I spent the last 7 years in Japan where I received a quarterly bill for pubic health insurance. It was about $300-$350 in US dollars. I could then walk into any clinic and see whatever doctor or specialist I needed.
In the US I have health insurance through my job, but I think I'm losing that soon because my crew has been laid off. In the meantime I've needed to go to the Emergency room twice and an eye care place once. Here's what's going on... In mid November I woke up and it looked like Mike Tyson hit my right eye. I could barely see it was so swollen so I went to the emergency room (St. Charles Health System) where they looked at my eye and said it's not serious and to use warm compresses. It was serious in my case because I was seeing double and couldn't work safely in that condition. I found a place called InFocus Eye Care and they said my eye just wasn't draining right but they could lance it. I said ok. They then came back and said my insurance company couldn't tell them if it was covered or not for another day or two. I needed to get back to work, so I asked the total cost, asked again, then confirmed it. They told me the total cost was $280.00 to have my eye drained and walk away. I said, "alright, just do it then". Ironically I found out right after the procedure I had been laid off.
Anyway, I got a bill and St Charles is charging me a total of $1,068.66
Emergency Room With Admit = $874.78
Emergency Illness = $193.88
This seems wrong to me given what my issue was. Does this seem right? Over a thousand dollars to check a swollen eye?
(Insurance wants me to pay $198.77)
Then on my bill from InFocus Eye Care they billed my insurance for the $280 that I already paid and added a charge called "Physician Visit - Out Patient" for $178.00
I called them and they said they just got payment but no one is in their billing department Monday so to try tomorrow. I called my health insurance people and they said that they paid 4 weeks ago for what InFocus Eye Care billed them. I don't get it.
The only additional incident is a couple weeks ago I was making dinner for a friend and myself and sliced my finger with a knife. I wasn't sure how deep because I compressed it immediately and we went to the emergency room. At first they thought I may need a few stitches, but in the end they just glued the cut closed. I haven't gotten that bill yet, but over the phone I was told it's over $900.
If all of this sounds normal please let me know. I'm just really confused at what's going on. Healthcare in the United States is very complicated and expensive and I'm looking at these numbers and the double billing thinking this can't be right.
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