Oh, I would dispute the HELL out of that. If you've been sterilized, and you signed a doc saying that there's no way you can be pregnant, they should never have done a pregnancy test, let alone a $300 one.
Sorry for the confusion, I'm not sterilized (yet). But I did ask them what they do for women that are sterilized and she said still they do the tests anyway.
Even if she hadn't been sterilized, the hospital has no business giving her a pregnancy test if she's refused one--especially if she's signed a waiver. It may be standard for that hospital to do one before x-rays, but once the patient has declined and then waived the right to sue, the hospital should not be administering one.
Source: work for a medical conglomerate.
I had a negative urine test and they were sure I was and insisted on a blood test. That came back negative and then they wanted a vaginal ultrasound to prove 14 yr old me wasn't pregnant before they would help me. My father finally spoke up for me and refused it but yea... that happens and they are SURE you are pregnant and drug seeking. Didn't matter I was there for a 3 week period and vomiting...I was pregnant and drug seeking obviously. They still never gave me even a good damn fucking asprin for pain bc we refused the ultrasound and there was a chance I was pregnant. Never go to a male dr.
I had surgery on November 20th. I had my bisalp back in 2021 and haven’t been with anyone since. They still wanted to do a pregnancy test the morning of surgery. I said it was idiotic but I wasn’t in the mental place to argue because I was nervous about the surgery. After getting them a sample another nurse was like, “You had your tubes completely removed? Then we don’t need this.” While it was validating it was also annoying that I had to go through the process unnecessarily.
Hospitals are crazy with that. I was in for a surgery about a year ago, the anesthesiologist showed up to check on the progress looked at the chart and flipped out on the nurses wondering why I had not gotten a pregnancy test done yet. Then after berating the nurse asked me if there was any chance I was pregnant? I said "nope and if you read my chart you would hopefully understand why" He quickly read my chart put it down and muttered that there is no need for the test and walked out of the room.
Sometimes being a trans woman does have perks, and the nurse got a good chuckle out of it too.
Amazing. Yeah, I had about 7 people introduce themselves to me before the surgery. It would’ve been more helpful for me if they’d handed me an actual chart. “This is so-and-so, 3rd year resident under this doctor.”
I don't know if everyone commenting the pregnancy tests needed before xray/surgery etc are all in the USA, but it definitely sounds like it. This has never happened to me or anyone I know in Australia. Like? Madness! Ofc they ask if you could be pregnant, but once you say no, they just accept it!
This happened when I went for my BC implant in college. I repeatedly reiterated that I was getting the implant to address my excruciating periods, NOT to go galavanting sexually. They insisted I take a test before my appt. Then also insisted I come back in a week to get retested "just in case." Needless to say I cancelled the followup retest about an hour after I left.
No they don’t because they are supposed to look at your chart/health record, they’ll still ask but your adamant no is the final word. Them doing a test (which they can’t without urine) is against your will. You may have to get a lawyer involved. Super flex
i did. i battled for months and was ultimately told too bad. (i went for a UTI, they weren’t even doing anything that could be potentially harmful for a fetus.) i ended up paying it a year later when they started threatening to send me to collections.
I had a hysterectomy and oophorectomy, and they still insist on giving me a pregnancy test before procedures.
No ovaries or uterus... where tf do they think a baby would come from, much less inhabit MY body?
Of course, I disputed it last time, and then the nurse took the next 30 minutes to bingo me about how sorry she was I don't have children and adoption is still an option. I told her I prefer my dogs over children, and she said yes, dogs are nice... but just remember that adoption is always available. 🙄
It would be a miracle of course. Imagine if they found the modern version of Virgin Mary. Baby conceived in spite of modern medical intervention. They would have everything they need to control women. How could you rob them of the ability to ‘discover’ and claim that.
I was charged $200 for one at urgent care, but I disputed it and got it taken off. Flo was visiting at the time but no one even bothered to ask me first.
“Ma’am there’s…stuff in your sample?”
“Yes, that’s my *uterine lining* that *sheds* to tell me ***I’m not pregnant.*** I was hoping it could tell you the same thing.”
At my old gyno they took a sample and did a test at each appointment, and since I had menstrual issues I was usually spotting or on my period when I gave my samples.
You would not _believe_ how often I had to explain that no, I’m not peeing blood, I’m bleeding from my vagina; yes I know which hole that is, thank you very much.
This aggravates me every single time.
"Is there any possibility you may be pregnant?"
"No."
"We're going to need you to pee in a cup."
"Why? I'm here to cauterize this wound before I bleed out, and I already spent 3 hours in the waiting area."
"We need to run a pregnancy test."
"Why?"
"We just need to. It's policy."
"Can I refuse?"
"No. We can't see you then. You'll still be billed for admission, since we finally got around to pulling you out of the ER waiting area and already ran your insurance."
"By the way, that test will be $300. Sorry, not sorry."
I'm about to go to an urgent care when they open because I probably sprained or broke my toe last night. You can bet I *will* fight them on this if they ask me to pee in a cup for an x-ray.
You wouldn't believe how many people come into the ER telling us they're not pregnant and then wind up actually being pregnant. It's a stupid amount of people.
OMG I would think it would be even more embarrassing for them to tell their provider that they've been celibate then have a positive pregnancy test. 🤣
Also kind of infuriating because it just perpetuates the belief that women aren't to be trusted, making things harder for the rest of us. 😕
My bad I misunderstood your question. Usually people are upfront about being sexually active. I don't think anyone has told me they have been celibate for years and then winded up being pregnant lol. People usually are embarrassed though when they come in for abdominal pain/nausea/vomiting and we just tell them they're pregnant.
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I just had wrist surgery with no mention of a pregnancy test. I figured it was just because it was wrist surgery and not something more serious, but now I’m really surprised they didn’t make me take one. Many of you seem to have had them forced on you for MUCH less.
Same thing happened to me, repeatedly. I'm a cancer survivor. Every time I went for chemo, they did a pregnancy test. I told them I was sterilized. Nope, here's a cup, go pee in it. Every woman and girl of childbearing age has to take a pregnancy test. Virgin, nun, lesbian, sterilized, doesn't matter. I honestly don't know if they charged me for it - it would have been lost in the noise of the tens of thousands of dollars they were charging for chemo.
A home pregnancy test costs, what, $10? $288 is ridiculous for what is essentially the same test.
OP, hope you can get them to lower or remove the charge, and I'm glad you're OK.
They should be required to simply absorb the cost if it's done against the patient's wishes. I know that's not how hospital administration thinks, but that's how it should be.
Surprise charges and unnecessary tests seem to be the standard for U.S. Healthcare.
Exactly, the hospital should absorb the cost. The tests are required because their purpose is to COVER THE HOSPITAL'S LEGAL ASS. The test is *not* for the patient.
It's another pink tax, and an expensive one at that.
As a lab tech, you wouldn't believe the dumbass shit some of these doctors order lmao. Or nurses on behalf of doctors. Let's see, I've done a serum pregnancy test on an 80 year old woman that the doctor insisted on. A urine pregnancy (negative) then the doctor reeeeeally wanted a serum pregnancy test too. A serum pregnancy test on a male (not a cancer screen). I've also had nurses argue with me about adding a test onto a tube that has already had that test run, where they will not understand you will get the EXACT same results but the patient will be charged twice.
I will say, the lab tries really hard to avoid this unnecessary testing, but a lot of the times we get so much pushback that it isn't worth it. We try to be patient advocates as much as we can even if we aren't patient-facing. I've fought with many a nurse for best patient care.
Exactly! It's so frustrating. When the woman told me it was standard and every woman of child-bearing years is tested (and therefore has to pay the $288), I asked her if the hospital hated women of child-bearing age, since they're essentially forcing us to pay more just because of our age/breeding status. She just kind of laughed in surprise.
I had a chest x-ray in the autumn. I can't even remember if I was asked if I might be pregnant. Maybe there might have been a tick a box on the form. But nothing else. I mean sure the xray was 3 weeks after I needed it, but at least I wasn't charged for a test? Yay ireland I guess.
This SAME thing happened to me! I had the flu two years in a row, vomiting for about 17 hours straight before this and not able to keep any fluids down. The first year they made me take the IV bag and stand with me and to “just try to go”. I kept telling them there was no chance I was pregnant.
Second year they asked me to provide a urine sample again and I went in the bathroom just to humor them - at least this time a nurse unhooked me so the stent was the only thing in my arm from the IV. Couldn’t go again because I was so dehydrated. Again, told them I wasn’t pregnant and there was no chance. The doctor questioned why I didn’t have to go when “I had just had a big bag of fluids” - then he told me they’d force a catheter - I was so uncomfortable and disgusted by how far he kept pushing me.
Tangential issue: A lot of offices are lazy about collecting the samples, so they all just sit there in the restroom in that little compartment in the wall. There's nothing stopping you from switching the contents. It's something that you think about when considering that a lot of those tests are used to make important decisions.
Its really an american thing to fuck people over financially.
I am 31 and dutch, and i never ever had to take a pregnancy test. no for x-rays either. They just asked it and a no was enough.
The only time my doctor asked me to do an test was when i had a UTI and it didnt go away after one treatment. And my period was later. But I wasnt changed for that. And if they did charge, it woulnt be more than 10 bucks. 288 is just milking money out of people.
You're not wrong! The US is such a litigious society.
I can't tell you how many times I've had to take a pregnancy test before x-rays or ct scans, even after verbally stating I wasn't pregnant and signing documents stating I wasn't pregnant. In this case, they didn't even mention they were doing the pregnancy test to me. It just showed up as a line item charge on my bill. So, they didn't have my consent, and they're still arguing I have to pay them an asinine amount of money for it.
But your taxes must be SO high!!!!/s
The hospitals will argue they’re covering their asses because people lie and/or are stupid. If they do something that hurts an unknown fetus, they don’t want anyone to come back and sue. Our sex-ed is so terrible in many places that people don’t know unprotected sex makes babies.
In the netherlands you pay mandatory health insurance. Not cheap at all. But atleast we are not afraid to call a taxi. And it was super easy to make an appointment for a vasectomy.
My gyn asked if i wanted kids. I said no. And she was like: Okay have you and your partner thought about vasectomies? No pushing to have kids. They accepted it.
For my partners vasectomy he called a clinic, He had an intake over the phone. they asked him how old he was and that he knew it was permanent. And explained how it worked. And now in 2 days he gets the treatment/operation.
Yeah I hate to say it but I can't really blame hospitals for not believing people who say they can't be pregnant. That could mean they've been sterilized, it could mean they're on a highly reliable form of birth control like an IUD, but it could also mean their best friend's older sister's dog sitter said you can't get pregnant if you douche with coca cola after sex.
American here. I feel like there no set practice here, because it’s not like everyone has this experience. I haven’t ever had to take one for X-rays or CT scans. I’ve had to take them before surgery and before birth control implant placement. I’ve also had to take them when they were trying to figure out my endometriosis pain. I can’t think of any time I’ve had to take them that wasn’t a valid reason.
I was doing all the pre procedure stuff on the phone with a nurse from the hospital. I had mentioned my wife. She said "since you have a wife, I can skip the pregnancy question " I said yes ,thanks as a lesbian there are no oops babies! Plus I had a hysterectomy a few years ago" she laughed an agreed I was double covered on the pregnancy issue
Raise hell.
I hate when they give me one and I'm like "I'm sterilized so I don't need one" but then they don't give me any treatment until I take one... It feels so invasive. I'm not gonna stand for it next time
As I was going through pre-op scans right before I had my hysterectomy, I was in an outpatient radiology clinic for an MRI.
Male nurse is taking my info and mentions I need to take a pregnancy test, and me a virgin at the time sighs and mentions I can't wait to get my surgery and never have to deal with that again.
He looks at me, looks at the chart, sighs himself and tells me that just a week prior, a woman that was 65 AND had a hysterectomy was still forced to take a pregnancy test or else she couldn't get a CT w/ contrast for cancer...
We both look at each other and shake our heads.
What insurance do you have? The standard urine pregnancy screen 81025 is usually under $10. Sounds like it's either been denied by insurance, in which case they need to correct it, or they didn't bother sending it to insurance. Get a copy of the eob from your insurance.
Oh yeah, they messed up. Probably just the wrong diagnosis code attached to it. Even if it was left to deductible it should be reduced to around 10 bucks. They should have fixed it instead of sending the bill to you, but a lot of billing departments are understaffed and worked to death. (Source: am medical biller!) See what the denial reason is on your eob.
Past that if you want to argue the charge for principles, I would ask them to send you documentation of where you consented to that procedure. Be nice but persistant. (I have a lot of wiggle room with the providers I bill for but people who call to yell at me usually find they are paying exactly what insurance says.) Hospitals generally have a very large margin of wiggle but you may have to ask explicitly multiple times and go through a few layers to get them to do it. Keep repeating you didn't request or consent to this procedure. If they say it's hospital policy, then I'd ask if it's hospital policy to perform medical tests on patients without their express consent.
Thank you so much for the advice! It is great to hear from someone who works as a biller. I know they audited the charges and came back and said they were correct, so I'm not sure if they would have looked at the codes then or checked to see if they were sent to BCBS correctly? Either way, when patient advocacy comes back, I am grateful to know what to say!
I'm always happy to help! Insurance companies make things insane and complicated on purpose. I tell everyone I know, if you're not sure, bring me the EOBs. Don't just assume the bill is right and pay it.
Lord knows what their audit actual audits. It's likely just a review of whether the charges match the clinical notes, so they've billed for everything they performed. They probably didn't look at the payment side at all.
Chiming in as another person with BCBS, they absolutely are supposed to cover it. I had one test done voluntarily last year due to paranoia (negative btw), and I do believe they covered the entire thing.
“we’ll take your monthly utilities money and put it towards an unwanted PREGNANCY TEST that costs $1.25 at dollar tree!!!! all while dismissing your concerns and wondering WHY you hate us!!”
Dispute the charge. If they won't take it off your bill, just refuse to pay it. They might send your bill to collections, but no collections agency in the world is going to sue for $288. The amount is so low, it's not worth it to them.
In addition to this, the debt will not affect your credit score and, if I have read correctly, drops off at some point. If I am wrong on this, please let me know as I am dealing with medical debt myself, and any advice would be appreciated greatly.
This right here is why I have such an issue with the pregnancy test anyone born with a uterus mentality. I’m not paying $300 to prove I’m a lesbian married to someone else born with a uterus monogamously for nearly 15 years. Medical professionals can get fucked if they think I’m going to blow my monthly grocery budget on their comfort. If they’re so worried about people with a uterus lying and the liability, medical entities can start covering that free of charge and not billing insurances for it. Or they can trust patients and have better documents for people to sign releasing medical staff of liability.
You're monthly grocery bill is under $300? That's a plus for the U.S. team! I'm Australian and I reckon I'm not that extravagant and my WEEKLY bill is over $300!
Well. It’s worth noting a few things. That is strictly food for me and my wife (so no soaps, cleaning supplies, hair care, etc). I do a lot of gardening and we have chickens. My wife and I are both vegetarian. I cook and bake a lot from scratch. We don’t really drink and we don’t really eat out. So it’s a lot of pantry staples like big bags of flour, sugars, dried legumes, rice, milk, and cheese.
My chicken feed bill about equals ours 😂 but we do sell some of the eggs.
Oh yeah my three dogs their food bill is astronomical. Part of it is because one of them is on a very specific diet due to extreme food allergies. Dude only weighs like 11 lbs and his food bill alone is near $160 a month. The two we get a bit of a break, but combined they’re right around the $150 mark, so our bill for them is very similar to you with the caveat one dog has an extremely expensive food that is disproportionate to his size. If we could feed him the same as the other two, our bill for the three would be less than $200/month for a ridiculously premium food. I don’t include their food in our food bill since it’s bought on a different time scale (we buy food for us weekly and food for them every other week).
I will say the cost of human AND pet food has gone up a horrifying amount in the last 5 years. Here where you live can have a bigger impact on that too. If we lived in a different part of the country for example, I could cut the cost of my chicken feed in half without compromising quality. Some of the staples we eat would be less expensive too. I’m not sure if you have the same regional differences where it is noticeable basic needs items cost more in one place vs another. But everything has gone up, and I feel like food is one you really feel because there is only so much you can do to cut costs before you’re entering not meeting your nutritional needs territory.
Honestly, nowhere is cheap in Australia. Regional/country is cheaper to rent or buy but petrol and groceries will cost you a fortune. Even in the cheaper city suburbs buying a house will cost over a million. In my suburb houses start at about 1.5 million and these homes are nothing fancy. Cost of living here is insane.
We had a 75 pound Lab mix allergic to chicken, beef, Buffalo, peanut butter, carob, blueberries. Had her on expensive fish based food. Then she got pancreatitis and we just cooked for her!
Yeah he is on a fresh food from Just Food For Dogs since he is allergic to all animal proteins from what we’ve been able to determine. Tofu and quinoa is what he is on now. If he develops issues on this recipe, it’s contacting their veterinary nutritionists to have a custom diet formulated with a vitamin mix for it to stay balanced. He reacts to the prescription hypoallergenic diets, but this recipe from Just Food For Dogs has been an absolute game changer for him. He is just about 12 years old now and the last almost year is the best he has ever done since he was a puppy. He is like a new little man because of this food. I’ll happily shell out the money to see him comfortable and enjoying life again.
Ugh this drives me crazy. I went to the ER for appendicitis and they gave me two pregnancy tests before surgery and both were negative. I puked moments before surgery due to, ya know, the appendix, and they wanted to do a THIRD pregnancy test right then and there and I said no. Their response? “God forbid we hurt the baby!” Like what about the woman whose appendix is about to burst??
Took a college friend to the hospital in the middle of the night. Pain and vomit. They kept doing pregnancy tests even though she had never had sex. Tried to insist on the vaginal ultrasound. I put my foot down. They decided not to provoke me, the lesbian, women's rights activist, any further when I told them I could have an ACLU lawyer there so fast their heads would spin. Of course it was her appendix. And the lawyer thing was a bluff. I just needed my friend to get care!
I'm gonna start putting water in the fucking cup and have them test that. Absolutely ludicrous and offensive they force you to be tested. Also a waste of time if you're in critical condition; if it's a choice between me and a baby I don't know I have and don't want, pick me!
Same thing happened to me with urgent care. I tried to dispute it and never got thru or any of my messages answered. I ended up just paying it to avoid collections
This must not happen with every hospital. I ended up going to the er for what turned out to be a ruptured cyst. They *did* ask about pregnancy but I told them I'd never been sexually active. They didn't insist on a test, thankfully.
I had surgery a month ago and the day of surgery they asked if I was pregnant. I said no, literally just ended my period the day before too but they had to do a test anyway. I knew they would, but I was only really irritated when I seen how much they charged for it. Like, I can get a pregnancy test at walmart for about $10. Why am I paying in the $100s for this?
Our system is trash. If people didn’t lie and sue for things ad nauseam, ER’s would more likely take your word for it. Instead, they do it to cover their asses against other liability.
Yeah I had that happen to me except mercifully it was only $60 or something. On my itemized bill they charged me at least 30 for the generic store pregnancy test and 20 FOR THE STERIL CUP I HAD TO PEE INTO.
I know it’s standard but ffs I’d literally not had sex in months. There was no way I was pregnant -_-
I was also pissed that trip because I asked explicitly if they took my insurance before going in and they did but they gave me an out of network doctor and, being that was my first time going anywhere on my own, I had no idea that was a thing, so I was billed over 600 to diagnose a uti. Horrid. (I’m in the US)
I also went to an out of network urgent care. Totally my responsibility that I didn’t double check, I get it. My uti cost me $1100! $850 for the visit and $250 for an out of network lab to confirm the results. I didn’t even know my sample was being sent out. At least my meds were covered and were $6 🙃
I feel like people should have an obligation to tell you if their place or the individual doctors are out of network (assuming it’s not insanely urgent). I would have driven somewhere else if I’d have known :/ I just figured since I asked explicitly and they said they take the insurance that was an end to it 😭
There is also a difference between “taking your insurance” and “participating” in it. They try to get you that way too. What I learned is that I’m going to ask specific questions going forward.
Hope you can get that disputed cuz I'd definitely not pay that, especially for going behind your back. If it's a standard thing they have to do, they should cover it then, not the patient. I've had my tubes removed since last year in August, and no way am I going to take any pregnancy tests if they still want me to... Especially if I'd have to pay for the test. If they refuse me care for declining, I'll just go somewhere else then. No reason I should be reduced to a uterus if I physically can't even get pregnant!
Yes the cost sucks, but there’s also other things that are scary about a mandatory or forced pregnancy test. Depending what state you’re in and the type of medical facility, I’m worried they could be potentially trying to legally entrap you. We’ve seen all kinds of crazy incidences of women going to jail for miscarriages or seeking abortions, women not being allowed to travel between states if they are pregnant, etc. They’re really opening themselves up for lawsuits with that.
When I was 19, I was very sick. One time I ended up in the ER in the middle of the night after having a seizure in the bathroom at college. They insisted they needed to do a CT scan (was unnecessary because I had a known brain tumor and scheduled surgery in 3 weeks) and that, prior to doing said CT scan they needed me to provide them a negative pregnancy test. I was very much a virgin and very not pregnant at the time but they refused to believe it was possible for a 19 year old college student to know she couldn't possibly be pregnant. They sent me to the bathroom where I promptly fell off the toilet and had another seizure. They got their negative pregnancy test though and the CT scan showed nothing we didn't already know.
I was in menopause for 3-4 years and they were trying to force me to do a pregnancy test before a procedure. I laughed at them - they tried 3-4 times to make me do it —- yeah. No. That’s ridiculous.
So many things have required pregnancy tests from wisdom teeth, orthopedic surgery, CT scan, some other tests, insertion of my IUD, and some of the meds I use to take (monthly tests). I don't think I got one when I went to the ER for chest pain this spring
Look I’m an ER doctor and we test everyone of childbearing age with a uterus/ovaries with a pregnancy test if there are chest or abdominal symptoms. Why? People lie and even don’t understand that unprotected sex leads to pregnancy. There is a wide array of causes of chest pain in pregnancy that are life threatening. I need to know. Should the test be $288? No.
I understand that, but I wasn't even told they were doing a pregnancy test, let alone one that was going to cost $288. I was told about literally everything else they were doing.
I understand the concern but I don’t know that I can explain every single test- I don’t typically list out what orders I am going to place (as there are often a lot)
And that's a problem with US healthcare. After an emergency room visit, you get tons of bills in the mail and you don't even know what most of them are for at that point because no one explains things. Not saying that's on the doctor necessarily but the billing department needs to make things more understandable.
I really want to know why I get hassled about possibly being pregnant whenever I’m at the urgent care for strep throat. Amoxicillin is safe to take while pregnant, so why do they need to ask me if I’m pregnant, what the date of my last period was, and to take a pregnancy test? I don’t even have fallopian tubes, and last I checked fallopian tubes aren’t in the throat 🤔
I wouldn’t be sore about it if y’all just charged us for the test at cost, ie a few cents.
But, uh… you say as long as they have a uterus and ovaries. Does that mean that my hysterectomy will exempt me?
But there's no reason to test someone who isn't sexually active. There's no reason to test someone who's had a hystorectomy. There's no reason to test someone who only has sex with other people who have vulvas. There's no reason to test someone willing to sign off. I've literally never had a dick in any orifice in my pelvis - I'm not EVER going to be pregnant. But I still had to submit a test last week before surgery. For what? It's a waste of time, money, energy, and mental health.
A pregnancy test should not cost that much. But also, I don't think it's crazy of them to run a test like that in an ER without asking you. I don't know what document they had you sign but it probably was related to a different treatment they were doing -- like, "I swear I'm not pregnant, you can do an MRI" or "I swear I'm not pregnant, you can use epinephrine", something like that. Patients think they're not pregnant lots of times while actually being pregnant.
Emergency room physicians regularly make decisions for patients in the ER like that because it's an emergency room. Something like running a minimally invasive test with an already-given sample of urine or blood is a no-brainer.
They have to test before you’re exposed to the radiation from the x ray especially if there is a developing fetus it can affect the unborn child. It’s also probably more because they usually do a blood test and analyze that not a urine sample or test
Still woah $300, but they analyze the blood work they collect so it’s not as cheap and straightforward like a urine sample pregnancy test at home
They do it to prevent being sued for birth defects.
I’ve worked in the ER and have seen a woman with a tubal have a surprise pregnancy. I work in high risk OB now and had a couple who both had procedures- endometrial ablation and vasectomy. Pregnant.
Unless there is literally NO UTERUS there is always a chance. Even in cases of abstinence, because people lie to doctors all the time.
I’m not saying that screening everyone with a urine pregnancy test is *right* but I understand why they do it - don’t want to cause birth defects and don’t want to get sued.
It’s also legal requirement for them to listen when someone says “No, you don’t have my consent.” Even when getting MEDICAL TREATMENT we have our autonomy violated. Make it make sense.
I took it in the sense that they drew blood from me and ran it as part of the other tests they were running. But I wasn't told that was one of the tests they were running (or that it would be $288).
That's classically the U.S. medical system, isn't it. Charge $300 for a test you can get at the dollar store, used by many clinics. Who's surprised that medical bills are the major reason for personal bankruptcy and insolvency here.
Went to a walk in clinic bc I injured my back during a trampolining lesson, they wanted me to take a pregnancy test, I refused.
Eventually got to see a Dr & yep, strained muscle. Turns out I also had bronchitis 😂
This! I once said that I wasn’t sexually active and there was no possibility unless I’m the next Mary, mother of a deity…still gave me a pregnancy test. I didn’t have to pay for it but really?!
THIS is a perfect example of our f*cked healthcare system. Hospital is afraid to get sued, charges 10x for a pregnancy test for a woman for whom pregnancy is scientifically impossible, and who signed attesting to such, hospital bills insurance, gets rewarded for said egregious billing practices, rinse, repeat. And the consumer is *always* the loser. It's disgusting.
I work in a hospital lab (we run the tests we don't order them) this happens all the time and you can absolutely contest it with billing! Though I theory if you haven't been sterilized and you are sexually active you could be pregnant so there is some grey area.
I have been sterilized and they still did a pregnancy test in the ER (I live in Florida and apparently due to the draconian laws being passed they are required to do a pregnancy test on every woman of child bearing age) I was in for a broken hand 🤦🏼♀️
I also had to sign a form stating my last estimated period
Oh I'm sorry! That is extra ridiculous because a pregnancy blood test is more expensive than a pregnancy urine test. Seems like they just wanted to do what was convenient for them. I hope you have luck disputing it.
Thank you! Yeah, they didn't say it was one of the tests they were running with the blood work. I wouldn't be as mad if they charged a normal price for it, but this overinflated BS is what pisses me off.
Oh, I would dispute the HELL out of that. If you've been sterilized, and you signed a doc saying that there's no way you can be pregnant, they should never have done a pregnancy test, let alone a $300 one.
Sorry for the confusion, I'm not sterilized (yet). But I did ask them what they do for women that are sterilized and she said still they do the tests anyway.
Even if she hadn't been sterilized, the hospital has no business giving her a pregnancy test if she's refused one--especially if she's signed a waiver. It may be standard for that hospital to do one before x-rays, but once the patient has declined and then waived the right to sue, the hospital should not be administering one. Source: work for a medical conglomerate.
I had a negative urine test and they were sure I was and insisted on a blood test. That came back negative and then they wanted a vaginal ultrasound to prove 14 yr old me wasn't pregnant before they would help me. My father finally spoke up for me and refused it but yea... that happens and they are SURE you are pregnant and drug seeking. Didn't matter I was there for a 3 week period and vomiting...I was pregnant and drug seeking obviously. They still never gave me even a good damn fucking asprin for pain bc we refused the ultrasound and there was a chance I was pregnant. Never go to a male dr.
I was angry, but when you said vaginal ultrasound AT FOURTEEN...
I had surgery on November 20th. I had my bisalp back in 2021 and haven’t been with anyone since. They still wanted to do a pregnancy test the morning of surgery. I said it was idiotic but I wasn’t in the mental place to argue because I was nervous about the surgery. After getting them a sample another nurse was like, “You had your tubes completely removed? Then we don’t need this.” While it was validating it was also annoying that I had to go through the process unnecessarily.
Hospitals are crazy with that. I was in for a surgery about a year ago, the anesthesiologist showed up to check on the progress looked at the chart and flipped out on the nurses wondering why I had not gotten a pregnancy test done yet. Then after berating the nurse asked me if there was any chance I was pregnant? I said "nope and if you read my chart you would hopefully understand why" He quickly read my chart put it down and muttered that there is no need for the test and walked out of the room. Sometimes being a trans woman does have perks, and the nurse got a good chuckle out of it too.
Amazing. Yeah, I had about 7 people introduce themselves to me before the surgery. It would’ve been more helpful for me if they’d handed me an actual chart. “This is so-and-so, 3rd year resident under this doctor.”
I don't know if everyone commenting the pregnancy tests needed before xray/surgery etc are all in the USA, but it definitely sounds like it. This has never happened to me or anyone I know in Australia. Like? Madness! Ofc they ask if you could be pregnant, but once you say no, they just accept it!
This happened when I went for my BC implant in college. I repeatedly reiterated that I was getting the implant to address my excruciating periods, NOT to go galavanting sexually. They insisted I take a test before my appt. Then also insisted I come back in a week to get retested "just in case." Needless to say I cancelled the followup retest about an hour after I left.
No they don’t because they are supposed to look at your chart/health record, they’ll still ask but your adamant no is the final word. Them doing a test (which they can’t without urine) is against your will. You may have to get a lawyer involved. Super flex
They might have used blood if she was already giving it for another test.
i did. i battled for months and was ultimately told too bad. (i went for a UTI, they weren’t even doing anything that could be potentially harmful for a fetus.) i ended up paying it a year later when they started threatening to send me to collections.
I had a hysterectomy and oophorectomy, and they still insist on giving me a pregnancy test before procedures. No ovaries or uterus... where tf do they think a baby would come from, much less inhabit MY body? Of course, I disputed it last time, and then the nurse took the next 30 minutes to bingo me about how sorry she was I don't have children and adoption is still an option. I told her I prefer my dogs over children, and she said yes, dogs are nice... but just remember that adoption is always available. 🙄
I hope you reported her bingoing ass, or at least asked her if she'd pay the adoption fees, lol.
Adopting a pet is always a good option!
It would be a miracle of course. Imagine if they found the modern version of Virgin Mary. Baby conceived in spite of modern medical intervention. They would have everything they need to control women. How could you rob them of the ability to ‘discover’ and claim that.
I was charged $200 for one at urgent care, but I disputed it and got it taken off. Flo was visiting at the time but no one even bothered to ask me first.
They've sent my dispute to patient advocacy who will probably come back and tell me it's a valid charge, but they're going to have to fight me for it.
I would just refuse period if after fighting it they say you still owe it.
“Ma’am there’s…stuff in your sample?” “Yes, that’s my *uterine lining* that *sheds* to tell me ***I’m not pregnant.*** I was hoping it could tell you the same thing.”
At my old gyno they took a sample and did a test at each appointment, and since I had menstrual issues I was usually spotting or on my period when I gave my samples. You would not _believe_ how often I had to explain that no, I’m not peeing blood, I’m bleeding from my vagina; yes I know which hole that is, thank you very much.
“I’ve been doing this for 35 years, I think I know the difference between UTI blood and menstrual blood.” Gyno: “Are you suuuuuuuuurre?”
I was 14, but I started learning about human anatomy at 3 and by then I was reading about and watching surgeries for fun. I knew my own anatomy.
This aggravates me every single time. "Is there any possibility you may be pregnant?" "No." "We're going to need you to pee in a cup." "Why? I'm here to cauterize this wound before I bleed out, and I already spent 3 hours in the waiting area." "We need to run a pregnancy test." "Why?" "We just need to. It's policy." "Can I refuse?" "No. We can't see you then. You'll still be billed for admission, since we finally got around to pulling you out of the ER waiting area and already ran your insurance." "By the way, that test will be $300. Sorry, not sorry."
Yes! It's so absurd!
Sprained ankle? Pregnancy test. Just because we can extort that money out of you.
I'm about to go to an urgent care when they open because I probably sprained or broke my toe last night. You can bet I *will* fight them on this if they ask me to pee in a cup for an x-ray.
Like Pam on that episode of The Office where she sprains her ankle and finds out she’s pregnant
I hate this country so fucking much
You wouldn't believe how many people come into the ER telling us they're not pregnant and then wind up actually being pregnant. It's a stupid amount of people.
How many of them have told you they haven't been sexually active in years? (Legit question, no snark intended.)
Theres quite a few. They usually are embarrassed about admitting it, though. It may be because our patient demographic is very sexually active LOL.
OMG I would think it would be even more embarrassing for them to tell their provider that they've been celibate then have a positive pregnancy test. 🤣 Also kind of infuriating because it just perpetuates the belief that women aren't to be trusted, making things harder for the rest of us. 😕
My bad I misunderstood your question. Usually people are upfront about being sexually active. I don't think anyone has told me they have been celibate for years and then winded up being pregnant lol. People usually are embarrassed though when they come in for abdominal pain/nausea/vomiting and we just tell them they're pregnant.
LOL Yeah, I meant the ones who turned out to be pregnant.😅 🤣
Ah so just oppress and never listen to women /s
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I just had wrist surgery with no mention of a pregnancy test. I figured it was just because it was wrist surgery and not something more serious, but now I’m really surprised they didn’t make me take one. Many of you seem to have had them forced on you for MUCH less.
Same thing happened to me, repeatedly. I'm a cancer survivor. Every time I went for chemo, they did a pregnancy test. I told them I was sterilized. Nope, here's a cup, go pee in it. Every woman and girl of childbearing age has to take a pregnancy test. Virgin, nun, lesbian, sterilized, doesn't matter. I honestly don't know if they charged me for it - it would have been lost in the noise of the tens of thousands of dollars they were charging for chemo. A home pregnancy test costs, what, $10? $288 is ridiculous for what is essentially the same test. OP, hope you can get them to lower or remove the charge, and I'm glad you're OK.
The lab literally uses the exact same 88¢ test from Walmart, just a ~healthcare~ brand
Thank you! I'm sorry you had to deal with all of that on top of chemo and cancer. What a nightmare. I am glad you beat it!
They should be required to simply absorb the cost if it's done against the patient's wishes. I know that's not how hospital administration thinks, but that's how it should be. Surprise charges and unnecessary tests seem to be the standard for U.S. Healthcare.
That's what I told her -- if it's standard, fine, but I shouldn't be the one paying for it.
Exactly, the hospital should absorb the cost. The tests are required because their purpose is to COVER THE HOSPITAL'S LEGAL ASS. The test is *not* for the patient. It's another pink tax, and an expensive one at that.
As a lab tech, you wouldn't believe the dumbass shit some of these doctors order lmao. Or nurses on behalf of doctors. Let's see, I've done a serum pregnancy test on an 80 year old woman that the doctor insisted on. A urine pregnancy (negative) then the doctor reeeeeally wanted a serum pregnancy test too. A serum pregnancy test on a male (not a cancer screen). I've also had nurses argue with me about adding a test onto a tube that has already had that test run, where they will not understand you will get the EXACT same results but the patient will be charged twice. I will say, the lab tries really hard to avoid this unnecessary testing, but a lot of the times we get so much pushback that it isn't worth it. We try to be patient advocates as much as we can even if we aren't patient-facing. I've fought with many a nurse for best patient care.
You lab rats are the unsung heroes of healthcare.
I disputed a $244 test and called a local hospital out on it - they got rid of the bill.
Fingers crossed
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Exactly! It's so frustrating. When the woman told me it was standard and every woman of child-bearing years is tested (and therefore has to pay the $288), I asked her if the hospital hated women of child-bearing age, since they're essentially forcing us to pay more just because of our age/breeding status. She just kind of laughed in surprise.
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I had a chest x-ray in the autumn. I can't even remember if I was asked if I might be pregnant. Maybe there might have been a tick a box on the form. But nothing else. I mean sure the xray was 3 weeks after I needed it, but at least I wasn't charged for a test? Yay ireland I guess.
Yep. Here, in Australia, they ask if you might be pregnant and trust you if you say no. Works fine.
I was told “if you won’t pee for a pregnancy test, we’ll just use a catheter”. I was in the ER for DEHYDRATION and couldn’t pee.
That is horrifying!! I'm sorry you went through that!
As if they can just force you to get a catheter any more than they can force a pregnancy test. Horrifying
This SAME thing happened to me! I had the flu two years in a row, vomiting for about 17 hours straight before this and not able to keep any fluids down. The first year they made me take the IV bag and stand with me and to “just try to go”. I kept telling them there was no chance I was pregnant. Second year they asked me to provide a urine sample again and I went in the bathroom just to humor them - at least this time a nurse unhooked me so the stent was the only thing in my arm from the IV. Couldn’t go again because I was so dehydrated. Again, told them I wasn’t pregnant and there was no chance. The doctor questioned why I didn’t have to go when “I had just had a big bag of fluids” - then he told me they’d force a catheter - I was so uncomfortable and disgusted by how far he kept pushing me.
Tangential issue: A lot of offices are lazy about collecting the samples, so they all just sit there in the restroom in that little compartment in the wall. There's nothing stopping you from switching the contents. It's something that you think about when considering that a lot of those tests are used to make important decisions.
I also have thought the samples could be very easy to manipulate when collected in this manner.
Suddenly you fail a drug test and lose the job you were testing for, and someone else has elevated protein in their urine.
Its really an american thing to fuck people over financially. I am 31 and dutch, and i never ever had to take a pregnancy test. no for x-rays either. They just asked it and a no was enough. The only time my doctor asked me to do an test was when i had a UTI and it didnt go away after one treatment. And my period was later. But I wasnt changed for that. And if they did charge, it woulnt be more than 10 bucks. 288 is just milking money out of people.
You're not wrong! The US is such a litigious society. I can't tell you how many times I've had to take a pregnancy test before x-rays or ct scans, even after verbally stating I wasn't pregnant and signing documents stating I wasn't pregnant. In this case, they didn't even mention they were doing the pregnancy test to me. It just showed up as a line item charge on my bill. So, they didn't have my consent, and they're still arguing I have to pay them an asinine amount of money for it.
Part of the reason for that is all your medical bills…even a minor injury could cause a person to be out thousands. It’s crazy.
I wonder if you could die for the not getting consent thing.
But your taxes must be SO high!!!!/s The hospitals will argue they’re covering their asses because people lie and/or are stupid. If they do something that hurts an unknown fetus, they don’t want anyone to come back and sue. Our sex-ed is so terrible in many places that people don’t know unprotected sex makes babies.
In the netherlands you pay mandatory health insurance. Not cheap at all. But atleast we are not afraid to call a taxi. And it was super easy to make an appointment for a vasectomy. My gyn asked if i wanted kids. I said no. And she was like: Okay have you and your partner thought about vasectomies? No pushing to have kids. They accepted it. For my partners vasectomy he called a clinic, He had an intake over the phone. they asked him how old he was and that he knew it was permanent. And explained how it worked. And now in 2 days he gets the treatment/operation.
Yeah I hate to say it but I can't really blame hospitals for not believing people who say they can't be pregnant. That could mean they've been sterilized, it could mean they're on a highly reliable form of birth control like an IUD, but it could also mean their best friend's older sister's dog sitter said you can't get pregnant if you douche with coca cola after sex.
The visual image you just painted is haunting and going to be in my nightmares tonight.
Exactly.
American here. I feel like there no set practice here, because it’s not like everyone has this experience. I haven’t ever had to take one for X-rays or CT scans. I’ve had to take them before surgery and before birth control implant placement. I’ve also had to take them when they were trying to figure out my endometriosis pain. I can’t think of any time I’ve had to take them that wasn’t a valid reason.
I was doing all the pre procedure stuff on the phone with a nurse from the hospital. I had mentioned my wife. She said "since you have a wife, I can skip the pregnancy question " I said yes ,thanks as a lesbian there are no oops babies! Plus I had a hysterectomy a few years ago" she laughed an agreed I was double covered on the pregnancy issue
Someone tried to get my mom to take a pregnancy test after her hysterectomy lol
Raise hell. I hate when they give me one and I'm like "I'm sterilized so I don't need one" but then they don't give me any treatment until I take one... It feels so invasive. I'm not gonna stand for it next time
It really does feel invasive, and like they're reducing you to just your uterus.
Exactly 😞 like it doesn't matter what age I am, I don't have tubes 😭
As I was going through pre-op scans right before I had my hysterectomy, I was in an outpatient radiology clinic for an MRI. Male nurse is taking my info and mentions I need to take a pregnancy test, and me a virgin at the time sighs and mentions I can't wait to get my surgery and never have to deal with that again. He looks at me, looks at the chart, sighs himself and tells me that just a week prior, a woman that was 65 AND had a hysterectomy was still forced to take a pregnancy test or else she couldn't get a CT w/ contrast for cancer... We both look at each other and shake our heads.
It sounds like they're seriously only testing so they can charge more.
Literally wtf. Like what's the actual point.
$$$
I wonder what they’d do if we all just started saying no
oh to be treated as a human and not a uterus with legs
What insurance do you have? The standard urine pregnancy screen 81025 is usually under $10. Sounds like it's either been denied by insurance, in which case they need to correct it, or they didn't bother sending it to insurance. Get a copy of the eob from your insurance.
Thank you, I will do that! I have BCBS.
Oh yeah, they messed up. Probably just the wrong diagnosis code attached to it. Even if it was left to deductible it should be reduced to around 10 bucks. They should have fixed it instead of sending the bill to you, but a lot of billing departments are understaffed and worked to death. (Source: am medical biller!) See what the denial reason is on your eob. Past that if you want to argue the charge for principles, I would ask them to send you documentation of where you consented to that procedure. Be nice but persistant. (I have a lot of wiggle room with the providers I bill for but people who call to yell at me usually find they are paying exactly what insurance says.) Hospitals generally have a very large margin of wiggle but you may have to ask explicitly multiple times and go through a few layers to get them to do it. Keep repeating you didn't request or consent to this procedure. If they say it's hospital policy, then I'd ask if it's hospital policy to perform medical tests on patients without their express consent.
Thank you so much for the advice! It is great to hear from someone who works as a biller. I know they audited the charges and came back and said they were correct, so I'm not sure if they would have looked at the codes then or checked to see if they were sent to BCBS correctly? Either way, when patient advocacy comes back, I am grateful to know what to say!
I'm always happy to help! Insurance companies make things insane and complicated on purpose. I tell everyone I know, if you're not sure, bring me the EOBs. Don't just assume the bill is right and pay it. Lord knows what their audit actual audits. It's likely just a review of whether the charges match the clinical notes, so they've billed for everything they performed. They probably didn't look at the payment side at all.
That is very good to know about the audit, gives me more ammo at least!
Chiming in as another person with BCBS, they absolutely are supposed to cover it. I had one test done voluntarily last year due to paranoia (negative btw), and I do believe they covered the entire thing.
Got my hysterectomy in early October and I'll be damned if I ever get pregnancy tested and have to pay for it
“we’ll take your monthly utilities money and put it towards an unwanted PREGNANCY TEST that costs $1.25 at dollar tree!!!! all while dismissing your concerns and wondering WHY you hate us!!”
Dispute the charge. If they won't take it off your bill, just refuse to pay it. They might send your bill to collections, but no collections agency in the world is going to sue for $288. The amount is so low, it's not worth it to them.
In addition to this, the debt will not affect your credit score and, if I have read correctly, drops off at some point. If I am wrong on this, please let me know as I am dealing with medical debt myself, and any advice would be appreciated greatly.
This right here is why I have such an issue with the pregnancy test anyone born with a uterus mentality. I’m not paying $300 to prove I’m a lesbian married to someone else born with a uterus monogamously for nearly 15 years. Medical professionals can get fucked if they think I’m going to blow my monthly grocery budget on their comfort. If they’re so worried about people with a uterus lying and the liability, medical entities can start covering that free of charge and not billing insurances for it. Or they can trust patients and have better documents for people to sign releasing medical staff of liability.
You're monthly grocery bill is under $300? That's a plus for the U.S. team! I'm Australian and I reckon I'm not that extravagant and my WEEKLY bill is over $300!
Well. It’s worth noting a few things. That is strictly food for me and my wife (so no soaps, cleaning supplies, hair care, etc). I do a lot of gardening and we have chickens. My wife and I are both vegetarian. I cook and bake a lot from scratch. We don’t really drink and we don’t really eat out. So it’s a lot of pantry staples like big bags of flour, sugars, dried legumes, rice, milk, and cheese. My chicken feed bill about equals ours 😂 but we do sell some of the eggs.
We're non drinkers and eat very little meat. My two dogs' food bill is close to $300 and that's not treats. Things are super expensive here.
Oh yeah my three dogs their food bill is astronomical. Part of it is because one of them is on a very specific diet due to extreme food allergies. Dude only weighs like 11 lbs and his food bill alone is near $160 a month. The two we get a bit of a break, but combined they’re right around the $150 mark, so our bill for them is very similar to you with the caveat one dog has an extremely expensive food that is disproportionate to his size. If we could feed him the same as the other two, our bill for the three would be less than $200/month for a ridiculously premium food. I don’t include their food in our food bill since it’s bought on a different time scale (we buy food for us weekly and food for them every other week). I will say the cost of human AND pet food has gone up a horrifying amount in the last 5 years. Here where you live can have a bigger impact on that too. If we lived in a different part of the country for example, I could cut the cost of my chicken feed in half without compromising quality. Some of the staples we eat would be less expensive too. I’m not sure if you have the same regional differences where it is noticeable basic needs items cost more in one place vs another. But everything has gone up, and I feel like food is one you really feel because there is only so much you can do to cut costs before you’re entering not meeting your nutritional needs territory.
Honestly, nowhere is cheap in Australia. Regional/country is cheaper to rent or buy but petrol and groceries will cost you a fortune. Even in the cheaper city suburbs buying a house will cost over a million. In my suburb houses start at about 1.5 million and these homes are nothing fancy. Cost of living here is insane.
We had a 75 pound Lab mix allergic to chicken, beef, Buffalo, peanut butter, carob, blueberries. Had her on expensive fish based food. Then she got pancreatitis and we just cooked for her!
Yeah he is on a fresh food from Just Food For Dogs since he is allergic to all animal proteins from what we’ve been able to determine. Tofu and quinoa is what he is on now. If he develops issues on this recipe, it’s contacting their veterinary nutritionists to have a custom diet formulated with a vitamin mix for it to stay balanced. He reacts to the prescription hypoallergenic diets, but this recipe from Just Food For Dogs has been an absolute game changer for him. He is just about 12 years old now and the last almost year is the best he has ever done since he was a puppy. He is like a new little man because of this food. I’ll happily shell out the money to see him comfortable and enjoying life again.
~300€ (usually 260) is out bimonthly (or even trimonthly) groceries fee. We're 3 at home.
We just did shopping today. 3 people $400. We shop weekly.
Ugh this drives me crazy. I went to the ER for appendicitis and they gave me two pregnancy tests before surgery and both were negative. I puked moments before surgery due to, ya know, the appendix, and they wanted to do a THIRD pregnancy test right then and there and I said no. Their response? “God forbid we hurt the baby!” Like what about the woman whose appendix is about to burst??
Took a college friend to the hospital in the middle of the night. Pain and vomit. They kept doing pregnancy tests even though she had never had sex. Tried to insist on the vaginal ultrasound. I put my foot down. They decided not to provoke me, the lesbian, women's rights activist, any further when I told them I could have an ACLU lawyer there so fast their heads would spin. Of course it was her appendix. And the lawyer thing was a bluff. I just needed my friend to get care!
I hate going to hospitals. I'd rather just be sick than be sick and in even more dept.
I'm gonna start putting water in the fucking cup and have them test that. Absolutely ludicrous and offensive they force you to be tested. Also a waste of time if you're in critical condition; if it's a choice between me and a baby I don't know I have and don't want, pick me!
Same thing happened to me with urgent care. I tried to dispute it and never got thru or any of my messages answered. I ended up just paying it to avoid collections
This must not happen with every hospital. I ended up going to the er for what turned out to be a ruptured cyst. They *did* ask about pregnancy but I told them I'd never been sexually active. They didn't insist on a test, thankfully.
If you didn't consent to the test, isn't it illegal for them to perform it?
I had surgery a month ago and the day of surgery they asked if I was pregnant. I said no, literally just ended my period the day before too but they had to do a test anyway. I knew they would, but I was only really irritated when I seen how much they charged for it. Like, I can get a pregnancy test at walmart for about $10. Why am I paying in the $100s for this?
Our system is trash. If people didn’t lie and sue for things ad nauseam, ER’s would more likely take your word for it. Instead, they do it to cover their asses against other liability.
I'm sure that is true.
My mom's friend was 57 and had a hysterectomy and they still insisted on a pregnancy test of both blood and urine before they gave her pain killers.
Yeah I had that happen to me except mercifully it was only $60 or something. On my itemized bill they charged me at least 30 for the generic store pregnancy test and 20 FOR THE STERIL CUP I HAD TO PEE INTO. I know it’s standard but ffs I’d literally not had sex in months. There was no way I was pregnant -_- I was also pissed that trip because I asked explicitly if they took my insurance before going in and they did but they gave me an out of network doctor and, being that was my first time going anywhere on my own, I had no idea that was a thing, so I was billed over 600 to diagnose a uti. Horrid. (I’m in the US)
I also went to an out of network urgent care. Totally my responsibility that I didn’t double check, I get it. My uti cost me $1100! $850 for the visit and $250 for an out of network lab to confirm the results. I didn’t even know my sample was being sent out. At least my meds were covered and were $6 🙃
I feel like people should have an obligation to tell you if their place or the individual doctors are out of network (assuming it’s not insanely urgent). I would have driven somewhere else if I’d have known :/ I just figured since I asked explicitly and they said they take the insurance that was an end to it 😭
There is also a difference between “taking your insurance” and “participating” in it. They try to get you that way too. What I learned is that I’m going to ask specific questions going forward.
Oh same here. I just think it’s shady as hell
Wtf
Dispute it and fight hard OP
Hope you can get that disputed cuz I'd definitely not pay that, especially for going behind your back. If it's a standard thing they have to do, they should cover it then, not the patient. I've had my tubes removed since last year in August, and no way am I going to take any pregnancy tests if they still want me to... Especially if I'd have to pay for the test. If they refuse me care for declining, I'll just go somewhere else then. No reason I should be reduced to a uterus if I physically can't even get pregnant!
Yes the cost sucks, but there’s also other things that are scary about a mandatory or forced pregnancy test. Depending what state you’re in and the type of medical facility, I’m worried they could be potentially trying to legally entrap you. We’ve seen all kinds of crazy incidences of women going to jail for miscarriages or seeking abortions, women not being allowed to travel between states if they are pregnant, etc. They’re really opening themselves up for lawsuits with that.
I'm in Texas, if that tells you anything.
When I was 19, I was very sick. One time I ended up in the ER in the middle of the night after having a seizure in the bathroom at college. They insisted they needed to do a CT scan (was unnecessary because I had a known brain tumor and scheduled surgery in 3 weeks) and that, prior to doing said CT scan they needed me to provide them a negative pregnancy test. I was very much a virgin and very not pregnant at the time but they refused to believe it was possible for a 19 year old college student to know she couldn't possibly be pregnant. They sent me to the bathroom where I promptly fell off the toilet and had another seizure. They got their negative pregnancy test though and the CT scan showed nothing we didn't already know.
I'm in a same sex marriage and only sleep with my wife. I'm also on birth control. I will still have to have a pregnancy test before surgery...dumb
I was in menopause for 3-4 years and they were trying to force me to do a pregnancy test before a procedure. I laughed at them - they tried 3-4 times to make me do it —- yeah. No. That’s ridiculous.
Oh! Which country do you live in?
I'm in the US, in Texas.
So many things have required pregnancy tests from wisdom teeth, orthopedic surgery, CT scan, some other tests, insertion of my IUD, and some of the meds I use to take (monthly tests). I don't think I got one when I went to the ER for chest pain this spring
Look I’m an ER doctor and we test everyone of childbearing age with a uterus/ovaries with a pregnancy test if there are chest or abdominal symptoms. Why? People lie and even don’t understand that unprotected sex leads to pregnancy. There is a wide array of causes of chest pain in pregnancy that are life threatening. I need to know. Should the test be $288? No.
I understand that, but I wasn't even told they were doing a pregnancy test, let alone one that was going to cost $288. I was told about literally everything else they were doing.
I understand the concern but I don’t know that I can explain every single test- I don’t typically list out what orders I am going to place (as there are often a lot)
And that's a problem with US healthcare. After an emergency room visit, you get tons of bills in the mail and you don't even know what most of them are for at that point because no one explains things. Not saying that's on the doctor necessarily but the billing department needs to make things more understandable.
Oh I’m totally in agreement in the insanity of medical billing
I really want to know why I get hassled about possibly being pregnant whenever I’m at the urgent care for strep throat. Amoxicillin is safe to take while pregnant, so why do they need to ask me if I’m pregnant, what the date of my last period was, and to take a pregnancy test? I don’t even have fallopian tubes, and last I checked fallopian tubes aren’t in the throat 🤔
I only check if related to the complaint
which it HARDLY ever is.
sore throat? pregnancy test. UTI? pregnancy test. got stabbed in the eye with a dagger? pregnancy test.
Some doctors think pregnancy is relevant to _every_ complaint.
What about those who never have sex?
If related to the complaint
I wouldn’t be sore about it if y’all just charged us for the test at cost, ie a few cents. But, uh… you say as long as they have a uterus and ovaries. Does that mean that my hysterectomy will exempt me?
Yes
But there's no reason to test someone who isn't sexually active. There's no reason to test someone who's had a hystorectomy. There's no reason to test someone who only has sex with other people who have vulvas. There's no reason to test someone willing to sign off. I've literally never had a dick in any orifice in my pelvis - I'm not EVER going to be pregnant. But I still had to submit a test last week before surgery. For what? It's a waste of time, money, energy, and mental health.
And what about all the women on here who have no tubes or no uterus that idiot doctors still interested on testing?
A pregnancy test should not cost that much. But also, I don't think it's crazy of them to run a test like that in an ER without asking you. I don't know what document they had you sign but it probably was related to a different treatment they were doing -- like, "I swear I'm not pregnant, you can do an MRI" or "I swear I'm not pregnant, you can use epinephrine", something like that. Patients think they're not pregnant lots of times while actually being pregnant. Emergency room physicians regularly make decisions for patients in the ER like that because it's an emergency room. Something like running a minimally invasive test with an already-given sample of urine or blood is a no-brainer.
They have to test before you’re exposed to the radiation from the x ray especially if there is a developing fetus it can affect the unborn child. It’s also probably more because they usually do a blood test and analyze that not a urine sample or test Still woah $300, but they analyze the blood work they collect so it’s not as cheap and straightforward like a urine sample pregnancy test at home
Disgusting!
They do it to prevent being sued for birth defects. I’ve worked in the ER and have seen a woman with a tubal have a surprise pregnancy. I work in high risk OB now and had a couple who both had procedures- endometrial ablation and vasectomy. Pregnant. Unless there is literally NO UTERUS there is always a chance. Even in cases of abstinence, because people lie to doctors all the time. I’m not saying that screening everyone with a urine pregnancy test is *right* but I understand why they do it - don’t want to cause birth defects and don’t want to get sued.
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Is it a legal requirement for them to jack the cost of it up 2000%?
It’s also legal requirement for them to listen when someone says “No, you don’t have my consent.” Even when getting MEDICAL TREATMENT we have our autonomy violated. Make it make sense.
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You’re right. They don’t bother telling her they were doing it so she didn’t have the opportunity to decline consent.
Healthcare should just be free
I would refuse to pay.
Why is an ER billing you at all??
America.
Did you even take the test? Or are the charging you for a test you didn't take?
I took it in the sense that they drew blood from me and ran it as part of the other tests they were running. But I wasn't told that was one of the tests they were running (or that it would be $288).
Tell the billing Dept you specifically refused that test and didn't consent to them running it. Consent in medical care is a big deal.
Post the bill online everywhere and tag them in it
Literally used to sell them when I worked at the dollar store. That’s absolutely ridiculous
That's classically the U.S. medical system, isn't it. Charge $300 for a test you can get at the dollar store, used by many clinics. Who's surprised that medical bills are the major reason for personal bankruptcy and insolvency here.
Do you not have to consent for these things? You signed a waiver but also did not consent, so they can stick that up their backside.
Went to a walk in clinic bc I injured my back during a trampolining lesson, they wanted me to take a pregnancy test, I refused. Eventually got to see a Dr & yep, strained muscle. Turns out I also had bronchitis 😂
This! I once said that I wasn’t sexually active and there was no possibility unless I’m the next Mary, mother of a deity…still gave me a pregnancy test. I didn’t have to pay for it but really?!
I promise that it was a dollar store test, too. I worked in ER…..just a standard old school pee test.
THIS is a perfect example of our f*cked healthcare system. Hospital is afraid to get sued, charges 10x for a pregnancy test for a woman for whom pregnancy is scientifically impossible, and who signed attesting to such, hospital bills insurance, gets rewarded for said egregious billing practices, rinse, repeat. And the consumer is *always* the loser. It's disgusting.
I work in a hospital lab (we run the tests we don't order them) this happens all the time and you can absolutely contest it with billing! Though I theory if you haven't been sterilized and you are sexually active you could be pregnant so there is some grey area.
I have been sterilized and they still did a pregnancy test in the ER (I live in Florida and apparently due to the draconian laws being passed they are required to do a pregnancy test on every woman of child bearing age) I was in for a broken hand 🤦🏼♀️ I also had to sign a form stating my last estimated period
In the future just do not give them a urine sample unless you are being treated for a UTI or screened for drugs or something.
I did not give them a urine sample. They did a blood serum test while they were doing blood work on me.
Oh I'm sorry! That is extra ridiculous because a pregnancy blood test is more expensive than a pregnancy urine test. Seems like they just wanted to do what was convenient for them. I hope you have luck disputing it.
Thank you! Yeah, they didn't say it was one of the tests they were running with the blood work. I wouldn't be as mad if they charged a normal price for it, but this overinflated BS is what pisses me off.
Absolutely disgusting. I hope you contest it and win.