Huge Emergency Room Bill

JACKSONVILLE, FL -- In August, Judy Allen made an unexpected trip to the hospital emergency room.

"I had severe pain in my stomach," says Allen, who says she was diagnosed with kidney stones and released the very same day.

"They did not remove the stone. I was given a CAT scan, an IV drip and two prescriptions," she says.

But in September, Allen received the bill and that made her sick all over again. "It is outrageous. I'm still upset," she says.

The bill for her ER visit was $11,586. Allen says, "I have asked them to send me an itemized bill."

The hospital reduced the bill to $5,097.84 but even so, Allen says it is still too high.

"For what they're charging me they could have operated on me," she says.

Allen was treated at Memorial Hospital Jacksonville, which had this response to her complaint about the amount of the bill:

"Ms. Allen's bill of $11,586 was reduced to $5,084 due to Memorial Hospital's self-pay discount AKA uninsured discount. This is a 56% discount from the original total bill. We provide an uninsured discount to all self pay patients automatically (no request needed). We do not ask patients what their source of payment is when they arrive in the emergency room. We treat the emergency medical conditions and then work through payment details later. When we encounter a self pay patient through the emergency room, we will automatically provide a discount at time of billing as noted above. If a patient contacts us later and claims they cannot pay, we will attempt to assist the patient in finding public coverage resources such as Medicaid. If the patient is indigent and cannot qualify for Medicaid, we will evaluate the patient for a charity write-off. Patients who qualify for Charity will have their bills completely written-off. The patient must apply and be qualified to receive Hospital Charity. Patients who do not qualify for public assistance or charity will be expected to pay their bill. We will work with patients on payment plans if they cannot afford to pay their bills all at once."

Allen says when she receives her itemized bill she will contact the hospital about payments.

The financial website bankrate.com says this type of consumer complaint is not unusual.

To see bankrate.com's list of 10 things you can do to avoid an outrageous hospital bill, CLICK HERE.

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