A Dallas man was charged $54,000 for his COVID-19 tests at an emergency room in Lewisville, Texas – a staggering charge that isn’t solely authorized, however hardly the one coronavirus take a look at to interrupt the financial institution for a time-desperate individual through the pandemic.
Travis Warner informed NPR that his and his spouse’s June 2020 go to to the free-standing ER at Lewisville’s SignatureCare Emergency Center was, at first, a reduction as a result of he may return to work as soon as he examined detrimental. The couple drove half-hour exterior of Dallas due to the restricted testing availability at the time.
At the hospital go to, Warner individually obtained PCR diagnostic tests for COVID-19, plus the less-accurate fast antigen tests attributable to time sensitivity in eager to return to work.
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Relief became outrage when the bill got here by the mail. The more-accurate PCR take a look at and antigen take a look at collectively price $54,000 when together with the ER facility charge. The taxes and extra price added the bill as much as a whopping $56,384.
Warner, who’s self-employed and has his personal well being care plan with Molina Healthcare, negotiated the value with the hospital to ultimately bump all of it the best way right down to $16,915.20. The insurer paid that in full.
“At least I’m not liable for anything,” Warner informed Kaiser Health News.
But earlier than the negotiation, the prices had been murky. For in-network suppliers, insurers can negotiate costs for tests. But for out-of-network suppliers, insurers might be charged the value that’s publicly obtainable on the hospital’s web site. Since the free-standing ER in Lewisville was out of community for Warner, it initially seemed like he was caught with the bill.
SignatureCare Emergency Center is considered one of greater than a dozen free-standing ERs the corporate owns throughout Texas. The facility isn’t the one hospital to cost an eye-popping charge that’s authorized to cost in American well being care. An article within the Texas Tribune famous how a $175 COVID-19 take a look at skyrocketed to $2,479. A report from the Insurance Trade Association claims that “price gouging by certain providers continues to be a widespread problem.”
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None, nonetheless, was excessive sufficient to eclipse the $50,000 mark from final summer season. The web site for SignatureCare Emergency Center presently lists COVID-19 tests at $175 apiece.
Health coverage researchers, together with Loren Adler, the director of the USC-Brookings Schaeffer Initiative for Health Policy, informed NPR the value for the take a look at was “astronomical” and “egregious.”
Molina Healthcare informed NPR in a assertion: “This matter was a provider billing error which Molina identified and corrected.”
Warner stated his spouse obtained the identical tests the identical day at the identical hospital and was billed solely $2,000. She has a separate insurance coverage coverage.
Messages left Thursday by USA TODAY for SignatureCare Emergency Centers weren’t instantly returned.
This article initially appeared on USA TODAY: Texas man charged $54,000 for COVID tests at hospital ER
