Sierra Kent went to the emergency room at Northern Light EMMC for suspected appendicitis. Before going to the ER, she consulted with several of her doctor friends, and they recommended that she visit the ER because it could be a matter of life and death. Once she was at the ER, Sierra spent all but a few minutes in the waiting room. she was given an IV with antibiotics and some Tylenol. For a split second, she was brought into an exam room while a doctor pushed on her stomach. She wasn’t in the exam room for more than five minutes. When she got the bill for the ER visit, the total bill was over $9,000, $4,605 of which was a facility fee charge. The balance for her to pay after insurance was $2,507 … which she can’t pay right now.

“This is so stressful. … If I had known the bill was going to be $9,000 … I would have done something differently.”