Surprise Emergency Room Bill

Our healthcare system is a joke, and anyone who thinks MFA won't be a drastic upgrade from what we have now is lying to themselves.

I have a story that's not quite as extreme as the one above, but not far off.

A few years back, around 3AM, my wife began having an allergic reaction to something. Her face began to swell and turned red and splotchy. I gave her a couple of benadryl to help with the symptoms and we kept an eye out.

However, a few minutes later, her tongue began to swell and her throat started to tighten. In case this was the beginnings of anaphylaxis, I took her to the emergency room.

We explained the symptoms and because it was so early, we got a room fairly quickly. However, we basically sat in that room alone for another hour waiting on a doctor. Thankfully, by that time, the benadryl seemed to have had some effect, and her symptoms were starting to subside.

When the doctor finally came in, he looked her over and said "Yep, it does look like she had an allergic reaction. The benadryl was a good idea." We were sent home with no treatment or prescription (as her symptoms were improving), no recommendations as to what could have caused the reaction, and a total time with the doctor of less than 5 minutes.

We received a bill a few weeks later for nearly $900. With insurance.