How Much Does An Emergency Room Visit Cost?

A man crashes his bike and gets taken to the emergency room. The bill is more than $20,000 for the visit, which lasts a bit over 2 hours. He was taken to the highest level adult trauma center near the site of the crash in the Austin, Texas, area — University Medical Center Brackenridge, which is operated by the Seton Healthcare Family..

So how much does an emergency-room visit cost? Since this is in Texas, and we have The Austin American-Statesman’s Mary Ann Roser on the job, we get a thorough story.

Mark Mitchell was the unfortunate biker. His “total ER bill was $21,731, not including an ambulance charge of $849, an ER physician charge of $897 and $172 for diagnostic imaging. Because he is a self-employed graphic artist, Mitchell’s health plan with Southwest Service Life Insurance Co. provides less coverage than what employees of a large company might have,” the article says...