This iReport is part of an assignment:
Bitter pill: The cost of health care in the U.S.
Heart Scare Turns Into Good News, Bad News
One evening in early 2011, I started having severe chest pains around my sternum and radiating around the left side of my rib cage. Given my family history - heart disease is a major illness on both sides - I decided an ER trip was in order. Better to be safe than sorry, as the adage goes.
I was ambulatory so my wife drove me to the hospital. Standard Operating Procedure (or so I was told) for potential heart patients was an initial EKG, complete blood work up, and IV, all of which was done. In the hours before I saw a doctor, I was given two bags of saline IV, hooked up to the heart monitor, and had yet another four vials of blood drawn.
The doctor finally arrived with good news. It didn't appear to be heart related. However, the pain still persisted, so he pressed around a bit, jotted some things down, and told me I needed x-rays. His entire visit lasted roughly 10 minutes.
A short period later, a nurse arrived to transport me to radiology where I had three X-rays taken. Half an hour after being wheeled back to my room, the nurse returned and told me the doctor believed I had an inflammation of the costosternal cartilage which connects the ribs to the sternum. I was given both a Skelaxin (muscle relaxant) and an 800mg Ibuprofen tab and the nurse vanished again.
An hour or so later, the nurse returned with discharge papers and prescriptions. She explained the doctor officially diagnosed costochondritis as my reason for visiting and outlined the prescription regimen. I never saw the doctor again.
The bills started showing up roughly a month later. I don't have them in front of me but I will never forget some of them:
- The ER Physician's Group which represented the doctor who saw me (for 10 minutes) billed $700.
- The Radiologist group who represented the radiologist billed $375 for the x-rays and "labor".
- The Hospital billed $2300 for "facility services", $2 for the Ibuprofen tablet, and $27 for the Skelaxin tablet.
I was also charged for the blood work, the 2 bags of saline IV, as well as charges for the labor of the nurse and the phlebotomist. I do not recall the approximate values for these bills.
After all the bills were tallied, the total was over $5400.
Being uninsured, the hospital sent me home with all kinds of paperwork on working with them to settle the bill but what that paperwork did NOT disclose was that it only pertained to the hospital charges. I had to go through similar processes for each of the various groups who billed separately from the hospital itself.
I'm still supposed to be paying on this debt but food and utilities come first. It's little wonder medical bills are the #1 cause of bankruptcies in this country.
I was ambulatory so my wife drove me to the hospital. Standard Operating Procedure (or so I was told) for potential heart patients was an initial EKG, complete blood work up, and IV, all of which was done. In the hours before I saw a doctor, I was given two bags of saline IV, hooked up to the heart monitor, and had yet another four vials of blood drawn.
The doctor finally arrived with good news. It didn't appear to be heart related. However, the pain still persisted, so he pressed around a bit, jotted some things down, and told me I needed x-rays. His entire visit lasted roughly 10 minutes.
A short period later, a nurse arrived to transport me to radiology where I had three X-rays taken. Half an hour after being wheeled back to my room, the nurse returned and told me the doctor believed I had an inflammation of the costosternal cartilage which connects the ribs to the sternum. I was given both a Skelaxin (muscle relaxant) and an 800mg Ibuprofen tab and the nurse vanished again.
An hour or so later, the nurse returned with discharge papers and prescriptions. She explained the doctor officially diagnosed costochondritis as my reason for visiting and outlined the prescription regimen. I never saw the doctor again.
The bills started showing up roughly a month later. I don't have them in front of me but I will never forget some of them:
- The ER Physician's Group which represented the doctor who saw me (for 10 minutes) billed $700.
- The Radiologist group who represented the radiologist billed $375 for the x-rays and "labor".
- The Hospital billed $2300 for "facility services", $2 for the Ibuprofen tablet, and $27 for the Skelaxin tablet.
I was also charged for the blood work, the 2 bags of saline IV, as well as charges for the labor of the nurse and the phlebotomist. I do not recall the approximate values for these bills.
After all the bills were tallied, the total was over $5400.
Being uninsured, the hospital sent me home with all kinds of paperwork on working with them to settle the bill but what that paperwork did NOT disclose was that it only pertained to the hospital charges. I had to go through similar processes for each of the various groups who billed separately from the hospital itself.
I'm still supposed to be paying on this debt but food and utilities come first. It's little wonder medical bills are the #1 cause of bankruptcies in this country.
- TAGS:
- GROUPS:
What do you think of this story?
Select one of the options below. Your feedback will help tell CNN producers what to do with this iReport. If you'd like, you can explain your choice in the comments below.
Be and editor! Choose an option below:
More from this assignment - Bitter pill: The cost of health care in the U.S.
iReport welcomes a lively discussion, so comments on iReports are not pre-screened before they post. See the iReport community guidelines for details about content that is not welcome on iReport.
© 2013 Cable News Network. 
Comments