North Memorial Medical Center Bogus Charges $1138 for 1 IV RIPOFF Robbinsdale Minnesota
My cousin brought me to the emergency room on christmas eve with a severe case of food poisoning or stomach flu. I told them I didnt have insurance and wanted only the minimum treatment to get me rehydrated again. I repeatedly asked them how much I would pay and they avoided the question saying things like it shouldnt be too bad or we will only do the minimum.
Literally, the only thing they did was take my blood pressure and temperature and give me a single IV.
Here are the charges I recieved.
Ondansetron Inj 2MG/ML;P $80.46
Sodium Chloride 0.9% 1000ML; P $69.36
Level 4 With Procedure; E $474.01
Infusion other than Chemo; E $105
Intraveneous Injection; E 65.44
ERMD Level Four; E $344.10
Christopher
Minneapolis, Minnesota
U.S.A.
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Amy
Pekin,Illinois,
U.S.A.
That sucks! I don't think that it is limited to that hospital
#2Consumer Suggestion
Wed, January 19, 2005
That really sucks, but I don't think that it is limited to that hospital. I'm from Central Illinois, and had the same sort of charging experience here. In January 2004, I had some blood work done. 10 tests in all...and it was all out-patient. I figured it would maybe cost $500..$50 each. It's only blood work, right? WRONG! They charged me over $1000. And they don't want to accept a payment plan. Well, I said too bad. I paid them off, but I took my sweet time in doing it. They didn't send me a bill until April 2004, so I paid them half then, and then when they sent me another bill in July, I sent the rest.
Supposedly, they have some deal set up with a local finance company that will give you a no interest loan for 12 months. You might want to see if your hospital also has that kind of deal. I really didn't want to take out a loan for this, so I chose my own course of action. Some hospitals may not be as patient. I live in a fairly small town, so I think they might be more forgiving. I do have insurance, but because it is a personal policy and not a company policy, I have to pay my $2500 deductible first before they will pay anything. Hang in there and see what your options are. They were really nice when I called. I think they thought it was a rip off too! A rep from the hospital call me later on to see how my experience was (like the car dealership does after you have service there), and you can bet that I let her know my displeasure over the cost. She also thought it was a rip off, and said that she would forward my complaint on. I'm sure it did no good.
Good Luck, and let me know if you get it worked out.
(By the way, all my tests came back as fine, so it was a HUGE waste of $1000!)