A man from New Jersey received an agonizing medical bill recently, stating that he owed his local hospital over $8000 dollars for fixing up the finger that he accidentally cut during some DIY work at home.
Baer Hanusz-Rajkowsi injured his middle finger with the claw-end of a hammer in August last year, before being hammered with an insane charge from Bayonne Medical center, despite the fact that he had only received a gentle swab, tetanus jab and a bandage for treatment.
For the care that he received, and by care – we really just mean the bandage – Rajkowski was given a bill for $8,200 followed up by $180 for his tetanus shot, and $242 for the use of sterile supplies. The man’s rather understandable response was one of utter shock, and he stated that in the future, if he accidentally cut off a limb, he’d be more likely to carry it to the next city’s emergency room than go back to Bayonne Medical center.
Passing the Blame to the Insurance Company?
The president and CEO of Bayonne Medical center reacted by suggesting that the seriously high bill might have been a result of Rajkowski’s insurance company, rather than his hospital. Evidently, the problem began around six years ago, when the company ‘Carepoint health’ took over the medical center, turning it into a hospital for profit. However, after the acquisition, Carepoint made no plans to renew the pricing contracts that it had with United Healthcare, Rajkowski’s insurance company, meaning that he suffered a massive bill due to a lack of reimbursement rates.
United Healthcare spokesperson, Mary McElrath-Jones argued that the company is incredibly concerned about the way the hospital is running an out-of-network strategy to demand insane payments for their emergency room services.
Initially, United Healthcare paid $6,640 towards the cost of the bill, leaving Rajkowski responsible for settling the rest of the balance, but after the story started to receive media coverage on NBC, the CEO for the hospital announced that they waived the costs for the rest of the bill.
