Well East Alabama, I hope you like going to the hospitals in Anniston and Gadsden, because they just made a list of among the 50 most expensive hospitals in America. The list was compiled by Health Affairs, and they looked at the over 5,000 hospitals and how much they markup the prices. Among the five hospitals in Alabama who made the top 50 list, two were from Gadsden and one was from Anniston.
Number six on the list was Gadsden Regional Medical Center with a markup of a whopping 1,190%! Number 18 on the list was Riverview Regional Medical Center in Gadsden with a 1,000% markup. And number 36 on the list was Stringfellow Memorial Hospital in Anniston with a 950% markup. The crazy thing was Florida, where 20 hospitals made the top 50 list. But as for East Alabama, the three hospitals on this list are all owned by one company, Community Health Systems.
And I did not want to leave RMC (Regional Medical Center) in Anniston out of this list. They almost saw the end of Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance, which would have spelled disaster. And they have had plenty of problems with the city of Anniston over their board. So East Alabama, why are the hospitals in Anniston and Gadsden a mess? Over on the Gadsden Times Facebook page, plenty of people left some wonderful comments about this overcharging matter.
I used to work in both ERs in Gadsden. One in the Admitting office and I hated being that wolf to collect money from someone I knew couldn’t pay a dime. And my boss D. T (female) used to make ppl empty their pockets and give her their pocket change minus the pocket lint for a payment. I got in trouble once for not taking any copayment. So I took pennies to work and started giving 1 penny per patient so they couldn’t say I didn’t collect a penny. Lol. TRUE STORY!
Was in for heart stents and stayed 24 hours. Total cost? 127,000.00!
When a sleep study costs in the area of about $30k…something is wrong.
I eat a whopper from burger King my lips got numb and swelled up went to gadsden er they give me steroids charged me 39000 dollars wth
Before I quit working at RRMC we were told…the patients were customers!
In 2012, I was charged almost $16,000 for a CT scan! They reduced it to $11,000 and I made payments and still got sued for it! What is ridiculous is that they would’ve accepted $1,100 from insurance but charged me $11,000!
They want the poor to die and that’s not fair.
This is ridiculous! Gadsden and Anniston both are already having a lot of troubles being some of the poorest and worst performing metro areas in the United States. Having this put on top of this, only makes people want to steer clear of the Anniston Metro and the Gadsden Metro. Better hope you don’t need the ER in Anniston or Gadsden, unless you want to declare bankruptcy or drive to Atlanta or Birmingham!
Read the full study at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/health/hospital-price-gouging/
Categories: Interesting Stuff
