I posted in the ‘dogs are everywhere’ thread about being bitten two weeks ago and having to hit the ER for care. My bill came today - a few minutes with the provider, shots of rabies immunoglobulin, and the first shot of a four vaccine series came to just over $17K. After insurance, I owed $919. I was in the military until this past year, and this was my first experience with seeing a healthcare bill as an adult. Terrifying!
Well thankfully they have treatment for it but yes, I see your point! That's quite shocking.
Clewds wrote:
I posted in the ‘dogs are everywhere’ thread about being bitten two weeks ago and having to hit the ER for care. My bill came today - a few minutes with the provider, shots of rabies immunoglobulin, and the first shot of a four vaccine series came to just over $17K. After insurance, I owed $919. I was in the military until this past year, and this was my first experience with seeing a healthcare bill as an adult. Terrifying!
I was bit by a dog recently and went to one of those Emergency care clinics - and the bill was really small. Stay away from emergency rooms.
Yeah, I got hit by a car last year and am on the hook for thousands of dollars.
Welcome to America, beatches!
I will lower the cost of healthcare in this country drastically.
I will fix everything!
I got nipped on a run by a neighbor's dopy Australian cattle dog (they're herding dogs and by nature nip to herd) that broke skin and bleed. Kids had the dog on a leash and were playing with it. The dog took off when she saw me running by. The dog was licensed and fully vaccinated, but unfortunately my wound became infected. I went first to urgent care who gave me some pills and I was advised to proceed to the ER if the infection showed signs of spreading. The infection showed signs of spreading and I had to spend most of a day at the ER. Insurance covered most of the bill, but what a hassle that was.
Urgent care reported the dog to the county. Luckily because the dog was fully vaccinated and licensed there were no repossessions for the neighbors or dog. I didn't wish any ill will on the dog or my neighbors.
I mean if you know the dog owner this is an easy small claims court win.
They owe you for what their dog did to you.
I had a bill for $3k for an x-ray and a two big band aid for two bites. In most places, rabies is considered to be eliminated from dogs. So, I skipped the rabies shots.
The big issue with the cost is whether you go to an urgent care or an actual emergency room. ERs are crazy expensive because they have to have a surgery theater, etc. Urgent care just is supposed to be able to stabilize you to get you to an ER if necessary. A lot less gear in an urgent care center.
massive overcharge wrote:
Giant overcharge on that bill if all they did was give you the IG shot. Rabies shot series (the WHOLE thing, all 4 + IG) is ~$10k. My "insurance negotiated" amount was $3k down from $10k. I have a high-deductible plan so I had to cough up the $3k. Maybe if your dog bite needed a lot of cleanup that could account for the rest, but this is how healthcare works: inflate the sticker price, insurance company balks and negotiates it way down, and it ends up being only an arm, vs. an arm and a leg. Be thankful you had health insurance though because if you don't, you're stuck paying $17k with little ability to negotiate.
I had a wild experience at the ER a couple years ago. Having not been planning to go to the ER, I didn't have my physical insurance card in my possession. They recorded me as "uninsured" and later billed me $325.
I called them, explained to them that actually I had insurance, and gave them the info. About 3 months later, after they've settled up with my insurance company, I get my new bill for what I owe after insurance. It was about $600, after my insurance company had already paid them about $2400.
Basically if I had been a real uninsured patient they were going to accept $325 for the service they provided to me (no negotiation involved - that was just the bill), but for an insured patient, they expected and demanded about 10x as much. The whole system is a racket.
massive overcharge wrote:
Giant overcharge on that bill if all they did was give you the IG shot. Rabies shot series (the WHOLE thing, all 4 + IG) is ~$10k. My "insurance negotiated" amount was $3k down from $10k. I have a high-deductible plan so I had to cough up the $3k. Maybe if your dog bite needed a lot of cleanup that could account for the rest, but this is how healthcare works: inflate the sticker price, insurance company balks and negotiates it way down, and it ends up being only an arm, vs. an arm and a leg. Be thankful you had health insurance though because if you don't, you're stuck paying $17k with little ability to negotiate.
So you won't get rabies, but you will get rabidly angry!
This would cost approximately $80 (without insurance) consultation + Rabipur.
I was bitten a few weeks ago. I called police who had animal control doctor call me. I sent a photo and didn't go to doctor because she said rabies is almost nonexistent. I cleaned it and took care of it. It is 95% healed.
That’s good to hear rabies isn’t a problem in most places. Our health department did warn me that they are seeing it in skunks but not dogs as of now. I went ahead with it since I figure any unleashed dog could get into a scrape with any sort or vermin and acquire the infection. I wish I knew who the owners were, but I haven’t seen the guy before or since. In the heat of the moment he was acting as though he didn’t speak English. True or not, maybe he simply didn’t know any better than to scoop the dog up and run.
Illegals get free healthcare so you have to make up for it.
Next time, do us all the favor and call the police. Make sure the owner talks to the police before you leave.
The fun thing about rabies is that there might be a very low chance of getting infected, but if you do start to show symptoms, there is no treatment and you die. Try doing the math on that one while you're wondering if a $10K course of treatment is worth it.
Obviously the 17k is a completely made up number to make you think you are getting a good deal with your $900 bill. Free Luigi
FatSlowLurker wrote:
I had a wild experience at the ER a couple years ago. Having not been planning to go to the ER, I didn't have my physical insurance card in my possession. They recorded me as "uninsured" and later billed me $325.
I called them, explained to them that actually I had insurance, and gave them the info. About 3 months later, after they've settled up with my insurance company, I get my new bill for what I owe after insurance. It was about $600, after my insurance company had already paid them about $2400.
Basically if I had been a real uninsured patient they were going to accept $325 for the service they provided to me (no negotiation involved - that was just the bill), but for an insured patient, they expected and demanded about 10x as much. The whole system is a racket.
Did you end up paying the $600? Or were you able to negotiate it back to $325?