Bwild: they operate by "codes" in the ER. A visit receives a particular code and the patient is charged accordingly. If the code is incorrect, a patient could be charged at a higher rate than they would otherwise had the code been determined correctly. This happened to me. I was sent to the ER as a precaution but I knew the problems stemmed from the medication I was given. But the symptoms were similar to a stroke. I immediately informed the doc about my meds and he agreed that the meds were the problem. But the admitting person coded it for stroke. I was charged double. I got it fixed but had I not called, I would have had to pay the full bill.

Changes are needed system wide but NOT Obama care. That doesn't fix anything. And for those in favor of the 2000+ page bill it's wise to remember that NO ONE in congress and NOT EVEN OBAMA read the stupid thing. Even today most congressmen haven't read the stupid bill!