re: $10,775 medical bill for stitches at hospital

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That's capitalism. Profits are more important than your health and life.

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Wrong. Capitalism has provided many alternatives, people are just idiots. Hospitals are expensive. And for good reason. Go to your primary care doc or an urgent care center and negotiate a price if you want.

If you're unemployed and uninsured go to a free clinic. Yes you might have to wait longer and yes you might have to drive further but too bad.

If you are unemployed and uninsured and you go to an ER and then get upset that they charged you alot of money the system isn't broken, you're just an idiot.

Further, capitalism allows the provider to set a price and then negotiate it. If the OP just calls and explains the situation to the financial department they'll help him out.

Did OP tell the clinic he was uninsured and unemployed and broke before he started his appointment?

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Why did you go to the er? Why didn't you go to your primary care doc or an urgent care clinic?

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It was after hours for my PC and what's urgent care going to do but refer you to a hospital. I had some type of infection in my intestine which they said if it burst would cause internal bleeding and sepsis.

Do not pay this.
Go in talk with them offer them say 800 bucks... if they do not agree on this pay them 10 bucks a month. Do not miss a payment.

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And how are our outcomes compared to other health care delivery systems. We are about middle of the pack.

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this occurs for the same reason our educational rankings are mediocre and we have the most violent crime in the devloped world: our large underclass

if you think universal coverage is going to suddenly change their behavioral patterns, you are being obtuse

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That's capitalism. Profits are more important than your health and life.

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our health care system is hardly "capitalist"

it all starts with the incentives government created for employer-provided insurance and then really got warped with Medicare and Medicaid in the 60s. the icing on the cake was EMTALA, which provided a path to effectively bankrupt hospitals and truly warp pricing.

in a true capitalist system, we would pay out of pocket for simple ER trips and they wouldn't be nearly as expensive. ERs could also refuse service

I assume your Fico score is below 500

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That is the full story. Busted my head on a pool, some dumb bitch tried to push me in.

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If true...you should get the COBRA coverage since its been less than 60 days since your employment terminated and have the 'dumb bitch' cover the cost post-coverage.

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Hospitals charge that much because of atrocious reimbursement from insurance companies and Medicare/Medicaid.

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Truth.

From what I’ve heard, our hospital is only reimbursed 18% from Medicare/Medicaid.

That is one of the large reasons for inflated prices.

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Wrong. Capitalism has provided many alternatives, people are just idiots. Hospitals are expensive. And for good reason. Go to your primary care doc or an urgent care center and negotiate a price if you want.

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- If someone falls on temporary hard times and they have a medical emergency during that time, they should not have to be put in a deeper hole because of it.

- There is so much fraud that goes into the medical industry (in general. Medicare, Medicaid fraud. Overcharging insurances or charging insurances for things that were never used or do. Of course that doesn't include everyone, its only a percentage of companies, people, etc who commit fraud, but that cost falls back on the patients.

- And while this is an indirect situation, but when you think about all of the tax dollars that are wasted on bullshite while people are barely keeping their head above water to pay for medical bills.. You would think we could come up with a better system.

No, I am not saying health care should be completely free, but lets not allow people who fall on bad times to get into an even deeper whole. Let's make sure people are being taken advantage of. Its a complex situation. but when it comes to people's lives, maximizing profits shouldn't be the first priority.

I am a capitalist, but there are exceptions to the rules.

That seems like a typical ER visit, my wife and I have both made a trip to the ER in the last two years, each visit required lab work, a X-ray, and a CT scan with contrast, each of our bills was around $10,000. I don't remember any of the breakdown, but our insurance covered all but a few hundred bucks.