Hospital gives a $162 bill to a patient for waiting 19 hrs without a doctor

If you wanted to know what is wrong with the American hospital and health care system then this case amply demonstrates it.

A woman while playing volleyball fractures her foot.  Goes to the hospital.  The receptionist sees her and “assesses” her so she can sit in a line.  She waits for 19 hours.. no doctor!

She wants to go away without any care.  She is given a bill for $162!

Why?

“She’s not paying for waiting,” says Rick Rhine, the hospital’s vice president in charge of billing. “She’s paying for the assessment she received.”

And, what, pray, was this esoteric “assessment” all about??

The assessment, which lasted a few minutes, established her place in line that night. The hospital says one in five patients who check into Parkland’s ER leaves before seeing a doctor. Those who stay long enough to see a triage nurse must pay.

This is the height of nonsense that goes on in the US hospitals.  And until now, the Medicare bankruptcy… the social security bankruptcy etc have not hit the nation.