I was stung over 35 times by yellow jackets cutting wood with a chainsaw. I felt fine but had swelling around all the stings. Some family members told me to call the nurse hotline with my health insurance, so I did. This was over an hour after I was stung. The nurse said I could have toxic shock or something and needed to dial 911 immediately. She said if I go to the ER not to drive or I could pass out. I said it's been over an hour and I felt fine, but she got me scared so I thought I have insurance, better safe than sorry, and got someone to drive me to the ER. After filling out papers and having a nurse ask questions and waiting over 2 hours, the doctor comes in and basically asks why I came in for bee stings when I had no problems. I told him what the nurse said and he said I didn't need to come in unless I had some reaction. He didn't even look at the stings, but asked me a couple questions so I lifted my shirt and he said that was normal. This was all in-network but that doesn't really matter for my question.
I received a bill for $295.13 for the ER visit (provider billed $490, plan allowed $295.13, I was billed the full $295.13) and $106.95 for the doctor service (provider billed $503, "plan allowed" $125.62, plan paid $18.67, I was billed the remaining $106.95). So my out of pocket is $402.08 for no services except the doctor's time, which amounted to less than 5 minutes. I requested an itemized statement but I doubt that will show anything worthwhile. They said I could request charity, but the entire bill seems outrageous to me when the phone nurse gave me bad advice and no services were performed. When I looked it up on FAIR health it should have cost about $63 out of network. Is there anything I can do?
I received a bill for $295.13 for the ER visit (provider billed $490, plan allowed $295.13, I was billed the full $295.13) and $106.95 for the doctor service (provider billed $503, "plan allowed" $125.62, plan paid $18.67, I was billed the remaining $106.95). So my out of pocket is $402.08 for no services except the doctor's time, which amounted to less than 5 minutes. I requested an itemized statement but I doubt that will show anything worthwhile. They said I could request charity, but the entire bill seems outrageous to me when the phone nurse gave me bad advice and no services were performed. When I looked it up on FAIR health it should have cost about $63 out of network. Is there anything I can do?