Huge US medical bill

benjus

To all those who are saying that this isn't a large bill:

Yes you can get much bigger medical bills in the USA. But come on, $1300 for some basic checks and writing a script for some antibiotics?? A private GP in the UK would probably charge around £50 or less for that.

malkie76

Deleted_User wrote: »

I see your online dope internet forum and raise it with a study from Harvard Medical School which says there is no harm in taking antibiotics in tablet form a decade after expiration date.
Most other drugs in tablet form are perfectly usable even 15 years later.
Oh and my kid brother is an orthopedic surgeon says it's nonsense too.
It's like taking a ten-year-old aspirin.Nothing has changed in it since the day it was made.
It's nonsense peddled by pharmaceutical companies and doctors who have a vested and financial interest in perpetuating the myth.




https://www.google.ie/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/drug-expiration-dates-do-they-mean-anything&ved=0ahUKEwic0N_6-vjVAhXCZFAKHV4IBTsQFggwMAI&usg=AFQjCNHeM_zoYGDRrnyqAVfBu4M6krBgRw

It's the regulators who demand expiry dates (since 1979), nothing to do with doctors or pharmaceutical companies.

Perhaps if you'd read your own link you'd realise the study you are referring to (the SLEP) has nothing to do with Harvard. They just wrote an article about it.

The Shelf Life Extension Program (SLEP), is an ongoing effort by the FDA and DoD in the US to evaluate long term stability to save money when stock piling medicines. It's still running, but published material shows an average shelf life of 6 years, but it's highly variable for each drug and dependent on characteristics of each chemical structure. So to suggest everything is fine 15 years later is entirely incorrect.

Read about that here - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/16721796/

Read about the SLEP here - https://www.fda.gov/EmergencyPreparedness/Counterterrorism/MedicalCountermeasures/MCMLegalRegulatoryandPolicyFramework/ucm411446.htm

You really shouldn't be self prescribing any non-OTC medication unless medically qualified. Antibiotics are pointless against non bacterial infections and will only lead to emergence of resistant strains which you'll then struggle to clear in the future.

To the OP - you've got away with a very cheap bill for the US - I'm surprised they didn't request insurance details or a credit card at the time. I would go back to your insurers and challenge their decision. It's likely their default position is to deny claims.

newatc

bigadaj wrote: »

I'm reporting the thread title for trades description, to be accurate you'd have to be talking about six or probably seven figures.

To be fair while it is clearly not huge in relation to US medical bills, it is presumably huge in relation to the OP finances.

Doshwaster

benjus wrote: »

To all those who are saying that this isn't a large bill:

Yes you can get much bigger medical bills in the USA. But come on, $1300 for some basic checks and writing a script for some antibiotics?? A private GP in the UK would probably charge around £50 or less for that.

It may be big by the standards of the UK and virtually every country in the world but we are talking about the US healthcare system here where such charges are perfectly normal

$3700 for a bladder infection: http://www.9news.com/news/investigations/medical-cost/why-er-visits-are-so-expensive/438480527

$500 per stitch:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/03/health/as-hospital-costs-soar-single-stitch-tops-500.html?pagewanted=all

PeacefulWaters

benjus wrote: »

To all those who are saying that this isn't a large bill:

Yes you can get much bigger medical bills in the USA. But come on, $1300 for some basic checks and writing a script for some antibiotics?? A private GP in the UK would probably charge around £50 or less for that.

But it's not a large bill in the context of USA medical care.

shaun_from_Africa

benjus wrote: »

To all those who are saying that this isn't a large bill:

Yes you can get much bigger medical bills in the USA. But come on, $1300 for some basic checks and writing a script for some antibiotics?? A private GP in the UK would probably charge around £50 or less for that.

Surely any amount of money paid for goods or services must be looked at in context with the country when those goods or services were obtained.
This is the facility where the OP had their treatment:
https://www.uvmhealth.org/medcenter/Pages/about-uvm-medical-center/Overview.aspx
and a place like that isn't going to cheap to operate once you factor in things such as rent and employee wages, malpractice insurance etc and comparing it to how much a private GP in the UK would charge is pointless.

Yes, a UK GP might only have charged £50 but I could have obtained the same treatment in a bush clinic in Nigeria for $5 so does this mean that the UK doctor is ripping people off?

keithdc

I guess the key question is what questions were asked on the insurance application and were they answered completely?

We can safely ignore the ridiculous advice about stock-piling antibiotics!!

Deleted_User wrote: »

Oh and my kid brother is an orthopedic surgeon says it's nonsense too.[/url]

Ha Ha.... advice on drugs from an orthopaedic surgeon!!!
:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

What's the difference between a carpenter and an orthopaedic surgeon?
A carpenter knows more than one antibiotic!

What's pink and hard in the morning?
An ECG on an orthopaedic ward round.

[Deleted User]

keithdc wrote: »

I guess the key question is what questions were asked on the insurance application and were they answered completely?

We can safely ignore the ridiculous advice about stock-piling antibiotics!!



Ha Ha.... advice on drugs from an orthopaedic surgeon!!!
:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

What's the difference between a carpenter and an orthopaedic surgeon?
A carpenter knows more than one antibiotic!

What's pink and hard in the morning?
An ECG on an orthopaedic ward round.

The person who doesn't realise that surgeons called Mr are more qualified as doctors than doctors called Dr.

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::):rotfl:

[Deleted User]

malkie76 wrote: »

It's the regulators who demand expiry dates (since 1979), nothing to do with doctors or pharmaceutical companies.

Perhaps if you'd read your own link you'd realise the study you are referring to (the SLEP) has nothing to do with Harvard. They just wrote an article about it.

The Shelf Life Extension Program (SLEP), is an ongoing effort by the FDA and DoD in the US to evaluate long term stability to save money when stock piling medicines. It's still running, but published material shows an average shelf life of 6 years, but it's highly variable for each drug and dependent on characteristics of each chemical structure. So to suggest everything is fine 15 years later is entirely incorrect.

Read about that here - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/16721796/

Read about the SLEP here - https://www.fda.gov/EmergencyPreparedness/Counterterrorism/MedicalCountermeasures/MCMLegalRegulatoryandPolicyFramework/ucm411446.htm

You really shouldn't be self prescribing any non-OTC medication unless medically qualified. Antibiotics are pointless against non bacterial infections and will only lead to emergence of resistant strains which you'll then struggle to clear in the future.

To the OP - you've got away with a very cheap bill for the US - I'm surprised they didn't request insurance details or a credit card at the time. I would go back to your insurers and challenge their decision. It's likely their default position is to deny claims.

You really do talk nonsense.
Doxycycline is the ibuprofen of anti-biotics.Billions of tablets have been prescribed without ill-effects and they're perfect as a standby anti-biotic for things like chest infections when you're on holiday.
Whether they're prescribed by a GP or sold to you by a qualified pharmacist in a third world country or well past their expiry date the effects on a person are exactly the same.
The OP is the perfect example of someone being the victim of stranglehold the pharmaceutical and medical industry have on common drugs which by right should be sold over the counter.

jackyann

OP, not sure if you're following this, but to get back to your original concern, ignoring the side alleys of antibiotic merchants, orthopaedic surgeons, cranberry juice, and US medical costs!

Your initial beef is with your insurers and that is where you need to stay. The GP notes will show it is not a pre-existing condition. The only problem you may have is if there was a protocol you should have followed before getting medical advice. Unlikely to be an issue as you went to a proper medical facility, seeking advice for a condition that needed treating quickly.

So before getting into a wrangle with the hospital, concentrate on your insurance company, and say you will name and shame them if they don't pay up. Good luck!