Medical Billing...So Messed Up

Since Addy broke her leg, we have received all kinds of bills and statements...My insurance emails me each time they process/deny a claim. The first week I must have gotten twenty claims...and all of them said my insurance wasn't going to pay anything. I was panicking. Because we have insurance through Deseret Mutual, we are only covered in SE Idaho and Utah. However, they do contract out to a company called United Health, which covers all the other places. This is who my parents (who are also insured by DMBA) go through. So when Addy broke her leg, we made sure to take her to places my mom can go so that we would be covered. However, the claims were saying we weren't covered...And this is like, $20,000 worth of claims. Yikes. SO I talked to my insurance. They gave me an address that the claims are supposed to be sent to, which is different than normal. Um, okay. So I called the hospital and urgent care and gave them the new address.
Twenty new claims came in. Some were looking right, others, not so much. And the whole time I'm thinking: What if I didn't understand how to read these bills or claims? I could totally end up paying tons of money I don't owe. And not catch it. And will the hospital refund me the money I overpay? Nope. They wouldn't. Which is so messed up.
Then I get my first paper bill from the ER. Now, keep in mind that by the time we got to the ER we had already been to urgent care, had xrays, and determined the leg was unquestionably broken. $846 for "initial exam." Um, what? They did NOTHING but put in an IV. And that was nurses. The doctor didn't even touch her. I kid you not. He seriously, literally did not touch her. Just told us that the xrays were being checked and we would hear from a surgeon. So I thought, well maybe that exam is a bill about the surgeon checking her xrays. Okay, outrageous still, but he's a specialist, so maybe? Then I get a bill from "radiology diagnostics" too. That's for checking the xray. And that bill was also outrageous. I mean, come on. Almost $300 to look at a picture and say, "yep, that bone is snapped." Really? Also on the ER bill was Addy's leg splint. Piece of plastic and ace bandage. $411. Seriously? I could have purchased that for a grand total of $10 (assuming I bought the name brand lol) and done it myself with much less screaming and pain.
Then the three day hospital facility bill rolls in. $15,000. Yeah, we only pay about $900 of that. But seriously? That's ridiculously expensive. And then I'm starting to get billed by every doctor who came in and introduced themselves. Not even joking. We knew the leg was broken. We knew she needed surgery. We had seen the surgeon. And then I get a bill from the hospital's resident for over $500! For an "exam." Well I guess if that counts coming in, saying hey, reading the number on the IV and saying, "You're scheduled for surgery" then yeah, that's totally worth it...NOT.
SO basically, what did I learn from all of this?
1. The Emergency Room is a legal scam office.
2. Do Not pay any bills until you get a matching insurance claim.
3. If a kid breaks a leg, it's far cheaper just to kill them and have another one (which I would never do, but it's a true fact).
4. Scott should have been a doctor...