Here is the reason you have to have medical insurance while you are in the US waiting for EAD/AP

[Loren Y 2,732]

Just throwing this out there because people don't understand how messed up the medical system is here in the United States, and think they can skate by without insurance for a few months. My fiancee came here end of November 2018, we married February 2019, and first thing I did was add her to my insurance ( Thank God). April 5th 2019 a Friday night at about 10pm she is dying with pain on her right side. I can tell its not good at all, so we rush to the ER Friday night for help. I'll spare you all the boring nightmarish details of getting health care here in the United States, that is another topic in it's own. What I want to point out that this hospital bill for the ER visit, Testing, emergency Surgery, and 1 day in the hospital billed out at 60,108.21. That is 60 thousand dollars just for the hospital, then there is the Surgeon, Radiology, Lab, and the anesthesiologist, that will be billing separate from the hospital to a tune of another 10,000.00. This is for a simple surgery performed over 300,000 times a year here in the US with no complications or anything that required special care. This is why CO's are always worried you will become a public charge. this is one short trip to the hospital, for a simple surgery. Know this going in that you could be facing this or worse if something happens while you try to get employment or insurance and think it won't happen to us, because I thought the same thing. This is just one page of the 13 page bill below. It was for Appendicitis, and removal of appendix.

 

Good news about this whole nightmare is that I had no problem getting the EAD card expedited with a 60 thousand dollar medical bill. So, for the record this will qualify you for Financial Hardship in the eyes of USCIS.

Edited April 18, 2019 by Loren Y

[EandH0904 1,184]

As an ER nurse and PHRN for 12 years this does not surprise me at all. The only thing does is how cheap your Zofran and Propofol were! 

 

This is also charges billed to insurance.  If you had no insurance at all and were billed direct pay it would prob be 10-15% of what it is.

 

The insurance issues raise the price of big pharma too. They will bill Blue Cross for $946 for a med that out of pocket cost is $33. 

And I hope your wife is feeling better!

[Kabena 4]

Holly Molly! this is insane. I took my mom to the ER last week now I'm very anxious about the upcoming bill.

[JFH 12,189]

A pregnancy test for $267!

[yuna628 9,530]

Oh your poor wife, I hope she is feeling better! Last month, my weary husband rushed me to the hospital in some degree of pain, and I sat there for ten hours before they started extensive testing. For three days they kept me in and did emergency surgery. They sent me home and said all was okay, I said I didn't feel okay, but they insisted on discharging me. Back home I go rapidly downhill, and within 12hrs I am in the worst pain of my life (hubby said it was like watching me in labor), he carries me to the car and rushes back to the ER. Don't remember too much else, but four days later, they figure out the problem after tons of supportive care, another surgery, and every single nuclear scan you think of. The bills are still coming in to the insurance but looks to be somewhere in upwards of $48,000. And all I have to say is I am so thankful for our insurance, which has basically caused our cost to be only a few hundred bucks.

 

I agree with you that insurance is very important, and I feel it is the USC spouse's moral duty to prepare to ensure it is provided. It's understandable that the cost can cause a hardship to some, and indeed at the start of our marriage it did drain our funds considerably - but that is a part of life, and it's the responsible thing to do for our foreign spouses. Things worked out thankfully. There was a time when I was young that I wasn't insured and ended up in the hospital with a big bill. I paid every bit of it slowly, but it wasn't easy.

 

39 minutes ago, JFH said:

A pregnancy test for $267!

Yep. They ran one upon my arrival in the ER and then another one 12 hours after discharge when I turned up again. Even though I told them there is literally no way I could be pregnant (seriously). ''Well how do you know???" ''Oh dude.. really, are you really going to ask me that?" And yes, it really does cost that much.

Edited April 18, 2019 by yuna628

[Loren Y 2,732]

59 minutes ago, EandH0904 said:

As an ER nurse and PHRN for 12 years this does not surprise me at all. The only thing does is how cheap your Zofran and Propofol were! 

 

This is also charges billed to insurance.  If you had no insurance at all and were billed direct pay it would prob be 10-15% of what it is.

 

The insurance issues raise the price of big pharma too. They will bill Blue Cross for $946 for a med that out of pocket cost is $33. 

And I hope your wife is feeling better!

I like the morphine was only 6.28 a dose. That's my type of price. And she recovered quickly like 3-4 days, and is doing well. Thanks 😊

Edited April 18, 2019 by Loren Y

[Loren Y 2,732]

41 minutes ago, JFH said:

A pregnancy test for $267!

I know, clear blue easy is 10 bucks across the street at CVS. LOL

[geowrian 22,335]

I had a 3 day hospital stay alone a couple weeks ago. I had no complications and quite minimal medication (fluids, minimal non-opioid painkillers, Tums, etc.). It was basically just monitoring until I was good enough to go home.

Charge for the stay (not counting the fairly major surgery): $133,000.

[geowrian 22,335]

47 minutes ago, JFH said:

A pregnancy test for $267!

To be fair, the invoice indicates it was a blood test, not a take-home urine test. The blood test is more definite and shows a positive result earlier, and the phlebotomist has to draw the blood and such. I'm not saying it's not inflated....but it isn't the $10-$20 home test either.

Edited April 18, 2019 by geowrian

[Loren Y 2,732]

6 minutes ago, geowrian said:

I had a 3 day hospital stay alone a couple weeks ago. I had no complications and quite minimal medication (fluids, minimal non-opioid painkillers, Tums, etc.). It was basically just monitoring until I was good enough to go home.

Charge for the stay (not counting the fairly major surgery): $133,000.

Wow, exactly, and I see you post that all the time when people ask about insurance and you say a simple hospital stay is 100,000 dollars, and I think they don't believe it. That's why I posted the bill, hopefully to convince people costs of living in the US are higher than they think. And one unplanned thing can literally ruin your life.

Edited April 18, 2019 by Loren Y

[EandH0904 1,184]

1 hour ago, JFH said:

A pregnancy test for $267!

A serum preg test is usually a blood test measuring your HCG levels 

[JFH 12,189]

But if she needed emergency surgery she would have still had the surgery whether she was pregnant or not. 

 

They didn't do one (or at least it’s not listed on my bill) when I was admitted to the ER in 2017. But my medical notes show that I have had the necessary stuff surgically removed so a pregnancy is physically impossible. If they charged me for a pregnancy test I would really be annoyed. 

[geowrian 22,335]

1 minute ago, JFH said:

But if she needed emergency surgery she would have still had the surgery whether she was pregnant or not.

The drugs that would be administered pre-op, during op, and post op (and dosages) might have been impacted by a pregnancy. How they approach the surgery might be impacted as well. There was also an x-ray noted in the invoice.

[yuna628 9,530]

35 minutes ago, JFH said:

But if she needed emergency surgery she would have still had the surgery whether she was pregnant or not. 

 

They didn't do one (or at least it’s not listed on my bill) when I was admitted to the ER in 2017. But my medical notes show that I have had the necessary stuff surgically removed so a pregnancy is physically impossible. If they charged me for a pregnancy test I would really be annoyed. 

My sister likes to tell the story that she went in for an operation and they still gave her a pregnancy test, despite her stating that pregnancy was also physically impossible (surgically removed).

 

I got sick of being asked if I was pregnant before each test and procedure. They are snarky and act like they don't believe you. It's a difficult subject for me... and I found it ridiculous that they had just tested me, discharged me and there was no way I was in any condition to attempt becoming pregnant within the 12hrs since I was last at the ER, and that other conditions they were very aware of make the chance of pregnancy extremely low without IVF or other treatment.

 

[FilAm24 74]

all members should check this thread to let them aware the cost of living in America and the worth of insurance