Legal advice about my brother's hospital bill
 

So, my brother, in his low twenties, recently suffered a relapse of his asthmatic breathing while working with something rather dusty. Unable to breath, he was rushed to a local hospital, treated, and kept for 3 days for observation. He's also uninsured.

Anyway, he gets the hospital bill, and it's over $7k, and apparently, they charged him $900/day for the room. This seems outrageous to me, as my father, who is insured, recently stayed at the Mayo Clinic for a longer, and he payed $1200, and his condition was far, far worse (minor stroke, colon bleeding, that kind of unpleasant thing). Does my brother have any legal recourse? What are the chances of him at least being charged fairly in this?

If he's uninsured, there's not much you can do unfortunately. Hospitals will regularly charge the uninsured more for a room than the insured (think pre-paid bulk purhcase vs. retail). One thing you can do is simply fo to the hospital and tell them "we can pay x, over y months".

Once warning. if your not insured, the hospital will waste no time in suing you to get the money, since if they sue, they get eligible for compensation from the government. There's some fund that they can tap into for this. unfortunately, that goes on your brother's credit report as bad debt.

Boy, I would sure do my best to negotiate. If nothing else, negotiate the rate they would pay an insurance contract. For them, something is better than nothing. He can also dispute anything on a credit report.

True above, but also find out if they have a "sliding scale", that is charges based on income. Many states have "indigent care" also for people who really can't afford it, poverty level income. If all else fails tell him to send in ten dollars a week or a month, as long as you send in something you are legaly making an effort to pay.

Negotiating directly with the hospital would be a good idea to try first. If he makes a good faith effort to resolve this with them, they are likely to be more willing to cut him a break.

A lot of times hospitals will let you plead to lower the bill.
But I am wondering, was he at work when this happened? Or was he working on something in his own time. Because if he is at work he may be entitled to workmans comp or something similar.

He was at home at the time, so alas, no workman's comp :(

The insurance company can also say to the hospital "we won't pay over x dollard for this service that you charged us y dollars." It's such a fair system we have. The people who can't afford insurance are treated like shit.

Friend of mine just had to have finger surgery and it was in the $7k range. He was uninsured also. He just told them that he did not have the money to play. They aren't exactly being nice to him but did say they would knock 25% off the bill. Not sure if that meant he'd have to play in full to get it or not. I'll ask him and post an answer tomarrow. Hope this helps. They are human too and have to know that most people don't have $7k sitting around waiting to be spent on medical bills.

7k for 3 days?...crap man, I feel for your brother, but I suspect the only option is too pay the bill.

I'm sure glad we have a national medical plan up here...

*kisses his Ohip card*

Im sorry to hear about the bill.. My dad is in the hospital right now, and will be for the next three or so weeks.. I cant imagine how much a 5 week hospital stay would be in the states