Richard and Diane Marshall received close to $8,000 of bills from two visits to what they thought was an urgent care facility, but instead was a standalone emergency. They took their daughters to what they thought was a urgent care facility, but was a standalone emergency room which costed them $4,000 per visit for care that would have been much less at an urgent care center. Marshall is pushing to have distinctions between the urgent care and standalone emergency rooms made more apparent, especially in documents. (Brent Lewis, The Denver Post)
Re: “The difference between stand-alone ER facilities and urgent care,” Nov. 8 My Turn column.
Dr. Nathan Scherer’s explanation of the differences between urgent care and stand-alone emergency care facilities was very informative. Itap certainly good to know that, were I or my family to need emergency care quickly, a stand-alone ER facility could likely handle any such need. But why does any facility, whether it be a regular hospital or stand-alone ER facility, need to charge such obscene rates? In the original article, we were given the information that a family is being forced to pay $8,000 for two short visits to a stand-alone ER facility, and that was after they had the charges reduced! Such usury is, in my opinion, obscene, especially when, during a crisis or emergency, many people are not going to be thinking with cold, hard logic.
The Affordable Care Act has done a lot to get more people covered with medical insurance. America still needs to do more though about the obscene costs of medical care. Doctors have certainly earned the right to be highly paid. But is anyone, whether it be a doctor or a manufacturer of drugs or medical equipment, truly worthy of being paid as though they were a god?
Paul Ruzicka, Aurora
This letter was published in the Nov. 15 edition.
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