Insured price $2,758, cash price $521
I took my 4 year old to the ER because he had a 103 fever. The doctor put an ear thermometer to him and told me to give him some childrens ibuprofen. The visit lasted all of 5 minutes. The cost: $756.00.<p>I refused to pay it. It was the first time I did not pay a debt and the first time I was sent to collections. I refused based on principle, and not because I couldn’t afford it. Collections called me for about 3 months, and every time someone called and said, “is this John Wheeler”, I would never confirm and then go about asking why they are calling for John Wheeler. Eventually, the calls stopped and the collection agency wrote it off to their unpaid reserves (I’m assuming), I never received a ding on my credit report.<p>Everyone is always asking why US healthcare is so expensive. People blame it on the insurance companies and the hospitals, but my theory is it’s the providers.<p>I worked at Vanderbilt on their payroll system, and I would regularly see general practitioners making $350,000 a year, and this was 15 years ago! It wasn’t uncommon to see teaching doctors getting paid a million dollars.