Dignity Health Medical Group -- Mercy Medical Center Mercy Medical Center, Mount Shasta, CA Billed Me $6,600 for a Three-Hour ER Visit Mt. Shasta California

If you are uninsured, then that's your own fault - plain and simple.  Take some accountability for your overall general stupidity.  The state of California REQUIRES you to have Health Insurance.  Now to the rest:

They will not inform you of this rate they will be charging you for not being insured (which is called non-disclosure or consideration on the contract which renders it null and void legally)...  Uh no, that isn't illegal pal.  And no, ER's legally do not have to disclose pricing.  However, even if they did...are you seriously going to start shopping around for the best price while sitting in pain?  No.  Can you even negotiate pricing while doubled-over?  No.  So your whole argument becomes absurd and irrelevant.

A half hour later, when I asked about the pain meds again and that I may pass out, an RN said, "If you pass out, can you make sure to try to fall backwards?"  That's great advice for someone who should not have been in an ER in the first place.  You needed Urgent Care and if they told you to leave, it's only because you were being a PITA.  Moron.

I'm a nice guy -- I could have just said, you get nothing, I am suing you...  You should have said that.  But then you would have lost and then you would have had a judgment against you in court for the full amount of the bill, plus attorney's fees when they countersued you for the balance.  Another comment not very well thought out deadbeat.

Is it fair and equitable to bill me (actually termed a "Statement of Services", so they are just "making a statement") for $6,600 for 3 hours, only 5 minutes of which were spent with an actual physician?  Not really the issue.  You went to an ER.  They are the most expensive method of care.  You were billed $6,600.  Fair and equitable isn't the issue.  Getting billed that much is the consequence for going to an ER in the first place.  Next time, don't be uninsured.  A statement is a nice word for invoice BTW, and generally more detailed than an invoice would be.

...your CEO and/or CFO will receive a high-dollar amount liability lawsuit for such mis-treatment and attempted fraud on top of it.  Not really much of a threat.  Seems you were adequately treated based on what you wrote and the bill is what it is when you go to an ER.  These guys have lawyers on retainer; and you don't even have the money to afford health insurance.  Yeah, not much of a threat there deadbeat.

I already have disputed bills in years past that have gone to collections and on my credit report, and I can and will rightfully notice all those agencies participating in this fraud, so you can chase your tail and these "statements" all you want till you are blue in the face!  The 3 credit reporting agencies ONLY care whether the information is correct on your report - not whether the charges are fraudulent or not.  The company will confirm the charges are valid and the charges will stay on your report. Again, not much of a threat there either deadbeat.

Also, I was never given ANY pain med prescription for the horrible pain I was in due to gastroenteritis or mushroom poisoning (could have been either, though "Dr. D" felt it was "not an Amanita" poisoning, which was supposed to make me feel better?).  You don't get pain medication for those conditions.  Gastroenteritis is treated with an IV and glucose by a nurse and you generally don't even need a doctor.  Mushroom poisoning is treated in a similar fashion.  Perhaps you are just an opioid addict and you're making all this up.

You know what they told me? "Get yourself some antacids"!  Good advice.  Would have been cheaper.

I nearly OD'd on Advil gel caps, because these sadists refused to prescribe me any effective pain medication.  LOL you cannot OD on Advil.  What a moron.

You ripped yourself off.  Let's review:

• You opted to be uninsured
• You opted to go to the ER instead of sitting and waiting in Urgent Care
• ER visits are the most expensive method of receiving health care
• You did not have a condition warranting an ER visit - per your own narrative.
• Now you don't want to pay the bill...too bad.  Pay up.

We are not sympathetic.  You are the reason health costs are as high as they are.

Afraid of losing your racket, are you? Well, I can see why my report would make you nervous. You're an RN and this is how you address people who went to a facility for help and walked away empty handed -- and handed a bill at this rate as insult on top of injury? Public vs. private hospitals? When you live in a rural area as I do, there are no real choices that way.

There is one ER in about a 60 mile radius, FYI. What part of "about to pass out from pain" did you not pick up on? What exactly is a private hospital, anyway? Do you think I wasted my time on Rip-Off reporting some kind of fiction because of some conspiracy to put health care workers out of business and deprive other ER visitors of services? Wow, are you delusional. I think you need a bit of a check-up yourself -- in the psych ward. Keep commenting back and get nothing but silence now.

Stop playing the victim! Your "emergency" was not life or death period and I highly doubt you went to a clinic and they sent you to the ER - more than likely you complained and they sent you on your way so you went to the ER and now this trickle down will cost even more to those who need REAL ER care ie: cost of services because you just will not pay the bill you cannot afford. ERs do not get tax monies if they are a for profit facility. I also stated in my rebuttal that you could have gone to a PUBLIC hospital instead of a private one.

Yet here you are trying to state that a rebuttal is PooPOO because (and I have all the time in the world moron) to go through report all day. I am a LSW and I only do this on my OWN time. I take care of patients every day yet you have to b***h and whine about treatment that you are not even going to pay for so the rest of us have to pay for it with higher healthcare cost. IF you are not insured them apply for MediCal or are you too proud to suck up more of the taxpayers money than you already have?

Report is a JOKE just like you are.

But it makes me wonder what your true motives are behind rebutting legitimate reports like mine. You wouldn't go to the ER with the flu, huh? Why are you telling me this> Nobody would go to the ER with the flu, except perhaps some destitute or homeless person.

As I informed Robert (Commentor #1), the Urgent Care Clinic I went to in McCloud, CA referred me to the ER in Shasta, so you are really wasting your time and mine by stating the obvious here, as well as things that don't inherently refute my legitimate basis for filing this report against this "medical group".

Maybe you closely follow Rip-Off report and have a lot of time on your hands to just jump in and offer your unsolicited opinion, or maybe these billion-dollar medical conglomerates are employing people like yourself (unofficially) to be debunking trolls. Maybe you need a new hobby?

And here you are closely monitoring reports like this, likely as a buffer against the tidal wave of such reports against blind, uncaring, confiscatory organizations like Dignity Health. FYI, I went to a walk-in urgent care clinic and they couldn't do anything for me -- it was THEY, that doctor who suggested I go to the ER in Mt. Shasta, smart guy.

Here you are less than 24 hrs. after I filed this very legitimate, warranted report trying to sandbag or soften the blow of the honest reportage of my situation. Hurry along now, I'm sure there are many of these you're tasked with "poo-pooing" so your medical conglomerate loses less face (though not likely).

You seem to have some incorrect assumptions about Emergency Rooms.

An "ER" is for Life and Death Emergencies. Severe stomach pain where all you wanted was some pain medication is NOT a life and death emergency, as seen by the fact that you are still here with the ability to complain.

For what you described you could have gone to an Urgent Care clinic, or even found another regular doctor where the office visit would have been under $200. Yes, you may have been in pain for a couple more hours if you went to the ER in the middle of the night, but again if all you wanted was pain medication you obviously were not in a life and death situation.  But even if you visited another office don't expect them to give you pain medicine either.  Protocols have chaged and medical professionals are a lot more careful about prescribing pain medication.

ER's do not charge by the hour. They charge by services, and yes just walking in the door probably cost you about $1000-$1500. If the cost of services was a factor, then why didn't you ask? What if they told you the cost would have been $6,000+ would you have stayed? If the answer is NO, then again you were not in a Life and Death situation and should have not been there in the first place.  You say you had 3 weeks of additional suffering? If that is the case, they why during that time did you not find another doctor or Urgent Care clinic to see if they would assist you?

As for the cost.  You say you went to the ER several years ago and paid about 10% of what you are being asked to pay now. Well first I find that highly suspect, either you aren't exactly being truthful or the level of services were not the same. But even if that is the case that would have meant you paid about $700 which was still about 10 times what an office visit to a regular doctor would have cost at that time.

Your offer to pay them $500 as a "lawful" counter offer is laughable. Not for the sheer fact that you are putting their CEO on notice, but that even if it was a valid offer, it is less than what you paid several years ago for an ER visit.

You are right you can dispute the bill, and may be able to negotiate a bit.  But as for any lawsuits, those would be one way only where you are the defendant.   As nothing you posted here showed that they provided inaccurate care just because they didn't give you pain medication.  In fact as stated before if you file your suit based on that the Judge would throw your case out in about 30 seconds.

Good Luck

But that is what an ER will bill anyone regardless of health insurance or not. ERs are for life emercencies including heart attacks, stabbings, shootings, etc etc - LIFE or death emergencies. I worked for a healthcare company for many years and there is a way that each code is charged period. Just because you do not have health insurance does not mean you will be discounted on any emergency in an ER. Those are what public hospitals are for - to help with the uninsured and underinsured.

That is the way Medicine works and has for some time. IF I went in with the flu to an ER I would be charged thousands because the FLU is not a life or death emergency!! Obviously you are fine - you could have gone to a stand alone emergency care clinic but would be charged and HAVE to pay upfront with NO insurance. Do you not have a PCP??? Or any DR who could have seen you? And NO I do not work for this company.