$20,000 for a nap and a bottle…tourists get ridiculous emergency room bill

The Jang family, vacationing in San Francisco from South Korea, went to the Emergency Room at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital when their infant son fell off a bed and hit his head. The baby turned out to be fine, but they later received a bill of $18,836 for “trauma team activation.” For Medicare patients, this fee can only be applied when a trauma team provides critical care for at least 30 minutes, but for non-Medicare patients, these fees can be outrageous and arbitrary. So much for welcoming tourists to America.

SOURCE: Jenny Gold and Sara Kliff, Kaiser Health News/Vox

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