Another tourist with a huge medical bill from a US emergency room (NC)
Classic tourist post...I ended up with food poisoning in Raleigh, NC back in January and had to go to the ER (Duke) in an Uber. I have PoTS and my heart rate was 165bpm from the dehydration and I couldn't walk I was so weak. They got me straight in and told me the total hospital bill would be just over $1000 if I paid immediately, and then the provider's costs would be billed separately later on. They said if I wasn't able to pay it would be quadruple that price later on. I said fine. I had full travel insurance so I could claim it back later, so I paid the $1000 on my credit card.
I stayed in the ER for maybe 5-6 hours, had two IV drips, and magnesium and potassium tablets, then they let me go when my HR came down to normal after all that.
A few weeks later back in February I then got the $264 bill from the provider. Fine, paid it immediately. Got it all sorted with my travel insurance and they repaid me the full amounts I'd paid.
Last week I then got an email saying I owed them another $4500. Is it normal to get a huge bill like that three months after the visit? I also feel like $4500 plus the $1264+ I'd already paid is an insane cost for 6 hours of sitting in a room with an IV?
It also feels iffy that $4500 is exactly quadruple what I paid, and what they said it would cost if I didn't pay directly at the hospital. I've asked them for an itemized bill but they said it's been posted to me by snail mail as they apparently can't just email it or add it to my dukemychart account.
I'm also concerned because the new $4500 isn't showing in my dukemychart account like the other one did, it was just emailed to me with a direct link to pay.
Question is, where do I stand legally with this? What happens if I just don't pay it? (I'm British and live in the UK) I don't know if my travel insurance would cover this extra amount since they already closed my case as I wasn't told more bills would be coming my way.