r/HospitalBills • u/sierraamist • Jun 13 '25
Hospital-Emergency $2800 for a dog bite
Unfortunately my new puppy bit me right on the lip, it wouldn’t stop bleeding for almost an hour. My sister (a nurse) suggested I go to the hospital instead of urgent care. I called urgent care first, and they said due to the bite being on my lip I would have to go to the hospital and have plastics do the stitches. Went to the hospital, they literally cleaned it up and put a dab of glue on it and sent me on my way. Few weeks later I received a bill for $361 (insurance covered half) which was the bill for the physician. Today, I received a bill for $2475.00. $2330.14 for the emergency department visit, and $751.41 for a “simple procedure”. I called and asked for them to describe the simple procedure and they said it was the glue they used on my lip. All I have to say is wow. Granted my work provides crap insurance. Had I known it wasn’t so severe I would’ve just gone to urgent care. Lesson learned. To top it off, I just got laid off, so this will be a fun bill to pay. Thank you for listening to my rant!
4
u/Mountain-Arm6558951 Jun 13 '25
ERs will be very expensive as they have to be staffed 24/7 with life saving equipment.
It could be a very good possibility that urgent care may have referred you to the ER anyway. The ER may had to labs and the urgent care doc may have not been trained or have the supplies for the bite.
Very slim chance that the bit could have been infected and require intravenous (IV) antibiotics and the ER is setup for that.
5
u/EfficientBadger6525 Jun 13 '25
Call the hospital billing department and ask for a charity care application. We are middle class with two decent jobs but in HCOL area and got 90% reduced from our $18k bill.
3
2
u/-cmram28 Jun 13 '25
Call the hospital and ask to speak to someone in financial counseling. They help reduce your bill if you qualify. Be prepared to submit tax returns, check stubs, rent receipts/outstanding bills.
4
u/DCRBftw Jun 13 '25
Apply for financial assistance/charity care. Report that you are no longer working and have no income. You'll likely have the bill written off or reduced significantly. But yes, emergency rooms are expensive and most people can't justify the cost when it's not a true emergency.
1
1
u/Wonderful_Context445 Jun 13 '25
If you posed as a homeless bum, you’d have been treated for free, not to mention free snacks.
0
12
u/kirpants Jun 13 '25
Laceration repair can be done by using glue. It's a minor procedure, a simple laceration repair.