op-TY for replies, I am feeling a little better seeing this is actually pretty common!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did you know he was going to ER? The Urgent Care doctor "recommended" right. It was your/your kid's call to go.

I knew he was going where the guy recommended. My da actually asked about cost he said and the guy said it would be a copay. I’m not there so I was not going to tell him not to get medical attention after doctor said go to ER and he might go deaf! If he were home we’d have done things differently. In any case I still don’t get why this is not a copay because we do have an ER copay and I’ve never had a copay not kick in before deductible.

I’d follow up with your insurance before paying 2k.

+1. My older relative was in a car accident, and I'm helping them with the medical bills, of which there are many. A $2500 radiology bill turned out not to have been run through insurance at all, so I disputed it. It came back as $880 but still hadn't been run through medical insurance, so disputed again. Still pending. I'm sure this happens all the time.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I find new doctors—MDs—love referring to specialists and ERs. They’re clueless. Give me a nurse practitioner any time.

DS said that first the nurse he saw said they would drain it, then the doctor said oh no, this is serious, I cannot touch it and you need the ER or you might lose your hearing. I just feel a little stupid and duped and like I should have questioned it... but my thought at the time was the doctor said it's bad and he needs the ER, so I trusted him. Maybe others would have done the same and I am being hard on myself in hindsight. I just hate that we had this huge cost that could have avoided if a different doctor had treated him in the first place.

It's possible urgent care just didn't have the tools. My DH had a similar problem and the urgent care had limited tools. Luckily after like the 4th time flushing the ball of wax came out. They aren't magicians who can solve every problem. I also had a toddler with a split chin who get sent to the ER because they weren't able to sedate him the way he needed to be so he could be stitched up. If this was an emergency and he couldn't see an ENT right away then the ER is the only other option.

DD, freshman, went to urgent care 2x. And then they sent her to the ER. The bill was about $3k.

I have no idea what they did/didn't do but she's fine now. I guess that's what it all boils down to--my kid is fine.

replying to your original request for stupid health care bills - my nephew went to his college health clinic thinking he had strep, they were out of tests so told him to go to ED. He went as instructed, test was negative. Parents got a $1000 bill. For a negative strep test and nothing more.

Do you have the Explanation of Benefits? Look online and get it. Does that clarify anything?

Typically we pay a copay at POS, then they submit abd if we have not met deductible then pay the allowed cost minus credit for the deductible we paid.

So ER bills 5 grand, allowed is 2 grand we paid $50 copay at POS, deductible is 4 grand, we pay $1950.

Call and ask insurance to explain the claim.
And have your kid get an in network ENT at college. DH gets his wax cleaned 3 times a year

I’ve had something similar happen before. Urgent Care isn’t ideal, but what are you supposed to do when you call your primary doctor and they try to schedule you 6–10 days out, even after you insist it’s urgent and you’re in pain or need medication now? I find primary care doctor useful for annuals and on-going issues but useless for sudden on-set illnesses or situations.

Anonymous wrote:I find new doctors—MDs—love referring to specialists and ERs. They’re clueless. Give me a nurse practitioner any time.

DS said that first the nurse he saw said they would drain it, then the doctor said oh no, this is serious, I cannot touch it and you need the ER or you might lose your hearing. I just feel a little stupid and duped and like I should have questioned it... but my thought at the time was the doctor said it's bad and he needs the ER, so I trusted him. Maybe others would have done the same and I am being hard on myself in hindsight. I just hate that we had this huge cost that could have avoided if a different doctor had treated him in the first place.

I find new doctors—MDs—love referring to specialists and ERs. They’re clueless. Give me a nurse practitioner any time.

Anonymous wrote:OP, are you looking at the bill from the hospital or the EOB (Explanation of Benefits) sent by the insurance company? The EOB actually gives more information.

Neither yet as I've not received anything. This is just from speaking with hospital and insurance.

OP, are you looking at the bill from the hospital or the EOB (Explanation of Benefits) sent by the insurance company? The EOB actually gives more information.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would be more worried about why an adult is getting repeated ear infections! This is worrisome. Does he swim? Do the bacterial infections come on the heels of other, viral, infections like colds and flu? Are the infections usually triggered by wax blockage?

My son is prone to ear wax blockages and there is an oil he has to use regularly to keep the wax from blogging his ear canal. When he forgets for long periods of time, he can't hear, it gets painful, and he ends up needing to see the ENT to remove the wax, which isn't ideal.

even the cvs minute clinics remove ear wax for $50. urgent care wasn't needed OP.

I know it's not a hard thing to do, now that I know it was the issue! And he did first go to the little on-campus, college urgent care, very much like a minute clinic (there is no CVS/Walgreens minute clinic near campus) and same copay of $30. The issue is the doctor there did not take care of him, scared him and told him he needed the ER or might go deaf. At that time, based again on what the doctor said, he thought it was more than an ear wax issue. Since I am 8+ hours away from him, and he was very alarmed, I did not look into it as much as I should have, and the doctor told him that because the ER was another college hospital he should have just a copay. I should have double and tripled checked and made him try a different urgent care but honestly, in the moment I was not thinking beyond "the doctor told him he needs help stat or else, and he is far away and panicked". It's very easy in hindsight to think through things better. Had he been home we'd have just gone to pediatrician or ENT after minute clinic.

Anonymous wrote:I would be more worried about why an adult is getting repeated ear infections! This is worrisome. Does he swim? Do the bacterial infections come on the heels of other, viral, infections like colds and flu? Are the infections usually triggered by wax blockage?

My son is prone to ear wax blockages and there is an oil he has to use regularly to keep the wax from blogging his ear canal. When he forgets for long periods of time, he can't hear, it gets painful, and he ends up needing to see the ENT to remove the wax, which isn't ideal.

even the cvs minute clinics remove ear wax for $50. urgent care wasn't needed OP.

Sounds like a plan similar to ours. The ER copay ($300 for us) is just to get in the door. Then, we pay the ENTIRE ER bill up to our deductible. I think our deductible is $5k, so that would probably be the whole ER bill. After enough ER visits / other costs that get us to our deductible, then we go to co-insurance and pay 20% of any bill.

It’s stupid expensive to be sick in this country. At least for those of us with private insurance.

Anonymous wrote:Why not pay for a lower deductible plan you can't have it both ways. We always pay for the lowest ppo

Same. We pay higher premiums but it’s worth the peace of mind to have a lower deductible.