A lot of people experience the high cost of healthcare in the U.S., but could you imagine getting a $100,000 bill for a 15-minute ride to the ER? That's what happened to one California family.
In 2022, after her 6-month-old baby boy suffered serious burns from an accident with a rice cooker, Jessica Farwell endured a harrowing ordeal to get him help.
ABC 7 from San Francisco had more details:
'His skin, it just instantly bubbled up...' she said. 'I was just like — is his face going to start bubbling?'
Panicked, Farwell rushed Brody to the Sutter Antioch emergency room.
'They gave him fentanyl through his nose because he was screaming... and they said they didn't have a burn unit,' Farewell said. 'So they were calling an ambulance, but it was the end of COVID, there wasn't going to be an ambulance for seven hours...'
What followed was an arduous — and astronomically expensive — experience. After doctors said the baby needed to be transferred to a hospital in Sacramento, Farwell offered to drive him there, but doctors refused to let the baby leave.
'They said, "No, sorry, you can't — I can't let you leave with him. I've already called the helicopter." He basically told me there was nothing I could do,' Farwell recounted.
So, rather than a 1 hour and 20 minute drive to Sacramento, they were forced to take a 15-minute helicopter ride — which carried a pricetag of $90,000.
And that wasn't the end. After landing on the helipad in Sacramento, Farwell and her baby had to take an ambulance to the hospital entrance. The distance? 0.3 miles. The cost? $10,200.
'You can see the hospital... you literally can walk across the street to the hospital quicker than that ambulance, and they charged me $10,200,' Farwell said.
Despite being assured by the doctors that her insurance would cover the bill, Farwell has been wrestling with her insurer for the last three years.
After reaching out to ABC 7's investigative news team, Farwell finally managed to get the bills waived.
Do you think maybe the U.S. needs a healthcare overhaul?
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