Healthcare Crisis is because...

I was reviewing a notice this evening that said I still owed $100 to NYU Hospital. I recently paid a $100 co-pay for my surgery from the summer, so I thought these notices were a mistake. Upon further investigation, I realized this $100 was for an ER visit back in late July for the severe pain I was experiencing in my hip.

Now, let me make something clear: I do not trot down to the ER for no reason. Here is my lifetime summary of ER trips:

Severe stomach flu around age 6

Broken ankle at age 16

Severe salmonella at age 23

Left arm slightly destroyed by pit bull mix puppy at age 33 (and that was only because I was concerned about crazy bleeding and possibly contracting rabies)

Extreme pain due to ginormous cysts on (now-removed) ovaries at age 34 (just shy of 35)

These things all, in my humble opinion, merit a trip to the ER. All of these trips resulted in me receiving some form of treatment that was indeed helpful. Granted, that damn dog trip seemed to cost an excessive amount of money in terms of what they billed for the services I received. But alas, I was treated in all of these cases and actually helped in regards to trying to become healthy again.

However, this last trip in July was one of those complete wastes of time. I was suffering from pain that I could not bear, and I didn't think I could make it to my regular doctor's appointment because A) the pain was happening right now and B) the doctor would still have to order tests to determine the cause, which would require more wait time. I figured yeah, the ER is gonna cost me $100 in a co-pay, but maybe I can get x-rays/MRI's done NOW.

After a 3-hour wait, a doctor stopped by to ask me about my pain. I told him it was unbearable and kept me up all night, etc. I explained that it hurt no matter what I did. I expressed my wishes to have some type of definitive procedure, such as x-ray or MRI, done to help figure out its cause. The doctor simply said that I could walk, therefore he doubted it was broken in any way. He also said they did not have any MRI on site, so they could not do that. His expert medical advice was to basically OD on Advil to try to reduce inflammation I may have (which was not actually known since no tests were done).

I left pissed off because I could have done that myself. I know to take NSAIDs for inflammation so I didn't need this douche telling me that. The least he could have done was the x-ray. It couldn't hurt to verify or rule out anything, could it? And I knew this was going to cost my insurance company some money, so why not at least do something worthwhile?

So after getting this these letters about the payment, I checked into the situation. I reviewed the claim on my provider's website, and HOLY SHIT!! That worthless visit to have some woman take my BP and temperature, wait three hours, then talk to Dr. Douche about how surely nothing is broken or that wrong since I'm walking on it cost my insurance provider a cool grand, plus the doctor's separate $268 bill. REALLY!!?!?! That's allowed!?!? What amounts to highway robbery is allowed?? What happened that day that justified raping my insurance company of $1,000?

Ultimately, my orthopedist did order the MRI and the result of the MRI on my right hip showed a tear in the labrum, a legitimate injury that does cause a lot of pain. I'm still in pain because I have not had time to deal with my hips (both are now in on the party) the way I need to. This is an injury that PT can possibly help, but most likely a minor scoping will be necessary to fix the tear. And the best the ER doctor could do was tell me to go take Advil all day, every day??

This case exemplifies why we currently have a health-care crisis in this country. It's certainly bad enough that there are times people cannot pay there medical bills, especially when they center around emergency treatment. I know that hospitals often bear the burden financially for serious cases they see. And I'm honestly not sure how to go about solving this problem just yet. It clearly needs more time and thought in order to achieve a viable solution for the great majority of people. Still, this type of egregious overcharging is most certainly not a step in the right direction. Straining and draining my really awesome insurance company does not help anything in the long run. God help anyone who incurs unexpected health issues... Stay well, friends.