Family of baby treated at hospital with bottle of formula gets $18G bill: report

From FOX News


A bottle of formula and a nap cost $18,000, according to a family whose son was treated at a San Francisco hospital after a head injury.

Vox.com reported that a family from South Korea was visiting the city in 2016 when their infant son fell off a hotel bed and hit his head. The baby reportedly never lost consciousness, but was crying hysterically. So out of an abundance of caution, the family took the baby to Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, the report said.

Doctors quickly determined that eight-month-old Park jeong-whan was fine. The family told the news site that the baby had some formula, took a little snooze and they got on with their vacation.

Two years later, the family said they were handed the bill: $18,836.

COMMENT:-

TU Curmudgeon said:

From FOX News

Family of baby treated at hospital with bottle of formula gets $18G bill: report
​

A bottle of formula and a nap cost $18,000, according to a family whose son was treated at a San Francisco hospital after a head injury.

Vox.com reported that a family from South Korea was visiting the city in 2016 when their infant son fell off a hotel bed and hit his head. The baby reportedly never lost consciousness, but was crying hysterically. So out of an abundance of caution, the family took the baby to Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, the report said.

Doctors quickly determined that eight-month-old Park jeong-whan was fine. The family told the news site that the baby had some formula, took a little snooze and they got on with their vacation.

Two years later, the family said they were handed the bill: $18,836.

COMMENT:-

PIFFLE !

$18,836 is a paltry sum to pay for emergency access to the finest healthcare system in the world and saving a baby's life.​

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Eh cant say I really feel sorry for um. Ambulance will cost you 3 or 4k even if you dont want them sent out. Thats enough to ruin a year or 2 of a minimum wage person's life.

Tort reform.

But at least it's not Teh Socialism

dirtpoorchris said:

Eh cant say I really feel sorry for um. Ambulance will cost you 3 or 4k even if you dont want them sent out. Thats enough to ruin a year or 2 of a minimum wage person's life.

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You don't "feel sorry" (um, great?) for them because ambulance fees are also insanely expensive?

What kind of answer is that?




Both are absurd things resulting from our truly ****-tarded health care system.

That's some gooooood formula.

This is quality healthcare right here. Much better than they would've received under a national health system. Remember that!

Khayembii Communique said:

This is quality healthcare right here. Much better than they would've received under a national health system. Remember that!

Click to expand...

Would you like to make a bet on that?

TU Curmudgeon said:

COMMENT:-

PIFFLE !

$18,836 is a paltry sum to pay for emergency access to the finest healthcare system in the world and saving a baby's life.​

Click to expand...

TU Curmudgeon said:

From FOX News

Family of baby treated at hospital with bottle of formula gets $18G bill: report
​

A bottle of formula and a nap cost $18,000, according to a family whose son was treated at a San Francisco hospital after a head injury.

Vox.com reported that a family from South Korea was visiting the city in 2016 when their infant son fell off a hotel bed and hit his head. The baby reportedly never lost consciousness, but was crying hysterically. So out of an abundance of caution, the family took the baby to Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, the report said.

Doctors quickly determined that eight-month-old Park jeong-whan was fine. The family told the news site that the baby had some formula, took a little snooze and they got on with their vacation.

Two years later, the family said they were handed the bill: $18,836.

COMMENT:-

PIFFLE !

$18,836 is a paltry sum to pay for emergency access to the finest healthcare system in the world and saving a baby's life.​

Click to expand...

Can't have one of the most expensive healthcare systems out there without charging outrageous amounts of money for little to no service.

I am not surprised, but we should all be irritated that this is what happens when a Hospital Price Master is applied to conditions where healthcare insurance is not applied (i.e. contractual arrangements.) That is what is sounds like happened in this case, in those conditions the max price is applied plus the Hospital having a range on Emergency and Trauma Medical Services.

Plot Twist: The formula was made with the best cocaine in California.

Sent from Trump Plaza's basement using Putin's MacBook.

Hatuey said:

Plot Twist: The formula was made with the best cocaine in California.

Sent from Trump Plaza's basement using Putin's MacBook.

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I am going to California and gotten me some baby formula then

This seems like a good example of why it's probably more fruitful to frame this kind of stuff in terms of deficiencies in the overarching way we've organized the financing of our health system, and not in terms of individual bad actors.

At those rates I would have bankrupted my mother multiple times over in the US

Stitches a few times, two broken fingers, pneumonia, bronchitis and two broken ankles. The medical fees would have come to what 1 million for that in the US. All before turning 18

I don't think it is quite that simple. Ok, that fee is steep. But don't forget all the people involved in an ER visit. Start with the janitor, the security guard, the desk clerk, the intake nurse, all the way up to the people who do the charting and other paperwork necessary for the ship to run smoothly.
Bureaucracy at its finest. Why? Sue happy people and their ambulance chasing lawyers for starters.
Comfortable surroundings. Ask patients where they'd rather be, in a run down dirty ER, or one that is clean and bright.
Service. Who wants to wait more than 10 mins.
If you want it cheap, you get what you are willing to pay for.
The answer isn't as easy as plopping down a few snarky remarks.

Khayembii Communique said:

This is quality healthcare right here. Much better than they would've received under a national health system. Remember that!

Click to expand...

The baby would be in middle school by the time he got an appointment under single payer.

Lovebug said:

I don't think it is quite that simple. Ok, that fee is steep. But don't forget all the people involved in an ER visit. Start with the janitor, the security guard, the desk clerk, the intake nurse, all the way up to the people who do the charting and other paperwork necessary for the ship to run smoothly.
Bureaucracy at its finest. Why? Sue happy people and their ambulance chasing lawyers for starters.
Comfortable surroundings. Ask patients where they'd rather be, in a run down dirty ER, or one that is clean and bright.
Service. Who wants to wait more than 10 mins.
If you want it cheap, you get what you are willing to pay for.
The answer isn't as easy as plopping down a few snarky remarks.

Click to expand...

then you are saying $18000 is a bargain for a bottle of formula and a nap
got it. any chance you might be related to nurse ratched?

Just for clarity, a picture of the bill and a little more information is available from VOX.com.

There were 2 charges
ER EX/TX RM LEVEL III 3,170.00
TRAUMA ACTIVATION 911 15,565.00

There's been a lot of discussion about the cost of hospital visits and ER visits. The evaluation and treatment charge is on the high side for sure, but is relatively normal. You would expect an evaluation and treatment charge on every ER visit.

The article focuses (rightly so) on the "Trauma Center Activation" charge, which is ridiculous. I've never worked for a hospital that charged this, but $15K is way out of line according to the information in the article. According to Medicare regulations, hospitals can charge this to help recover the costs of activating a team of trauma center specialists, provided they are a trauma center, the decision to activate the team is based on a triage performed, and the patient receives care (at least 30 minutes) from a trauma team. (This Isn't a Medicare patient, but hospitals are generally bound by Medicare billing practices.) This is a trauma center, but it doesn't sound like the patient met triage criteria for a trauma team, that one was assembled, or that they cared for the patient.

Also of note is the reference to the patient receiving a bill 2 years after services. Granted, we don't know if that's true, but in my state, a patient has to receive an initial bill within a year, or it's not collectible.

There are some hospitals with bad billing practices that try to bill excessively high in the hopes of collecting what it can, including sticking it to non-contracted insurance and patients in hopes of collecting as much as possible. They often purposely don't contract with many carriers so that they can pursue higher amounts for emergent services. (This is becoming very common with freestanding ERs.) Maybe this is a good hospital, but it's billing is very questionable.

Lovebug said:

I don't think it is quite that simple. Ok, that fee is steep. But don't forget all the people involved in an ER visit. Start with the janitor, the security guard, the desk clerk, the intake nurse, all the way up to the people who do the charting and other paperwork necessary for the ship to run smoothly.
Bureaucracy at its finest. Why? Sue happy people and their ambulance chasing lawyers for starters.
Comfortable surroundings. Ask patients where they'd rather be, in a run down dirty ER, or one that is clean and bright.
Service. Who wants to wait more than 10 mins.
If you want it cheap, you get what you are willing to pay for.
The answer isn't as easy as plopping down a few snarky remarks.

Click to expand...

You make it sound as though the only options are for our finances to be ravaged and our very lives held ransom by a greedy for-profit healthcare industry or take our care on the dirt floor of a hovel. I assure you they aren’t. Most of the world knows this.

TU Curmudgeon said:

$18,836 is a paltry sum to pay for emergency access to the finest healthcare system in the world and saving a baby's life.

Click to expand...

Saving a baby's life yes, but no life was saved or lost here, from your own quoted article: "Doctors quickly determined that eight-month-old Park jeong-whan was fine. The family told the news site that the baby had some formula, took a little snooze and they got on with their vacation."

I assume they are back on Korea now so good luck with any collection.

Sabre said:

Saving a baby's life yes, but no life was saved or lost here, from your own quoted article: "Doctors quickly determined that eight-month-old Park jeong-whan was fine. The family told the news site that the baby had some formula, took a little snooze and they got on with their vacation."

I assume they are back on Korea now so good luck with any collection.

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So they need to be charged with fraud.


Thats like calling for a simple house fire but the first guy that shows up "forgets" to turn his radio on and the second guy and the third guy. All the way up to 20 people "forgetting" to turn their radio on for a simple, no action, fire response.... Then charging the caller for 20 units responding.

X Factor said:

The baby would be in middle school by the time he got an appointment under single payer.

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You exaggerate.

TU Curmudgeon said:

From FOX News

Family of baby treated at hospital with bottle of formula gets $18G bill: report
​

A bottle of formula and a nap cost $18,000, according to a family whose son was treated at a San Francisco hospital after a head injury.

Vox.com reported that a family from South Korea was visiting the city in 2016 when their infant son fell off a hotel bed and hit his head. The baby reportedly never lost consciousness, but was crying hysterically. So out of an abundance of caution, the family took the baby to Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, the report said.

Doctors quickly determined that eight-month-old Park jeong-whan was fine. The family told the news site that the baby had some formula, took a little snooze and they got on with their vacation.

Two years later, the family said they were handed the bill: $18,836.

COMMENT:-

PIFFLE !

$18,836 is a paltry sum to pay for emergency access to the finest healthcare system in the world and saving a baby's life.​

Click to expand...

Watch your kid batter.

itsforthekids said:

Watch your kid batter.

Click to expand...

"But...I need to keep my eye on the ball!"