Medical Bills are Rough.

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I have strong opinions on the American healthcare system but it would take me all day to type them out and I really just want to talk about my recent experience with how overwhelming hospital bills can be. When I first got sick I put off going to the E.R. because I knew that even though I had insurance, it would still be expensive. When I finally did end up going after about a week of throwing up everything I ate, I was treated very poorly, accused of being on drugs, and sent on my way with no help. When I received the bill with the blood and urine tests they did (which came back clean and then they asked me if I was sick because I was depressed) I was livid. I had tried to avoid going to the E.R. not because I thought they'd be giant a-holes but because I didn't want the stress of the financial burden that comes with an E.R. visit.

I've started getting my medical bills and it's really overwhelming. The stack seems to be a mile high. I talked my dad into giving me one of his filing cabinets so I can try to organize and make some sense of them. I get one bill for the doctor, one for the facility, one for the procedure. Now multiply that by 4 different facilities and about 20 doctors and it feels like a never ending mountain of bills. It'd be so much easier if they just sent one bill per stay but they don't, which makes it really confusing. I have to sort through them and figure out what the heck is going on. Some of them can be paid online but most can't. One hospital has sent me a separate bill with a different patient number for each time I was there. Way to make it easy.

One thing I noticed when going over the bills is the price gouging that happens. The local hospital billed $4,800 for a brain MRI with contrast. Another hospital billed closer to $1,600 for the exact same procedure. How is this allowed? I understand that different places charge different amounts but that is such a large discrepancy and definitely makes me feel like I'm being taken advantage of.

I'm so thankful that I have insurance, otherwise these bills would be stressing me out. I'm also "lucky" that my income is well below the poverty level for my state so there are assistance programs I can apply for. Just last year I was living without health insurance hoping that I didn't get sick. I can only imagine the amount of stress not having insurance would have added to an already stressful hospital stay. It's especially saddening for those who do have the added stress, since avoiding stress is generally part of any recovery. I used to do credit applications at a previous job and there are so many people who have had to file bankruptcy because of medical bills. Getting sick in America is scary.