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Linda
Brandwin, R.N.
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Linda
Brandwin
is a registered nurse and a medical billing
and claims specialist. For the past 10 years
she has worked directly with insurance companies
to give advice and guidance to the health care
consumer.
Readers may send email
or write Linda Brandwin at 5500 Single Oak Hill
Ct., Woodbridge, VA 22192.
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'Unreasonable'
hospital charges cause outrageous bill
May 14, 2004
Q:
I was treated in an emergency room in California. I
was there two hours and the bill is $3144.09. Can I
dispute some of the charges because they are unreasonable?
For example, I was given IV salt water. The hospital
charged $240 just for the water, $247.10 for the bag
and needle, and $240 for a nurse to start the IV.
I was charged $614.83 for the room I spent two hours
in. Also there were lab and medication charges. Are
these charges outrageous?
A:
Of
course the charges are outrageous. A bag of saline solution
does not cost anywhere close to $240. I have seen hospitals
charge as little as $40 to $90 for a $10 bag of saline.
And it takes a nurse about ten minutes to start an IV.
But if the hospitals can get by with charging these
amounts, they will. The hospitals will charge whatever
the market will bear. Charges may also be higher in
California than other parts of the country.
You
can always dispute a bill. Whether it will do any good
is another story. You can ask to have your bill reviewed
to verify if these charges are truly correct. Unfortunately,
reasonable has nothing to do with how the hospital charges
are determined.
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