Is this medical fee normal?

Eliphas

Eliphas

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Hi

My partner and I recently went to the hospital for food poisoning. Partner had it worse off than me, throwing up constantly to the point of dehydration, I was okay-ish.

We arrived at about 3am, got taken in. I sat by his bed most of the time. We had to wait 6 hours to finally see a doctor who saw us for 2 minutes, we then got our meds and left

Both our bills combined come up to about R1600 (his being around 300 more cause he needed a drip, so I presume what Im seeing is for that)

Not once was I asked if I was employed or anything. Besides the ridiculous wait time and us only leaving at 9am, the entire time waiting for for that doctor to see us for 2 minutes. I honestly believe it would have been way cheaper seeing a private doctor at this point. Ironically my partner had stopped puking when we got to the hospital too.

I just want to know if that sorta fee is normal for 2 people and if not what can I do (First time using the public hospital too)? :s
 
That seems way off. Private hospital would have cost you a fair bit more,but 1.6k seems excessive,give the accounts department a call and query it with them?
 
You guys are under the wrong impression. My daughter came off her scooter, and they took her toe Bloem public hospital. They gave her some pain meds, disinfected and bandaged a few scrapes. Sent her a bill for R3600.
 
Drifter said:
You guys are under the wrong impression. My daughter came off her scooter, and they took her toe Bloem public hospital. They gave her some pain meds, disinfected and bandaged a few scrapes. Sent her a bill for R3600.
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Jeez, my mates dad has had 2 heart surgeries in public hospitals for less than 1k each. A friend was treated for a heart attack for less than R100.
 
Not certain about public hospitals, perhaps you can ask them for a breakdown of the bill?

When my son was born he had erratic jaundice. We couldn't take him home with us. Each morning, they'd draw blood and do a test to check his bilirubin levels.
My wife and I would wait anxiously for the results, only the doctors were allowed to give us the results. This took the form of a 5 minute conversation with the doctor.
Mostly assuring us that his levels would drop.

When we got our medical aid bill and a breakdown, those 5 minute conversations all cost upwards of R1000.
I was a little surprised :) .
 
I have heard that some hospitals are classified as semi-private. So the fees are high but not as high as a private hospital. Maybe that's the case.
 
Drifter said:
You guys are under the wrong impression. My daughter came off her scooter, and they took her toe Bloem public hospital. They gave her some pain meds, disinfected and bandaged a few scrapes. Sent her a bill for R3600.
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WTF? My daughter scrapped open her elbow, bone was visible.Took her to Medi Clinic Somerset, they put her under with ketamine, put stitches, 2 hours later done,bill R2900.
 
Medical in this country is properly poked. The anaesthetist pre-consult meant asking me if I had any allergies and operations in the past 6 months, giving me a questionnaire to complete and sign, took a whole 3 minutes of her time, and cost me a whole R800. The cheek.
 
Wife nearly passed out from lack of oxygen(septum issues) a few years ago. Took her to Millpark, 30 minutes inside and a Red Bull drip, R4 500. The above sounds about in line.
 
Thanks for all the feedback everyone. I think I will go and ask them to breakdown the bill. Maybe I can get it lower. I don't know why I'm being charged for the day facility (Which R345), and another emergency facility fee (R104) on each of our bills which seem to be the most expensive part of our bills, as well as multiple "General practitioner fees" as well. I understand my partners facility fees but not mine, as I was not using any of them and sitting next to him waiting for the doctor.

They kept us for 6 hours too waiting for the doctor, so I don't see those fees (facility) as being fair since by the time the doctor actually came we were relatively fine. Especially myself, I didn't need the doctor. A private doctor would have cost only R400 +- (+medicine), but obviously we couldn't wait till 8am since it seemed somewhat serious as he couldn't keep water down. My family also told me it would be cheaper using the public hospital, but it is not so ;-;
 
Eliphas said:
Thanks for all the feedback everyone. I think I will go and ask them to breakdown the bill. Maybe I can get it lower. I don't know why I'm being charged for the day facility (Which R345), and another emergency facility fee (R104) on each of our bills which seem to be the most expensive part of our bills, as well as multiple "General practitioner fees" as well. I understand my partners facility fees but not mine, as I was not using any of them and sitting next to him waiting for the doctor.

They kept us for 6 hours too waiting for the doctor, so I don't see those fees (facility) as being fair since by the time the doctor actually came we were relatively fine. Especially myself, I didn't need the doctor. A private doctor would have cost only R400 +- (+medicine), but obviously we couldn't wait till 8am since it seemed somewhat serious as he couldn't keep water down. My family also told me it would be cheaper using the public hospital, but it is not so ;-;
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It is expensive if it was a public hospital, did they ask what your income was?
 
They should've asked if you're on medical aid and if not, should have offered you a way of paying off the amount, but public hospitals should provide a free service for the majority treatments rendered. Those doctors get paid a monthly fixed salary but they can sometimes substitute that by providing a private service at the same hospital due to the fee structure for certain procedures. All public hospitals are also not yet on the ICD 10 coding system which makes it hard for the finance department to actually hold the doctors accountable for fees that are too high. :)
 
My fiance was not on my medical aid when they broke her nose. She got a nice nose job and two days in hospital all for R50.
 
All patients attending a public hospital are categorised according to their income. This happens when you open your file. Those clerks....well, yeah. At 03h00 you're not going to get the best service. It's possible that they just assumed your income level to get rid of you quickly so that they can go back to sleep.
I suggest that you go back to the hospital, collect your file, and ask a clerk to confirm your income category for you. You'll need your payslip, or an affidavit stating you're unemployed.

Then, you can challenge the bill you got.

It should work like this. But I wish you all the luck in the world. Seriously.
 
Putting it into perspective this is what I have been charged at private casualties for my wife with sever food poisoning:
Doctor - R650
Usage of facilities - R850
Medication + Sundry - R400
Total of R1900 for 2hours in a bed with a drip excluding takehome meds which came to another R1200
 
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