Megan Rothbauer's heart skipped a beat and she collapsed at her work place. When she woke up ten days later, though, her heart probably skipped a beat again because she had been in a medically-induced coma; and then it probably skipped again when she found out she was in the wrong hospital.
'It was the closest hospital to where I had my event, so naturally the ambulance too me there. No fault to them. It's unfortunate that Meriter is in network and was only three blocks away from St. Mary's,' she said.
But a part of her must have been a little upset, since the ambulance took her to a hospital outside of her insurance network; so her insurance wouldn't cover the bill and she got stuck with $254,000 in medical bills.
Head of consumer advocacy group Center for Patient Partnerships, Meg Gaines, reports that, unfortunately, patients like Rothbauer are usually at the mercy of large hospitals-which are basically huge corporations-with unjust billing practices: 'It's devastating for people who plan, who get insurance, get coverage, do everything they can and then, at 29, have a heart attack and get taken to the wrong hospital, and can't get married, can't do anything because they have to declare bankruptcy because they can't afford to have gone to the hospital.'
She continues, 'It's not enough to worry about having a heart attack at 29, you end up with a secondary one or a stroke because of your medical bills. I mean, it's just ridiculous. The level of frustration is astronomical.'
