Monday, October 19, 2009

Priority Care on MacArthur

I was scraping old stickers of the back of my car today when my hand slipped. I drove a razor blade into the knuckle of my fifth digit on my right hand. You know, the pinky finger.

It was a deep cut, so I drove out to Priority Care because I thought it might need stitches. Luckily, they only used Dermabond adhesive, splinted my finger and gave me a Tetanus shot.

I had to pay out of pocket because I'm unemployed and have no insurance. The visit cost me $335.00

Do you accept that? I think it's a little excessive, but the alternative is to go home and wait for the infection and tetanus to set in. Then I would probably go to the emergency room and have my rotten finger amputated among the myriad of other expensive treatments needed to save my life.

My emergency room bill, had I decided to postpone the Priority Care treatment, would cause me to declare bankruptcy.

If I was earning $10 per hour at a part-time job with no insurance, I would have to work 33.5 hours, plus time to cover taxes and other deductions, just to pay for this one visit.

I consider myself lucky to have the money available, but soon it will all be gone.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Comments?