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> “How can they expect normal citizens to contribute to eliminating the potential risk of person-to-person spread if hospitals are waiting to charge us $3.,270

> “How can they expect normal citizens to contribute to eliminating the potential risk of person-to-person spread if hospitals are waiting to charge us $3.,270 for a simple blood test and a nasal swab?” he said. Hospitals are expensive to run. You shouldn't go to the hospital for a simple blood test and a nasal swab (even if you have platinum insurance). In this particular case, the patient already knew he couldn't afford it, and he should have gone to urgent care instead.

xenospn 7y ago
How is that any better? They can charge you thousands as well. Totally random.
- jiveturkey 7y ago
  it's not random at all. urgent care will charge for the swab and send you to the lab for the blood work. it would be a few hundred dollars. going to the hospital in this case is like taking your prius to the ferrari service center for an oil change. you should expect to pay multiple times the reasonable cost for such a routine service. i can totally understand if he thought he might need all the extra services of a hospital, and wouldn't really know until he got there. but in this specific case, he already knew in advance he can't afford it and should have started simpler. if he had gotten the CT scan, found it was negative, then was unable to pay, that's a different story. there's plenty to criticize in this chain of events (eg that the hospital went nuclear as their first option -- regardless of ability to pay) but that hospitals are more expensive than urgent care isn't one of them.
krsdcbl 7y ago
As a EU resident, this is still mind boggling to me how in a developed, democratic country in 2020 you'd be personally charged at all for tests like these with a possible pandemic on the doorstep, let alone hundreds or thousands ...
- foxyv 7y ago
  Heaven forbid such a pandemic hit the United States, but it may be the thing that kicks us in the ass to get started on fixing our health care system.

xenospn 7y ago

How is that any better? They can charge you thousands as well. Totally random.

jiveturkey 7y ago
it's not random at all. urgent care will charge for the swab and send you to the lab for the blood work. it would be a few hundred dollars. going to the hospital in this case is like taking your prius to the ferrari service center for an oil change. you should expect to pay multiple times the reasonable cost for such a routine service. i can totally understand if he thought he might need all the extra services of a hospital, and wouldn't really know until he got there. but in this specific case, he already knew in advance he can't afford it and should have started simpler. if he had gotten the CT scan, found it was negative, then was unable to pay, that's a different story. there's plenty to criticize in this chain of events (eg that the hospital went nuclear as their first option -- regardless of ability to pay) but that hospitals are more expensive than urgent care isn't one of them.

krsdcbl 7y ago

As a EU resident, this is still mind boggling to me how in a developed, democratic country in 2020 you'd be personally charged at all for tests like these with a possible pandemic on the doorstep, let alone hundreds or thousands ...

foxyv 7y ago
Heaven forbid such a pandemic hit the United States, but it may be the thing that kicks us in the ass to get started on fixing our health care system.