Emergency Room Charges Legal News Articles & Interviews

Santa Clara, CA Although the “No Surprises Act” will be in effect January 1, 2022, the first regulations are slated for July 2021. If all goes according to plan, patients to emergency rooms will no longer be hit with outrageous ER overcharges or receive surprise bills in the mail, mainly due to out of network treatment.

Houston, TX Nick was working at his home office when he suddenly felt the left side of his body go numb and a searing pain in his lower back. “Thank God my wife was home. She drove me to the nearest urgent care center but a sign on the door said it was “running at capacity” and couldn’t see any patients that day,” says Nick. “We googled the nearest emergency room—at this point I was almost passing out. And I almost passed out two weeks later when my ER bill came in the mail. I’d heard about ER overcharges but this was ridiculous!”

Santa Clara, CA Many emergency room overcharges complaints submitted to LawyersandSettlements are so outrageous they seem fictional. Sadly, they are true. In each complaint below, the patient’s bill isn’t even close to the “going rate”.

Los Angeles, CA Attorney Barry Kramer may be able to get your emergency room services reduced, but his goal is to change the hospital system and stop ER overcharges for everyone. If you think your hospital has overcharged you for their services and you’re willing to go the distance, and if you want to make a difference and help others, read on.

Detroit, MI Tenet Healthcare was accused of acting with malice when a Michigan hospital demoted two cardiologists after the complained about cost-cutting measures, overcharging and substandard patient care. The doctors filed a False Claims lawsuit and retaliation is costly—to the tune of $10.6M.

Santa Clara, CA Back in 2017, a law was passed to protect Californians against surprise medical bills for non-emergency care. Before that, AB1611 was proposed: it was supposed to protect against emergency room overcharges but California consumers are still getting gouged by out-of-network providers.

San Francisco, CA Last year Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital reduced a patient’s emergency room charges from $20,243 bill down to $200—after the patient, Nina Dang, contacted the media. She broke her arm on the pavement in a bike accident. Can’t reach the media? Of course lawyers experienced with negotiating ER overcharges can also substantially reduce hospital costs, both for insured and uninsured patients. “It’s frustrating that I have to hire a lawyer, but so far it’s been worth it,” said another ER patient, Alexa Sulvetta.

Santa Clara, CA Almost one-third of Americans with health insurance who wind up in an emergency room find out after the fact that their health plan doesn’t cover as much as they thought. Given that there are about 140 million ER visits each year, and “surprise” emergency room charges are so frequent that 59 percent of Americans have been contacted by a debt collector and 16 percent of Americans’ credit reports include medical debt due to overdue medical bills, it’s not such as surprise that this debt totals about $81 billion.

Santa Clara, CA Despite the $2 trillion coronavirus aid package that includes over $100 billion for hospitals and medical needs, and despite a law signed by President Trump on March 18 that supposedly allows Americans to be tested for coronavirus free of charge, some patients now face emergency room overcharges. While the tests may be free, both insured and uninsured patients are still charged the ER visit to get the test.  And keep in mind that insured patients visiting an emergency room during this crisis could face huge ER costs.

Washington, DC Dr. Joaquin Lopez ‘s surprise emergency room bill came after he and his insurer had already paid $11,000 toward the cost of emergency gallbladder surgery. For dentist Brad Buckingham, who fell off his bicycle, the shock was a $70,000 bill to repair a broken hip. For Stacey Shapiro, it was a $6,720 emergency room fee to treat sudden spell of low blood sugar.