At the mercy of big hospitals

Recently my husband had a heart episode and took himself to the local hospital in our small town – a member of the HCA network. The next closest hospital would have been over 30 miles away.
Having had two previous heart attacks, the symptoms were nothing one should ever ignore.
What followed his entrance into the emergency room is a perfect example of the horror that is healthcare in our country.
Told he needed to be hospitalized overnight for observation as the hospital continued to run tests to be sure he did not have a heart attack, made sense. We wanted to be sure.
He was admitted at 10:30 a.m. and brought to his room – he had only been in the ER for about an hour or so. He barely saw his doctor over the next 24 hours - indeed - it was only once ... the next morning.
It would be hours and hours before he'd see a nurse, once in his room.
He received a lunch, dinner, breakfast and lunch again the next day.
Around 8 a.m. the next morning, his doctor came in, checked him out, reviewed the test results (no heart attack thank goodness) and told my husband he would be released before noon - around 11:30 a.m.
The hospital starts charging for another day as of noon.
He was never released until around 3 p.m. that day - the hospital's excuse? "We're really busy today," said the check out nurse, who added that she knew nothing of his test results, just that she was the go-round check out nurse.
It wasn't the most pleasant experience at that hospital. Staff was friendly - they always are.
It's the prices that are shocking.
The bill came some time later – $12,000 and some change, over $6,000 was written off, $5,000 and some change was paid, leaving us with a bill for $845 - that included my husband's deductible for this year ($500) – so the $345 over and above the deductible really doesn't sound bad to have to pay for all those tests, MRI, Xrays, blood work, ER services, radiology, food and an overnight in the ER right?
Wrong.
Or - perhaps more interesting, is that the bill we actually received from hospital showed just the first charge, the paid amount, the write-off and what he owed – nothing else at all.
No itemized bill.
How many people out there blindly pay these bills without ever questioning the amount?
How can a hospital - or any other institution – charge any amount for any services and not itemize?
The answer is simple - they don't want you to know their astronomical prices - or to figure out they are charging you for things you don't really need.
I wrote a letter to the hospital biller and requested an itemized bill. To date - it hasn't come - but by law they have 30 days to respond.
Meanwhile, the insurance company's explanation of benefits (EOB) came in the mail. And the breakdown from them was astounding.
Among the charges: general supplies - $652, $488 – but no breakdown of what these included.
Was it dinner, lunch, breakfast? Bandaids? Soap, kleenex, the water they gave him? Sheets?
His room was called: observation room - and he was charged for two nights: $839.80 and $973.14 – really? Two nights - he was there 1 night.
However, since the doctor said he would be discharged before noon and the hospital conveniently didn't come around until 3 p.m., he was charged for a second night - without receiving anything more after the noon hour than the check-out around 3 p.m.
He had lunch before noon, all his tests before noon.
Emergency room charge was $1944 for around 90 minutes to 1 hour of service. Plus, another charge of $443 was added - also called emergency service. So - a total of $1,373 was charge for less than 2 hours in the emergency room. For what? He saw the doctor for five minutes and the staff took blood to run the heart attack tests.
He NEVER received any nitroglycerin - this considering he has had several heart attacks and the hospital does have his records.
It will be interesting to see how the hospital's itemized bill arrives. If it looks like the EOB, we will contest and require more itemization.
And we will contest it.
Additionally, a nurse on the first day kept asking him to have himself a flu shot. He said 'NO!' the first time, but she kept coming back to him and saying, "So, you ready for your flu shot?"
Will he be charged for a shot he didn't have?
It wouldn't be the first time.
We will contest all of this before we pay a dime and see how this plays out.
Given a choice - we'd never set foot in a HCA run hospital again.
But then again - every other hospital in the U.S., most likely does the same ... overcharges and expects no one to question the costs.
Gives one a whole new reason to use holistic health for healing doesn't it?