Back in January, I went into the ER with chest pains. It turned out to be a false alarm.
Bills have rolled through insurance and on down to me ever since; my doctor sent me off for a stress test and my part of the bill for that was pretty high. But I managed. I paid them.
By now, everything should be taken care of, right? All paid?
Nope. A bill just arrived from from the hospital, payment due on arrival, with the notation, "Balance remaining after insurance [...] We have been advised that your insurance will not be paying the remaining balance on your account. If you question this information - please contact your insurance company."
It is for an amount in excess of six thousand dollars.
Of course, I don't have it; and it's way over the supposed deductible of my supposed health insurance. The slight-of-fine print -- new this year! -- is that they apply the deductible not to the incident as a whole, but to every individual bill.
I don't have six thousand dollars just kicking around.
There's no way I can pay this quickly. Here's hoping they'll let me pay it slowly; otherwise, I'll be maxing out my credit card and scrambling to pay it off before the interest eats me alive.
And the next time I feel bad? I've learned my lesson. There's no way I'm going to the ER. If it's chest pain, I won't even go to doc-in-a-box, because they'll just send you to the ER and bill you for the referral. Nope; if I'm not unconscious, I'm not going. Maybe not even then.
Update
4 days ago
