Hacker News Reader

Comment by mrexroad | Hacker News Reader

My son had strep throat. Stanford billed us just shy of $50K, but not before sending us a letter letting us know they had stopped accepting our insurance (BCBS) a few weeks prior. Obviously, more done than just a throat swab for the 50K, but whole thing was insane.

View on HN

I really want to expose Stanford's ridiculous billing and shame them to no end, but I don't have enough Twitter followers.

I know healthcare billing in the US is f-ed up but Stanford is particularly bad.

Not really that bad. San Francisco used to have crazy bills. Trauma response fees go up to 50k even if nothing is wrong.

I can get the price of my fast food burger to the penny - but good luck getting a quote on something that will cost 50,000.

I did medical billing for a bit and in my space 70% of the issue was stupid politics

San Francisco as in UCSF?

I'm due for an ICD battery replacement later this year or early next year and trying to figure out where to get it done.

Not sure you need to expose them - everyone is pretty much aware it’s a shitshow. Not only in billing but quality of care and treatment of staff also

Agree. After seeing the trauma some of my friends went through, I do my bit to recommend against going to Stanford. The standard of care is poor, and the cost is exhorbitant.

That is nuts. Was he admitted to the hospital or something?

Yeah, they kept him for a night. Kid complained about sore throat so my wife took him to doctor (regular pediatrician was busy, so another doctor). Kid kinda mentioned a stiff neck, and doctor told my wife to get him to the ER immediately, b/c meningitis. Wife took him to Stanford ER, they were all omg we’re kinda sure it’s meningitis, but we need to do a spinal tap first. While prepping for that they put him on an IV and after ~20min he perked up a bit. A nurse noticed that and said it wasn’t normal if really meningitis, and put spinal tap on hold. Then doctor said there was a chance of an abscess in his throat/neck and wanted to rule it out; ordered a CT scan. Once that returned negative, they were like, oh yeah, it’s just strep… but, let’s prescribe an uncommon liquid antibiotic that tastes like trash reheated. Kid refused to swallow it, despite efforts of 3 nurses trying to waterboard him with the liquid. So the only way to deliver the antibiotic as prescribed was intravenously. Learned several lessons about advocating during that ER trip.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com