Fun with health care billing (RANT)

[Karen]

Paul's sister works for a law office that deals with this sort of stuff all the time! Pretty sad it happens often enough for that to be the case.

[Cataholic]

I spent more than an hour on the phone today with my insurance company trying to make heads or tails out of some bill. THEN, I called the providers, and asked what I thought was a logical question, "why haven't I received an itemized bill (or any bill)"? Seems if your insurance pays it, or mostly pays it, you get this statment that takes more thought than I had today, apparently, to figure out.

I remember walking out of my doctor's office, last year, I think, asking for a bill. They couldn't produce one..they don't do the billing there. She had no idea what the bill would be.

I hate billing, from the patient side AND the attorney side.

[Marigold2]

You have a right to pay them $2.00 a month if you so wish. Once you send in that amount you can NOT send in $1.00 the next month. It has to be at least $2.00. They legally cannot touch you. On the bill write the following.
I am paying you $2.00 a month which is my legal right.

[Cataholic]

You have a right to pay them $2.00 a month if you so wish. Once you send in that amount you can NOT send in $1.00 the next month. It has to be at least $2.00. They legally cannot touch you. On the bill write the following.
I am paying you $2.00 a month which is my legal right.

Legally, this is an inaccurate statement. Everyone is entitled to have their bill paid in full, unless other arrangements have been made. Now, it is true that many places do accept monthly payments...but it is not a legal right violation if they do not.

[lizbud]

LH, ever get your bill taken care of? I guess it's my turn to rant now.
I've never had a reason to quesion any ins bill till just recently. Got a bill
from the Allergist I was sent to by my Primary Care Dr. I do owe then for
my co-pay which is right, but the bill they sent me was for much more
than that, it was huge.

After talking to my Ins co. they said the Allergist I saw was out of
Network & wouldn't be covered. My primary care DR chose the Allergist,
not me. Why would they pick an out of network provider? Seems
to me they made the error, & they should therefore cover the bill.

Last I heard my ins co is fileing a grievance (to themselves) for me over
this error. It's just crazy.

[pomtzu]

LH, ever get your bill taken care of? I guess it's my turn to rant now.
I've never had a reason to quesion any ins bill till just recently. Got a bill
from the Allergist I was sent to by my Primary Care Dr. I do owe then for
my co-pay which is right, but the bill they sent me was for much more
than that, it was huge.

After talking to my Ins co. they said the Allergist I saw was out of
Network & wouldn't be covered. My primary care DR chose the Allergist,
not me. Why would they pick an out of network provider? Seems
to me they made the error, & they should therefore cover the bill.

Last I heard my ins co is fileing a grievance (to themselves) for me over
this error. It's just crazy.

Liz - don't you have Medicare?

[lizbud]

Liz - don't you have Medicare?

Yes, a portion of the bill is covered with Medicare & a portion by my
Insurance co. & I pay a co-pay amount.

[Puckstop31]

My primary care DR chose the Allergist,
not me. Why would they pick an out of network provider? Seems
to me they made the error, & they should therefore cover the bill.

How is it their responsibility to pick a provider that is covered by YOUR insurance?

Ill give you that maybe they SHOULD care.... But only from a good customer service point of view.


I think we can see one of the causes of high health care costs here.... Nobody questions anything with their doctor it seems, especially when it comes to payment. "Somebody else" pays it, so who cares? Until, of course, "I" have to pay it and not "somebody else".

[Lady's Human]

Puck, perhaps it's like the health care provider I use......99.9% of their docs are covered under my ins. plan as the big umbrella "charitable" org that runs they system is normally completely covered by my ins., however, particularly if there's a new specialist involved, they might not be in the PPO list. I only get a PPO list once a year, and I'm fairly certain the list changes more often than that.