Broke my hand, a non-displaced hairline fracture along the right side. Called insurance, because I was out of network (living out of state at the time and on an HMO) and the only thing they would agree to pay is for an ER or urgent care visit. They would only pay a doctor if I was referred by an ER MD.
OK, fine---went over to Sutter Health ER. There were about 6 people waiting; several families with little kids with fever/cold symptoms, another lady with a broken finger, and several grown men with "fever and congestion", which sounds alot like COVID. There were also a couple of elderly obviously severely ill people, one in a wheelchair with oxygen, moaning and wheezing, poor guy, and his caretaker who talked loudly on the cell phone for most of the time they were there. Nobody masking and no social distancing---I masked, just to keep myself safe from all the sick people in ER. Because we were so close together, I overheard intake on several people who had not been vaxxed, and had COVID symptoms, and were just sent to sit next to whatever unlucky soul won the lottery.
We all waited for at least an hour before anyone else was seen. Maybe 1-2 patients an hour were taken back. I had been there for almost 5 hours when i finally saw a doc. Had an X-ray which confirmed the fracture, and was given an ace bandage around a pretty rudimentary molded plaster cast that fit along the side of my hand and told to visit an orthopedist, and to keep the cast dry by putting a plastic cast over it when I showered, washed dishes etc.
Disgusted, I went home, removed the cast and put on a wrist brace backwards so the brace was along the side where my fracture was. I buddy-taped my little finger to my 4th finger, iced it, took a couple of ibu, and made a followup appointment with a hand specialist who said the brace was "perfect". I wore it until the fracture healed, removing it for water stuff.
The ER visit cost $4k, and the MD who read the x-ray, and stopped by while the tech was putting on my "cast" and said, "looks good", charged $2.5k. My insurance paid the $6500 and followup visits--I made sure to have several, to drive home the point of how idiotic it is to require ER visits to pay.
No wonder the whole medical system is riddled with fraud. There was one doctor and a couple of technicians and about 5 administrators at their desks behind the window, illustrating to me that they're more interested in collecting money than actually taking care of anyone. I felt bad for the 3 staff who were trying to treat all those people, but at the same time, I am baffled that we've let medical care in this country devolve to this state. Too bad. read more