10 Ways to Deal with Expensive Emergency Room Bills

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How to Avoid a Huge Medical Bill from Emergency Rooms

Emergency room, as its name explains, is a place for  health emergencies. Now there are different kinds of health emergencies that one can experience at any time. Those emergencies can be predictable or unpredictable. Those emergencies can be fatal or non-fatal. Whatever the type of emergency is, the emergency room can treat it effectively.

Treatment provided in the emergency room is way too much expensive. Some people also complain about it, but we should see that what are the reasons that make a treatment given in an emergency room this expensive and how a person can avoid a high bill of the emergency room.

Reasons Behind an Expensive Bill

  • First comes the infrastructure of the emergency room. Patients with fatal emergencies are provided with separate rooms. In some conditions, some patients share a single room, but if someone demands a separate room, the staff make sure that the demand is fulfilled.
  • The staff in the emergency room is very highly qualified—physicians, specialist doctors, surgeons, nurses, lab technicians, practitioners, assistants, and ward boys. Every person over there makes sure that each patient receives equal and proper care from them. They take care of everything that a patient needs. They keep a record of the patient’s previous medical history. They keep on checking patient’s progress and keep a record of it as well.
  • Every type of specialist is available in the emergency room. Whether it is an eye specialist or a heart specialist, a person who comes with a minor eye redness would also be treated with proper care by an eye specialist. Moreover, all kinds of eye tests would also be done to ensure that the report shows that everything is all right.
  • The type of services that the emergency room provides also matters a lot. They provide X-rays, CT-scan, MRIs, and many other tests as well. All types of blood tests and disease diagnoses take place in emergency care. The machinery used in these procedures is costly. They also have ventilators that are necessary machines to save one’s life when in a life or death situation. Most of the time, these machines have their owners who know how to operate them. Now, most of the emergency room hires those owners and takes help from their machinery. Sometimes those owners demand their bills, like patients have to pay them separately, and sometimes the emergency room’s financial department gives a share from the income to those owners.
  • There are many diseases whose treatment can not be done in any urgent care or retail clinic. There is a whole process for their treatment that is so expensive that an average clinic or urgent care cannot afford it. Disease like cancer needs chemotherapy which is a costly treatment. The same is the case with other emergencies, for example, myocardial infarction (heart attack), autoimmune deficiency syndrome ( a very contagious disease generally known as AIDS), COVID, and many other diseases. Most of them are very contagious, and treating them becomes highly difficult because it can also put the doctors’ lives in danger.
  • Timings of the emergency room also play a significant role in the high bills. The emergency room is open 24/7 throughout the week. The staff works dedicatedly in shifts. This is the kind of service that cannot be provided anywhere except in the emergency rooms.

10 Ways To Avoid An Expensive Bill

  1. First of all, the person who is trying to negotiate bills should be very confident. He should be unequivocal in his statements. A polite and respectful behavior should be acquired with the staff while negotiating. This will make the staff listen to our request more attentively. They would be sure that whatever the problem this person is explaining is actual. Moreover, poor and rude behavior will always create a scene.
  2. One should ask for a clear itemized bill from the hospital finance management department. It is the legal right of the patient to ask for an itemized bill. If the patient does not feel confident enough to ask for it, he may hire an advocate who effortlessly does it for him.
  3. The itemized bill should be appropriately checked. Itemized bill is the bill in which a list of everything and every treatment used on the patient is mentioned. It is an easy way to see which treatment was costly. One can also contact his health insurer to see what kind of treatment is covered by the health insurance.
  4. One should see if there are any mistakes in the bill or not. Sometimes treatment is mentioned in the bill, but in reality, that treatment has not been provided to the patient. If one finds such a mistake, he should contact the health insurer for further proceedings.
  5. If one does not have enough amount in cards or account at the time of payment, he should pay a big part of the bill in cash. This thing helps in the leverage.
  6. One can also search for the same treatments provided to him in other hospitals and emergency rooms. He can compare their costs with his billing. This thing also helps in the reduction of the bill.
  7. One should always mention everything with proof. If one does not have enough money, he should show his bank statement to the staff to make them believe that he is not lying. He should explain his emotional state. It would help in getting a lower bill. He should request the doctors and justify that why he specifically came there to get his treatment done.
  8. One should always ask for different payment plans. After reviewing the plans, the person should consider his insurance plans and decide what plan to choose.
  9. One should always keep a record of his conversation. One should know the employee he is talking to and the insurance company agent as well. he should get his research done.
  10. If one could not find any way out and still have to pay the bill, he should look for charity organizations. Many organizations could give him some charity or offer him some loan to pay the bill.

https://www.wikihow.com/Reduce-Emergency-Room-Bills