My medical bill nightmare started out fairly normally. My toddler fell and hurt her wrist. Since she has a flair for the dramatic, she let her wrist flop, looking broken as she screamed in agony. My husband and I examined her wrist and couldnt figure out how serious the situation was, so we played it safe and took her to the emergency room. She had a mild sprain, it turned out. She was in and out no medication, no nothing.

I knew there would be an obscene bill for taking her to the ER, but I had no idea just how shocking it would be. When I received the bill for my daughter, I seriously hoped that something was amiss. The amount was nearly $800 (which was more than we could afford at the time), and before insurance it had been nearly $3,000.

Could the bill really be that huge for a 15-minute visit? I couldnt fathom it, so I requested an itemized bill a habit I picked up after hearing horror stories of new mothers being charged outrageously in labor and delivery. An itemized bill almost always contains errors , which is why I wasnt about to pay a penny before carefully looking over my daughters charges.

There were a couple of small errors, such as overpriced medicines she didnt receive, but it wasnt the $14 aspirin hiking up her bill. I called the hospital to ask about my daughters charge entry, which was was outlandishly high, nearly $2,600 of the $3,000 total bill. The woman in the billing office told me that charge entry levels were codes used to determine the severity of cases entering the ER. They will dictate what reimbursements the hospital should receive, and they are entered in by the doctor. And as for mistakes in charge entry levels? They arent uncommon .