During the summer before we left for our vacation I was playing with the kids and "N" got a little crazy with jumping on the bed. I know you say, "Remember the song NO JUMPING ON THE BED?" I remember it but we were just having fun. So he ends up falling onto the bed and something poked him in the arm and he bled like crazy.

We go to a children's ER and we wait for 3 hours (by then his arm has stopped bleeding and he's fine just very tired) and when we finally get into the room they look at his arm for I'm not kidding you 5 minutes and says he's ok. I'm a little upset because they could have called us a long time before just to tell me that but whatever. I would have gone to urgent care but there's not one close to our house.

I get the bill a few weeks ago and I'm livid at the price they still want me to pay on top of my co-pay $164.00 for a 3 hour wait and a 5 minute check. I wasn't ready to deal with them so I sat on it until today and I called them. If you are sweet to them and politely explain your frustration they are so nice to you.

I called today and I tell the woman that I have a question about my bill. She then informs me that I need to send a letter of dispute to them. I tell her ok but can you make a note of it because I refuse to pay it till it's been negotiated. I then start thinking, if I send a letter they can always say they lost it and I proceed to ask her if I can talk to someone so I don't have to wait forever for a response. She puts me on hold and comes back and tells me, "If I pay it today then I will only have to pay $82.00." So I jumped on that band wagon and paid it.

So if you have a bill you think is over priced for what you got, remember to let it sink it, wait a while (if it's in collections then you really can't dispute and you're stuck paying the full amount) and when you're calm call them and kindly explain the situation. If it's a full out ER visit with trauma you may want an itemized bill so you can then question it and then try to talk them down. But if you were like me and seriously had to wait 3 hours and then be told in five minutes that it's nothing make that point clear but be nice about it and they may come down.

I don't know if it works all the time but it did for me this time. It doesn't hurt to try and worst case is they say NO and then you just either go to your doctor if they can handle trauma or go to Urgent Care for cheap.