Ugh! Medical Bills!

[Gnusgal]

Well, after attempting to call 5 different billing offices today, I'm happy to report that I've resolved 3 of them. I wasn't able to talk to an actual person at the other two.

It was actually amazingly easy, thank goodness. Two of them were due to an error on the Hospital's part. They gave these doctors/labs my insurance information incorrectly. Now that they have the correct information they will resubmit and all will be well.

As for the third one, that was for the surrogacy stuff. After forking over as much $ as we did, I thought it was ridiculous for them to send me a bill for $47. I told the woman on the phone as much and she agreed. She wiped away the charge... Makes me wonder if they should be owing ME money???

I'll be trying the other two again tomorrow. One is due to the fact that they billed MY insurance for my DH (he's not on my insurance), and the other doesn't look like they billed any insurance at all.

Lisa, I get what you're saying. I really do. But I've been screwed over by "waiting it out" before, and I'd rather be proactive. Especially when I know exactly what the error is and can get it solved with a phone call, as irritating as it may be.

And Ponytail, yes I am lucky to have insurance. I've made sure, all my life, that I've always been covered by insurance, even between jobs. I would hate to be in your situation. I knew that I would never be able to get private insurance, so I made sure to go into a profession that carries group insurance. Yes, I would have loved to have gone into a professional Theatre gig, but I knew that wasn't practical, considering my situation. It sucks, but it is what it is. I hope you're able to get everything worked out.

 

[Ross]

Hey Ross =

Can you put something heavy and flat on the paper when you scan it so that it doesn't ride up (and out of focus)?

EDIT - That's interesting. The copy of your copy is easier to read that your copy (which is now in better focus that when I first tried to read it. Please don't tell me I need to upgrade to Vista!)

'AL'

Al I didn't scan it, it was sent to me in email. It's just a saved .jpg uploaded to photobucket and linked back.

As for Vista, why not? It's nothing more the XP on steriods and Window 7 is now in the works for release in 2010. Going to be a whole new standard on that one with processors and other hardware tailored to it.

I'd really love to see you get rid of AOL. I think more then half your problems would disappear just from that.

 

[halleyg]

Don't have anything helpful to ad, just that I totally hear you. I can think of a million things I'd rather do before calling the insurance agency's "customer service." I just got a claim back from Dec. 2007 for cardiac rehab.. they kept sending me a bill for $300 and couldn't get anyone to help me when I told them I didn't owe that much. Yesterday (over a year later) I get a bill that said I only owed $30. I find that sometimes when I ignore them for a while, they'll finally get it right (but not always). Good luck.. deep breaths..

 

[Blanche]

One out of three bills have problems...

One out of three bills have problems...

I spend hours dealing with other people's mistakes. I am still trying to resolve billing problems left from Albert's hospitalization in Sept-Oct 2007.

The bills from the neurologist have all sorts of errors, yet his bookkeeper refuses to do anything about it. She failed to bill the secondary and now has run out of time for payment. So, she tells me that I have to "fork over the bucks." Not OK!

Thanks to Lisa, I now have a new mantra...SUE ME!!!!!

Blanche

 

[hall]

Question for anyone who has an opinion:

Wouldn't it make sense to ask to speak with a Supervisor and inform them of the Mistake made by their people?

As I see it, complaining to low level workers, friends, or internet chat groups may make us feel better, but is NOT going to change anything. You've got to get to someone who actually has the power and ability to make a change.

I was talking to the supervisor when I called the home office the third time. They make me crazy. I write dates, times, and the name of whom I am talking to. It can be an endless battle, so I know exactly what you mean. I hope you have some luck.

 

[Nancy]

I'm going to say something very cynical, but I always wonder.

When you try and try to get something corrected and the person whose job it is to correct it doesn't do that, I always wonder if they have their hand in the till.

Three years ago, my local oncology group had a bookkeeper who was stealing patient's credit card numbers and was gambling and shopping with them. She burned an awful lot of people who were in very sick condition. Finally she got caught.

On another occasion, I found a $15,000.00 mistake in my own oncology bill. They charged me for 3 times the amount of chemo during one appointment. I went ballistic. Granted, it was going to be paid by insurance, but that shouldn't have happened either.

When I had my meeting about it, they said that the insurance company would have caught it. But, ever after that I checked things out very carefully, and never trusted the bookkeeping dept. again.

How do I know that perhaps someone in the insurance company was splitting the spoils of that one with the local bookkeeper. This was a different bookkeeper than the credit card problem.

Recently, in my vet's office, I had two problems one after the other. The bookkeeper insisted that they had not run my credit card through. However I had the slip for it, and I went online and checked the credit card company and it had been charged through. She wanted me to come right in and run the card through again. I told her no, that I had the slip and evidence that it had been charged. She got very huffy. I let her have it.

I got a call back within the hour from someone else saying that they had found the problem and it was OK now.

I really don't like it when people play around with your money.

 

[Guest]

I can think of a million things I'd rather do before calling the insurance agency's "customer service."

AMEN!!!!


Niki ... I hear ya, loud 'n' clear....

*shakes head*

*bites tongue*



Cort | 35swm | "Mr Monte Carlo"."Mr Road Trip" | pig valve.pacemaker ...RT 66 drive = Sept '09
WRMNshowcase.legos.HO.models.MCs.RTs.CHD = http://www.chevyasylum.com/cort
"Why'd you do it?" ... Reba McEntire ... 'The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia'

 

[johnfreeman62]

One Hospital - 7 accounts

One Hospital - 7 accounts

My hospital, which provided fabulous care, creates a new account for every procedure - as they define procedure. I have one account for each echocardiogram, one for blood tests done at the same time as the first echo, one for my cath test, one for my actual suregery.....they claim it would be too confusing to have one account with multiple billings on it.....are they from Mars?

 

[Gnusgal]

My hospital, which provided fabulous care, creates a new account for every procedure - as they define procedure. I have one account for each echocardiogram, one for blood tests done at the same time as the first echo, one for my cath test, one for my actual suregery.....they claim it would be too confusing to have one account with multiple billings on it.....are they from Mars?

I have one hospital that does the same thing. Makes it a real PITA when it's time to pay the bills. If other hospitals can manage to do it, why can't they? Sorry you're having to deal with it.

 

[Lisa in Katy]

They could be gaming the system and costing you more in the end. Hopefully you are not getting charged your copay/coinsurance for each account. When we contract there are certain things that are considered "case rates" meaning that if you have that procedure, everything else you have that day is included. For instance, if you go to the ER, they may pay $1000 for the ER visit, but none for the labwork, xrays, drugs, etc. that you have on the same day. By billing it separately it would make it more difficult for the payor to figure out that it was all one visit. They can't just say that anything on the same day is the same visit because there's always the chance that someone may go to the hospital in the morning for a procedure, and then later have to go to the ER because of something totally unrelated. They will figure it out, eventually, and would either terminate the contract or demand a settlement, but don't think you would ever see that money.