Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire $89,000 for eighteen hour hospital stay

http://news.yahoo.com/snake-bite-89000-162515519.html

A snakebite victim who was treated at a North Carolina hospital came away with more than just fang marks when he received an $89,227 bill for an 18-hour stay.

Eric Ferguson, 54, from Mooresville, N.C., was taking out the trash at his home last August when he was bitten on the foot by a snake. He drove himself to Lake Norman Regional Medical Center, where he was treated with anti-venom medicine.

According to his bill, the hospital charged $81,000 for a four-vial dose of the medication.

Shocked at the price tag, Ferguson told the Charlotte Observer he and his wife found the same vials online for retail prices as low as $750.

Ferguson, who is insured, said his care was "beyond phenomenal."

"It was just the sticker shock," he said.

Because the hospital has a contract with Ferguson's insurer, Blue Cross and Blue Shield, it reduced the total bill to $20,227. According to the Observer, the couple paid $5,400 out of pocket to cover their deductible and co-pay.

The hospital defended its prices, saying it has to charge prices higher than retail because of the various discounts it is required to give insurers.

"We are required to give Medicare one level of discount from list price, Medicaid another, and private insurers negotiate for still others," officials told the newspaper. "If we did not start with the list prices we have, we would not end up with enough revenue to remain in operation."

The hospital added: "Our costs for providing uncompensated care are partially covered by higher bills for other patients."

The Fergusons' case is, of course, not unique. A 2013 cover story by Steven Brill in Time magazine ("Why Medical Bills Are Killing Us") detailed the "outrageous pricing and egregious profits" destroying the U.S. health care system, noting that Americans were expected to spend an estimated $2.8 trillion on health care last year.

Thats the route they should have went. Even with fed ex overnight shipping; it would have been much cheaper.

I wonder who inisted on going to the hospital, his wife, or the guy that got bit?

Funny. This is what wrought O Care. The trouble is O Care is just the same old government [bleep] brought to you by people who can't tie their own shoes and focused on lining the pockets of people who don't need another country to own.

Was there any mention of the snakes type?

My late wife had 4 chemo treatments. The stuff was $12k/dose plus $3k for installation.

You'd think if a person can smoke pot for pain, without a doctor; the same person could administer chemo to themselves. Just google it.

The picture was of a Copperhead. I think Copperhead bites are the most common venomous snakebites treated in the US, but I could be mistaken.

#1 there is a hell of alot of chit done to you in the hospital when you get bit by a snake....generally your gonna have the complete attention of atleast a half dozen individuals cause chit happens fast and its pretty specialized treatment, hell only a handful of docs in the US are truly knowledgeable in treating snake bites

on the cost of the antivenin, the hospital also has to take into consideration all the antivenin it has purchased in the past that they had to toss out cause of passed its expiration date.....plus $750 sounds WAY low for CroFab, thats prolly for stuff near its expiration date....it should be closer to $2,000 for new production....the old Wyeth serum was cheap but it also had a hell of alot of side effects and complications with it....what you saved on serum wasnt worth it....not to mention if the hospital didnt have it in stock it costs to bring it in quick....

ive said before on other threads, while i aint big on killing snakes if you dont know what you are doing just kill any venomous ones that are near your house....if you try and move them and [bleep] up and get bit your likely looking at $100,000 in doctor bills......

Nearly $100k for a snakebite treatment is extreme any way you look at it.

In a life or death moment, how much is too much?

The hospital is probably going to accept the $20,000 as payment, claim the balance of $69,000 as noncollectable, all the while making probably close to $15,000, and knowing the guy got bit by a rat snake.

this aint going in for a flu shot....your looking at cardiac, respiratory, clotting and a whole host of other issues.....except for a hand full of species you are fighting against a cocktail of chemicals made to do 2 things VERY well, destroy tissue in preparation for digestion and to kill....what is your hand or leg worth to you? your life?

the average adult can survive a copperhead bite with no antivenin provided they have good antibiotics....your gonna loose tissue but you aint likely to die....an eastern diamond back bites you and you are going to have the undevided attention of a half to full dozen medical staff for atleast 12 hours and that aint cheap....

Son, my mama used to say of folks like you that "you'd argue with a signpost and then knock it down for not arguing back,". You really don't get it. I hope you're not in great pain today. Have a good one.

Unless you are very old, very young, or have an allergic reaction to it Copperhead venom usually isn't a life or death situation. Tissue damage isn't extreme either in most cases.

Water-Moccasin or rattler would be quite different.

In the end though, what's your life worth?

And you and any other patient with money is going to pay the balance.

I've been popped twice my Mr. Copper, one pretty much dry the other definently not.

Not fun, but not life threatening.

The sad reality of our healthcare system is that it does NOT operate under free market principles, hospitals do NOT list the prices they will charge.

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/mone...lth-costs-wide-differences-locally_n.htm

I'm quite sure what they found on the internet was not the same thing they received at the hospital. We don't stock CroFab as it's too expensive. There is a hospital close that has it so we send our snakebite patients there.

I could not agree more.

why snake bites cost so much
average bite on the skin side doesnt look like much is happening but underneath tissue is being lost.....each line is the new extent of venom travel destroying tissue, each line is roughly 15 minutes from a small fairly non dangerous US species:


bad ones(takes a fair bit of expertise to make this back right and this result is actually fairly common with US snake bites though deaths are rare, and deaths are rare because of our high dollar treatment)