Man fainted after free flu shot; hospitalization cost him almost $5,000

A man had to pay almost 5,000 in hospital bills because of a simple faint.

When Matt Gleason decided that this year he would take the flu shot, he never imagined that a simple injection would make him lose all his savings.

According to reports, the medical bill included an ER admission fee of $ 2,961 and almost $ 1,000 in charges for blood tests, so the costs of his short walk to the emergency room amounted to $ 4,692.

Later, the Blue Cross and Blue Shield insurance company reduced the amount to $ 3,711, however, Gleason's annual insurance deductible is $ 4,000 so it still only falls on him to pay the entire amount.

While this amount of money does not seem like much to some, Gleason is a married man and has two children. For this reason, he told Kaiser Health News that having to pay that medical bill has really put him in a very difficult situation.

According to KHN, in addition to the ER admission fee, some of the other charges that Gleason was hit included $ 400 for an ECG, $ 348 for a chest x-ray and $ 83 for a urinalysis. Ironically, the vaccine against the flu that caused him to faint in the beginning was completely free.

David McKenzie, the reimbursement director at the American College of Emergency Physicians said: "It's not a perfect system, hospitals have an incentive to CT exam, and taxi drivers have an incentive to take the long way home."

Gleason tried to appeal the amount but Charlotte-based Atrium Health Pineville medical center, which he visited last October, said in a statement that health care officials had billed it "appropriately."

“In this specific example, the price of admission to the ER was more than $2,960. That was on top of more than $1,000 for the medical procedures actually performed,” said Blue Cross and Blue Shield officials. “We won’t significantly bring down health care costs until we address the high prices like these.”

In the end, maybe Gleason won’t take another flu shot for the rest of his life. Just like this fitness and yoga instructor who had to have an extensive surgery done on her arm after she got her flu shot.

Right before the day even ended, the woman knew something was up. She was feeling excruciating pain in her shoulder. Weeks later her chiropractor noticed that her right arm and shoulder were sloping.