New York Hospital Makes “Big Mistaka” (file / credit: Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center)

Patient Care in the Bronx – Hospital Report New York City

To borrow a phrase from the Jimmy Buffet song, “Jamaica Mistaka”, a hospital in New York made a “big Mistaka” resulting in patients getting billed for tens of millions of dollars for medical services.  (source:  http://nydn.us/AjolYU).

Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center is a general medical and surgical hospital in Bronx, NY, reported by USNews.com to be one of the best hospitals in the U.S.

The company that does the billing for the Bronx-Lebanon Hospital erroneously put the invoice number in the space where the invoice amount should go. So the billing company is to blame, but the buck stops at the Bronx-Lebanon Hospital.

I’m sure this is all an embarrassment to the hospital; but can you imagine the shock of one patient who received a bill saying he owed $44.8 million dollars?

That’s what happened to Alexis Rodriguez, an unemployed doorman, who said he almost became ill when he saw the bill for $44.8 million dollars for his medical services at Bronx-Lebanon Hospital.

Rodriguez was hospitalized at Bronx-Lebanon Hospital where he was treated last Spring with Pre-Pneumonia and, like all of us when hospitalized in an emergency, we cringe at the thought of having to wait several months to find out the total cost.

Rodriguez told the New York Daily News he was afraid the bill was legit.

Poor Rodriguez; I can only imagine his stress.  Imagine if he had opened the bill on Friday evening, and had to wait until Monday to get someone in billing on the phone (assuming Monday wasn’t a holiday).  Thinking that you’re facing a financial ruin is no laughing matter.

Why did Rodriguez think the bill was legit?  The answer is that nearly everyone has experienced getting an avalanche of bills months after being hospitalized that far surpass any cost estimate provided in advance by all the medical service and facility providers.

It’s unbelievable that you can’t get, in writing, a firm or even ball-park breakdown of all the costs that you will be billed, assuming no complications, so you can budget for a planned procedure.

There are hospitals in other countries where you can get a written cost of treatment plan, and you aren’t treated like a few extra thousand dollars added to your bill is no big deal, i.e., “just pay it, Lady”.

Don’t misunderstand, each hospital and country system is different.  There are horror stories of unexpected hospital charges everywhere in the world.  But in the U.S., you can usually count on having your hospital bill run up by non-disclosed charges.

Elsewhere in the world, if you plan your trip with a case-management company who will oversee the financial agreement as well as the medical care, at least you can budget.

That’s good to know, because if you’re even thinking about living abroad or traveling abroad for better quality and more affordable healthcare, you need to know how to protect yourself from the risk of incurring added charges.

If you’re considering hospitalization overseas, I recommend you click here to read about foreign-patient hospital care.