I fell off my ebike and broke my collarbone. In the immense pain and fear I was in I went to emergency clinic that forwarded me to an ER. I received no care at this ER and only sat in a bed for 4 hours before they discharged me. I’ve been refreshing my claims page for my government subsidized insurance for abt a month waiting for the other foot to drop. I have to pay $620 dollars in copays I don’t have. How is the American healthcare system so broken? Also why would any doctor recommend going to an ER? I will also loose my benefits if my premium rates rise since Trump and Congress want to give tax breaks to the ultra wealthy. I knew the system would come for me eventually, there is no escape.
I’m reluctant to share this as it’s going to be of no practical use to OP but I also fell off my bike and broke my collarbone, this was back in April.
My front tyre was under inflated and I took a downhill left hand corner on a bike path too quickly. The front wheel slid out and I hit the concrete hard on my left elbow. I rode home in a lot of pain, took a shower, decided it was serious and got a friend to drive me to the ER at the local hospital. I live in Melbourne, Australia.
It was around midday on a Wednesday and the ER was quiet, I saw the admissions nurse, and had to wait about an hour to get an X-ray and was given painkillers. I’d broken my clavicle in 2 places. I spoke to an orthopedic surgeon who said while the bone would eventually heal on its own he strongly recommend surgery as the outcome probabilities were greater and the recovery times were less that way. There was a chance I could be fit in the next day and I was admitted to a ward overnight.
They gave me some dinner but after that I wasn’t allowed any food in case the surgery was going ahead. The next day I had a couple visitors and at 3pm I was confirmed for surgery just before 5pm. I was given a general anesthetic and woke up in a recovery ward. I stayed overnight and ate some sandwiches.
The next day I was told I could go home in the afternoon and my brother came and picked me up.
I wasn’t allowed to lift anything heavier than a cup of tea for 4 weeks then had appointments with a physiotherapist every few weeks for 3 months or so. I’ve gone got a brand new scar and a piece of aluminum screwed into my left collarbone. It looks a bit funny.
The whole experience was pretty shit. I was in-between jobs at the time and it was about 4 months before I was able to get working again. I’m a chef. I lived off savings.
The medical care side of things tho just wasn’t an issue. When I left the hospital I paid about $30 for some paracetamol and a small amount of oxycodone for the pain.
Like I said I know this story won’t help, and I’m sorry you’re going through a tough time, but as a fellow bike crash collarbone breaker I thought I’d share.
On that note, I’ve always been confused why it’s accepted and recommended to ride motorcycles with what are essentially full suits of armour, complete with CE pads and anti-abrasive materials, but for e-bikes? Nah, a thin foam helmet and some spandex will do, despite a lot of them being capable of similar speeds in similar conditions.
I don’t know about other countries, but here in Germany E-Bikes are limited to 25 km/h. That’s pretty close to the slowest speed a motorbike can drive at.
I believe you’re talking about racing bikes. Those fully manual and can reach high speeds depending on the driver. But when riding a racing bike, a reinforced leather jacket and trousers are pretty much a surefire way to overheat. I guess a point could be made for knee and ell ow protectors, but everything else is just incompatible with the body’s need to cool down.
Your story resonated with me and shared many pieces of my experience. I broke my left collarbone, its a good thing I’m a righty. I fell off my bike close to home so I chained it to a tree and walked up a massive hill cradling my arm, I screamed as I pulled off my shirt and hopped in a bath and decided it would be a tmr issue. I woke up without much pain, my body was probably processing the trauma still. I called my sister and she could hear me grating my teeth through the phone and she drove me to the medical center (which in America is the cheap alternative to ER). They sent me to the ER after - trigger warning -
spoiler
Violently throwing up :::. There weren’t any orthopedic surgeons working on the weekend (what the hell). So on Monday morning I made 10-15 calls trying to find a doctor that was less expensive and “in network”. He took me two days later and did xrays and said the bone was displaced enough they could do surgery but he was being lazy and said I could let it heal by itself. I good to hear you recovered well! I’ve been applying to places for a cook position for abt two months before the incident. I like cooking and can’t cook for myself fully right now so my job hunt is on pause. I ran out of savings so I had to ask my estranged parents for some money while I’m recovering.