Ouch! Woman stung by $83,046 bill after she rushed to ER unable to breathe after scorpion bite... and was given an antivenom that costs just $100 in Mexico

Marcie Edmonds, 52, was opening box of air-conditioner filters in her garage when stung

Phoenix woman couldn't walk and was struggling to breathe when rushed to Chandler Regional Medical Center

Discharged in just three hours

Charged $39,652 each for two doses of anti-venom that costs $100 in Mexico



Ouch: Marcie Edmonds, pictured, was stung with a whopping $83,046 medical bill after she was stung by a scorpion last June

An Arizona woman was stung with a whopping $83,046 medical bill after being attacked by a scorpion last June.

Marcie Edmonds, 52, of Phoenix, was opening a box of air-conditioner filters in her garage when the insect stung her on the bottom, according to AZcentral.com .



After her throat tightened, her vision blurred and she became unable to walk or breathe properly, she hurried to nearby Chandler Regional Medical Center.

At the hospital emergency room, a doctor told her a scorpion anti-venom, called Anascorp, would relieve her symptoms.



But he never told her the drug cost an astronomical $39,652 per dose neither did he offer up an alternative, she claims.



Edmonds was given two doses of the drug administered through an IV drip and was discharged after just three hours once her symptoms subsided.

Weeks later a bill for $83,046 dropped through her Ahwatukee Foothills letterbox.



According to Arizona Republic, the anti-venom costs just $100 a dose at pharmacies in Mexico, suggesting the state's hospitals are making a fortune.

The Food and Drug Administration approved the sale of the drug in the United States last year.

Tennessee-based Rare Disease Therapeutics sold the drug to a distributor for $3,500 per dose, and the distributor charged hospitals about $3,780 per dose.

Scorpion: The woman was stung by the scorpion while in her garage last June (stock photo)

The newspaper asked a number of local hospitals in November how much they were charging for the anti-venom and found the cost per dose ranged from $7,900 to $12,467.



But Chandler Regional Medical Center refused to tell The Republic how much it charged for Anascorp.

Edmond's insurer Humana paid Chandler Regional $57,509 for the bill but the woman is being asked to cough up the remaining $25,537.

Medical bill: The Chandler Regional Medical Center, pictured, gave Edmonds a bill for $83,046

Mark-up: The hospital charged Edmonds almost $40,000 per dose for Anascorp, pictured Expensive: Edmonds, 52, right, had to cough up more than $25,000 after her insurer covered the rest

'Everyone I talk to says, 'You've got to be kidding,'' Edmonds told AZcentral.com of her outrageous bill.

In a statement, Chandler Regional said the woman's charges represented out-of-network costs for her treatment, because the hospital isn't part of Humana's network.

