A simple family camping trip spiraled into a $50,000 medical nightmare—and a chilling CDC warning to top it off

A family’s camping trip in Northern Arizona spiraled into a United Healthcare nightmare after a bat bite.  One morning, Katy Monson, a clinical laboratory scientist from Utah, found two small, mysterious red dots on her 5-year-old’s earlobe. Monson immediately suspected a bat bite, especially since bats had been a known issue around their cabin.

Per Newsweek, Monson drove her son straight to their pediatrician, who confirmed her fears. This discovery set off a flurry of activity, with Monson quickly becoming inundated with calls from both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Utah State Department of Health demanding that the entire family get rabies shots.

Monson recalled that a farmer in 2019 had died after a bat licked his thumb near an abrasion, succumbing to rabies in a local hospital. This incident meant state officials were taking any potential exposure incredibly seriously, since not all bat exposures leave a visible mark. In fact, bats are such virulent carriers that even finding a dead bat in your house, or handling them with gloves, still comes with the recommendation of rabies treatments

Rabies is terrifying

Rabies in humans is almost always fatal if left untreated. The treatment, known as post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP), is highly effective when administered as soon as possible after exposure. Monson and her family were instructed to head to Intermountain Medical Center (IMC) in Utah for emergency treatment. 

Unfortunately, this is where their financial ordeal truly began. Monson was informed by United Healthcare, her family’s health care provider, that the treatment would be covered. However, they couldn’t access the details. 

Monson spent a good chunk of a day trying to ensure the cost would be as low as possible and coded as “in network.” However, with the clock ticking, she had to get her children vaccinated at a children’s hospital in Salt Lake City because the state facility couldn’t administer them to kids.

Over the next two weeks, her children received a series of shots, each one adding to the growing bill. She was denied financial aid, and soon the unadjusted costs for the family’s treatment quickly ballooned to an astounding $50,109.24. This amount not only blew past their family deductible of $2,700 but also hit their “out of pocket maximum” of $13,300.

When she did her research, Monson found that Intermountain was charging anywhere from double to quadruple the ‘market price.’ Intermountain disagreed, telling her that insurance would have denied coverage if the prices were truly that inflated. Since everything was agreed upon, nothing more could be done, other than offering a paltry 10% discount.

For months, Monson hounded United Healthcare, Intermountain, and the University of Utah Healthcare, but was still left with a $13,300 bill. Seven years later, Monson still feels conflicted. She is grateful her family is safe, but despite her preparation and negotiation, it was a sucker punch to find she had very little power once the predatory nature of healthcare in the US kicked in and those astronomical charges arrived.