Posted by AMD on June 15, 2005, at 13:49:39
I have a question about something that happened a year and a half ago.
I was out drinking with some friends, and had a bit too much and basically passed out on the couch at a bar. They couldn't wake me up, even though my vitals were OK.
Rather than help me home, the bartender insisted on calling a ambulance to take me to the hospital, at which point they gave me a CT scan (all normal), a thiamin IV, and a bed. I woke up the next morning to a diagnosis of "alcohol intoxication" and a recommendation of "don't drink to excess."
I didn't have insurance.
They billed me more than $5,000 for these services.
Is it me, or is that unreasonable? I have paid the CT scan bill as well as the labs. But the remainder is in hospital and ambulance bills that I stopped payments on in April. (I was paying $100 a month, and something like 80% of that was interest!)
I feel like I'm paying $5,000 for what amounted to a night in a hotel.
What I want to know is, do I have any legal options here? Do hospital bills affect one's credit? Are they treated differently than other debts?
Any advice would be much appreciated.
amd
poster:AMD
thread:513171
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/health/20050411/msgs/513171.html