know which is why I was so shocked by the bills. In retrospect I see that it's all just an unfortunate situation that I put myself in. I used to like having a beer or drink every week or so. Now I can't even look at a drink without feeling sick. Live and learn.
 
wheelchair_owned.jpg
.

Hope that works out well lol.
 
Do you remember the drinks that you had?

If insurance won't cover your bills (they might not if they determine/conclude you brought it upon yourself, not unlike a true accident) then those drinks better have been well-worth the $2,500 in aftercare.

Look at it this way - you went to AC. You could've lost the money at the casinos, but you did the better thing and spent it on yourself. Sort of. The money was fated to be spent either way.
 
You're really lucky the cops didn't charge you with Public Intoxication. Then you'd have to deal with a fine and/or community service to go with your huge hospital bill.

As for the bill, tell the hospital you can't afford to pay it. Don't say anything about a payment plan at first. Just tell them you're a poor student with no money. If you get a compassionate person, they can knock off up to a third of the bill without much fuss. Get that agreement in writing before you ever bring up a payment plan.
 
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[quote name='PRMega']Dude was passed the fuck out from 7 drinks. I'm sure all they had to do was wring out his underwear to get his piss sample.[/quote]

:shock:
 
Now I can show my friends that there is indeed a difference between heavily drinking in public, and just drinking.

Thanks OP. Good luck with the bills!
 
[quote name='Thongsy']If you have insurance, use it. If not, call them up and ask for the billing department and you can usually get the fees cut by a 1/3 or more. Yea, hospital fees are out of control, it's all fine and dandy if you got insurance, but for someone who doesn't one visit will sink the financial ship. My dad who went to the ER last year, no insurance and didn't make much so he couldn't afford any insurance or anything got billed over five thousand dollars, and they didn't really help at all.[/quote]

Excellent post. Hospital prices are out of control, it has been proved again and again that they take advantage of people without insurance by overcharging them for everything and tacking on secret fees to boot. Also - the American medical profession generally refuses to modernize their infrastructure, their administration generally sucks and they pass on the extra paper pushing costs to you.

OP - don't listen to the internet morality police who get a hard-on when they get the opportunity to chastise/ridicule someone (the dogpile of lol comments are excessively annoying, if I want sarcasm I'll watch House) Your judgement was off for one night but any reasonable person can understand why charges in excess of 2 grand are a bitter pill to swallow.

I hope it works out for you, my advice next time would be to drink beers before you graduate to liquor - it's harder to judge the potency of a mixed drink and liquor has a habit of convincing you everything is fine right up to a point where it hits you all at once.
 
Most hospitals offer a sliding scale application. Though most of the time you have to ask for it. Just ask them, and even if you make a decent amount of money and/or have insurance, it will still knock off at least some percent. Unless you make like 6 figures and have kick ass insurance.

Also don't go to Atlantic City
 
[quote name='-Never4ever-']and people say I'm a drunk . . .

at least I can:

a) have 7 drinks and barely be buzzed.

b) always find my way home

Although the other day I did mysteriously wake up in this girl's basement without any recollection of how I got there :X[/QUOTE]

That shit is not funny. My brother woke up in a basement under a blanket one time... Clothes off except undies, his wallet missing, thank god he found his cell in their laundry room, where he grabbed a sweatshirt and pants.

Huge ass gash in his head and brusies on his back. Fairly certain he remembers being hit by a car and drug down some stairs...

He got out of there and called a friend to give him a ride to the hospital. His buddy got in a fight with him and left him to wonder home all drunk, downtown.

Its his fault, but this shit happens.

We are quite sure they thought they killed him.
 
[quote name='magiic']If you lived in Canada the rest of the country would of paid for your fuck up![/quote]

Yes, god bless 'Merica. Now instead the country paying a small fraction to pay for medical expenses of what it spends on weapons and other BS, he can now be in debt, ruin his credit (effecting loans, jobs, renting), set his financial plans back, cause more stress, anger, and frustration. All because he did something most of us have done (or come close to it), and drank way too much.
 
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[quote name='-Never4ever-']and people say I'm a drunk . . .

at least I can:

a) have 7 drinks and barely be buzzed.

b) always find my way home

Although the other day I did mysteriously wake up in this girl's basement without any recollection of how I got there :X[/QUOTE]

I'd call that being much more clearly an alcoholic than the person who posted this thread. He may well be a drunk, but he could also be someone who doesn't binge drink often and thus just made a stupid mistake by doing so in public and not being able to handle his shit.

That said, I'm not anti-drinking at all. As long as you aren't drinking and driving, or getting violent when drunk I couldn't care less what you choose to do.

I love drinking myself as I'm a beer snob, but I seldom ever get drunk. Just have 2-3 good beers once or twice a week, and a few times a year have more for a special occasion (party, a beer festival etc.).
 
[quote name='camoor']I must say, the last few posts have been much more reasonable about the situation.[/QUOTE]

Agreed. It must be because the last couple of posts were in the later portion of the day. I really appreciate all of the suggestions guys.
 
[quote name='Gamehead']The thing that actually bothers me is that the fees seem so disproportionate to the services rendered. My friends were with my the entire time. I wasn't close to dying. Then didn't save my life. I am sure they knew why I was in the hospital. It wasn't some mystery that they would need to run lots of tests to solve. It seems like that stacked on various fees that may not have been necessary. I don't mind paying for a mistake, but this is ridiculous. And 700 for an ambulance ride 3 blocks is /sigh. I should have paid some random person 100 to carry my ass the three blocks.[/quote]

i have a M.S. in hospital administration. welcome to the sad state of healthcare in the US.

Unfortunately, it really does cost that much for a hospital visit. The only thing you can do is call the billing office and see if they can do anything to help you. don't get angry, don't yell, don't make threats because then they definitely won't do anything to help you.

yes, they did need to run all of those tests. if you've ever seen House, you'd know that *everybody* lies about what medications (legal, rx, otc, herbal, illegal and illicit) they're taking and they needed to know exactly how much you drank, if you had anything else in your system and rule out other conditions that may have been causing the symptoms (as you said, you didn't have THAT much to drink).
 
I've sent at least 5 people to the hospital for alcohol poisioning as an RA. All of them were billed by the hospitals and then fined by the university. I don't regret any of them, because if they hadn't gone, I don't know what would have happened to them.
 
I'm a fabulous drunk, and you just had a bad night. I've had far worse drunk moments than what you describe in the OP. So, glass houses and all that.

That said, you ain't getting outta your bills. What in the world could make you think that you would?
 
Hospitals DO NOT rip off people. If that were true, most hospitals wouldn't be struggling to simply break even.

ER's have to deal with all comers that come through the door and you have to pay premium for that level of expertise and access to life saving resources that you may or may not need. For every drunk that comes through the door that just needs to sleep it off, there's the drunk that fell, hit his head having seizures, or the drunk that aspirated on his own vomit requiring intubation and mechanical ventilation to save his life. Also the vast majority of ER visits are from those that can't or won't pay; that has to get subsidized somehow and the only way to do it is to jack up the price for those that can. So think of it as a charity donation; you'll probably pay for the homeless guy that was next door to you.
 
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Ya, if you don't want to have to pay a hospital bill, don't do something idiotic to get yourself sent to the hospital.
 
[quote name='lordwow']I've sent at least 5 people to the hospital for alcohol poisioning as an RA. All of them were billed by the hospitals and then fined by the university. I don't regret any of them, because if they hadn't gone, I don't know what would have happened to them.[/quote]

You reported them to the uni so they could be fined? Did you put them on double secret probation too, Neidermeyer?
 
[quote name='camoor']You reported them to the uni so they could be fined? Did you put them on double secret probation too, Neidermeyer?[/QUOTE]

I work for the university. If I have someone transported by ambulance, I have to report it.
 
[quote name='camoor']You reported them to the uni so they could be fined? Did you put them on double secret probation too, Neidermeyer?[/quote]

To be fair, it depends upon the university. I had no trouble calling mine a few times for people I didn't know, but that was mostly because it was mostly a "Free Pass" system. If someone is so drunk that they may black out and die, the university doesn't impose any fines or actions against anyone. They would rather someone call 911 or EMS and get that person help ASAP.

Good system, I felt. It was rarely abused and lord knows it saved at least three lives that I know of. Silly freshmen...
 
[quote name='Kapwanil']To be fair, it depends upon the university. I had no trouble calling mine a few times for people I didn't know, but that was mostly because it was mostly a "Free Pass" system. If someone is so drunk that they may black out and die, the university doesn't impose any fines or actions against anyone. They would rather someone call 911 or EMS and get that person help ASAP.

Good system, I felt. It was rarely abused and lord knows it saved at least three lives that I know of. Silly freshmen...[/QUOTE]

We have a similar policy, it's called "medical amnesty" here. If you call about a friend being extremely sick, then you and the person who is passed out will be immune from being fined or put on probation by the university. Unfortunately, if I'm the one who finds them, they don't get that benefit.
 
[quote name='lordwow']We have a similar policy, it's called "medical amnesty" here. If you call about a friend being extremely sick, then you and the person who is passed out will be immune from being fined or put on probation by the university. Unfortunately, if I'm the one who finds them, they don't get that benefit.[/quote]

I see. You just came off as a little harsh on the guy, IMO.

Plus your "if you don't want to pay big hospital bills then don't do stupid things" schtick is just childish - many people end up in a hospital due to accidents or situations outside their control, and even if you do make a simple mistake such as the OP's IMO we do have a problem when low-income insurance-less Americans are shouldering the costs of operating an emergency room for the benefit of bums and criminals who don't pay for their treatment.
 
[quote name='camoor']I see. You just came off as a little harsh on the guy, IMO.

Plus your "if you don't want to pay big hospital bills then don't do stupid things" schtick is just childish - many people end up in a hospital due to accidents or situations outside their control, and even if you do make a simple mistake such as the OP's IMO we do have a problem when low-income insurance-less Americans are shouldering the costs of operating an emergency room for the benefit of bums and criminals who don't pay for their treatment.[/QUOTE]

I didn't say that everyone who goes to a hospital does something stupid or idiotic. But most people who go to the hospital for alcohol poisoning fall into this category. If you do something like that, get so trashed you have to go the hospital, then you should be willing to pay the consequences of your actions.
 
[quote name='camoor']

Plus your "if you don't want to pay big hospital bills then don't do stupid things" schtick is just childish - many people end up in a hospital due to accidents or situations outside their control, and even if you do make a simple mistake such as the OP's IMO we do have a problem when low-income insurance-less Americans are shouldering the costs of operating an emergency room for the benefit of bums and criminals who don't pay for their treatment.[/quote]

What?
 
[quote name='GTzerO']What?[/QUOTE]

This.

[quote name='dopa345']Hospitals DO NOT rip off people. If that were true, most hospitals wouldn't be struggling to simply break even.

ER's have to deal with all comers that come through the door and you have to pay premium for that level of expertise and access to life saving resources that you may or may not need. For every drunk that comes through the door that just needs to sleep it off, there's the drunk that fell, hit his head having seizures, or the drunk that aspirated on his own vomit requiring intubation and mechanical ventilation to save his life. Also the vast majority of ER visits are from those that can't or won't pay; that has to get subsidized somehow and the only way to do it is to jack up the price for those that can. So think of it as a charity donation; you'll probably pay for the homeless guy that was next door to you.[/QUOTE]
 
[quote name='GTzerO']What?[/quote]

Are you following me around like a 3 year-old just to ask wat wat wat in every damn thread. Use some grown-up words and maybe I'll bother to respond.
 
Find whoever the fuck called the ambulance, and beat their face in. Don't they know that soon as you CALL the ambulance, it's over $600. You didn't need to go to the hospital for being drunk. Then, after you're done beating their face in, use the insurance, suck it up and pay for the rest.
 
Welcome to the US's health care system - the best in the world, where a good percentage of us are 2nd class citizens. Imagine what is like for you or your child to get seriously ill. It is no joke that the number one cause of personal bankrupts is medical bills - that in a country where we cant seem to manage our credit. We are one of the only industrialized countries in the world without health care. Its all about the 'haves', and 'have nots' here in the US. Havent you figured that out yet?
 
[quote name='Access_Denied']Find whoever the fuck called the ambulance, and beat their face in. Don't they know that soon as you CALL the ambulance, it's over $600. You didn't need to go to the hospital for being drunk. Then, after you're done beating their face in, use the insurance, suck it up and pay for the rest.[/QUOTE]

People who get sent to the hospital for suffering from alcohol poisoning rarely know who or where they are, if they are conscious at all, never mind trying to beat someone up.

Of the 5 people I sent to the hospital for it, 3 were unconscious on the floor, and 2 were vomiting profusely all over the place.
 
[quote name='horrido']Welcome to the US's health care system - the best in the world, where a good percentage of us are 2nd class citizens. Imagine what is like for you or your child to get seriously ill. It is no joke that the number one cause of personal bankrupts is medical bills - that in a country where we cant seem to manage our credit. We are one of the only industrialized countries in the world without health care. Its all about the 'haves', and 'have nots' here in the US. Havent you figured that out yet?[/quote]

Great point.
 
[quote name='camoor']Are you following me around like a 3 year-old just to ask wat wat wat in every damn thread. Use some grown-up words and maybe I'll bother to respond.[/quote]

This is the internet, get off your high horse. You make a huge ass of yourself by trying so hard to sound mature, trying to be the voice of reason. " Maybe I'll bother to respond" Okay, sorry for dishonoring you your highness.

Making up for your mistakes is common when being a responsible adult. Is it a large bill? Yes. But the bill doesn't just come out of someone's ass so there's really not much he can do. You're so compassionate about mistakes then maybe you should help with his bill. I bet it's childish for me to suggest that, too.
 
[quote name='GTzerO']This is the internet, get off your high horse. You make a huge ass of yourself by trying so hard to sound mature, trying to be the voice of reason. " Maybe I'll bother to respond" Okay, sorry for dishonoring you your highness.

Making up for your mistakes is common when being a responsible adult. Is it a large bill? Yes. But the bill doesn't just come out of someone's ass so there's really not much he can do. You're so compassionate about mistakes then maybe you should help with his bill. I bet it's childish for me to suggest that, too.[/quote]

Yeah, my bad for expecting more out of you then snippy one-word meme catchphrases in a healthcare discussion. I forgot who it was coming from, I know better now.

I guess we see it different, as someone with insurance I know that the price my hospital bill is going to be diff from someone without insurance because my insurance company will be on the hospital in a second disputing bogus charges left and right if they try and pull anything too outrageous. But an individual doesn't have an army of bureaucrats looking out for him and the hospitals are likely to take advantage, as they did in this case judging from the charges.

You say I sound like an ass - and you're the one who keeps turning it into a morality play about the evils of alcohol and why people need to pay for their mistakes (the latter point neither the OP or I have disputed) - and I can't see what that has to do with the hospital jacking up prices inordinately.
 
This really illustrates how important it is for everyone to try to get some insurance. Go with the state's programs if you can't find any private insurer. It should be one of those things like the rent, water, and light bills. I know it's not cheap but neither is getting that $1500 bill down the road that puts you in the poor house. Do it while you're young and healthy so there really isn't a reason to deny you for coverage. Once you get older, they find all sorts of reasons to deny you. Bad knees? Denied. Chronic headaches? Denied.
 
[quote name='Access_Denied']Find whoever the fuck called the ambulance, and beat their face in. Don't they know that soon as you CALL the ambulance, it's over $600. You didn't need to go to the hospital for being drunk. Then, after you're done beating their face in, use the insurance, suck it up and pay for the rest.[/QUOTE]

Better call an ambulance for him after you finish beating his face in.
 
If you found someone unresponsive in a bathroom, wouldn't you call an ambulance too? Can you just make an on the fly judgement on how drunk someone is by how much they reek of booze? In these days, it's always better to call the ambulance. That janitor would've lost his job if the OP died in the stall.
 
[quote name='depascal22']If you found someone unresponsive in a bathroom, wouldn't you call an ambulance too? Can you just make an on the fly judgement on how drunk someone is by how much they reek of booze? In these days, it's always better to call the ambulance. That janitor would've lost his job if the OP died in the stall.[/quote]


That's true. Anyways a while back there was a news story about some lady in the ER waiting room who was in there for hours waiting then she passed out. Nobody including the staff did anything to check on her and she died. It was all caught on tape.
 
[quote name='ITDEFX']That's true. Anyways a while back there was a news story about some lady in the ER waiting room who was in there for hours waiting then she passed out. Nobody including the staff did anything to check on her and she died. It was all caught on tape.[/QUOTE]

This is why I have to transport people when I find them unconscious. It's so much of a liability for the university, and I would lose my job if I didn't.
 
[quote name='Access_Denied']Don't they know that soon as you CALL the ambulance, it's over $600. [/QUOTE]

Really? I was having shivers, an accelerated heartbeat, and then sweats this weekend night due to dehydration (so the EMTs said), so my boyfriend called 911, and because the EMTs said I was stable (after the episode finished), they said I didn't have to be transported to the hospital by them and be charged $600 or whatever it was. They did take down my info though, so I might get a surprise in the mail. At least my family can afford it if we do get a bill; unfortunately, most people can't. The American healthcare system is a total joke.
 
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