An expensive trip to Salt Lake City

On December 30, 2024, our local Firefighter ambulance company came to my home as I wasn’t feeling good, misdiagnosed me as having a heart attack and took me to the cardiac center of one of the main hospitals in Salt Lake, 33 miles down valley. 

Fifteen minutes into the ride, I was back to being myself and feeling good, but it was too late, the two paramedics on board and the driver were committed to take me there. 

I had just fell on my butt and hit a muscle that triggered a painful reaction from my sciatica nerve, but no one, from the medical guys in the ambulance to the specialists that told me I didn’t have a heart problem weren’t able to tell me that my sciatica nerve was the problem. 

I investigated the cause and found it myself. At the Fire Brigade’s request, I was asked for my insurance information in early January, gave it to them and my insurance paid them on February 12. Well, a few days ago, I received a bill asking me for $3,886.74! A pretty expensive trip to the hospital! 

Fortunately my insurance paid $979.65 of that and I only had to fork another $290 to satisfy our Fire Department. This said, the negotiated cost was only one quarter of what someone without insurance would have to pay. 

Once more, talk about highway robbery!