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Post by The Walk of the Penguin Mich on Mar 12, 2012 19:15:38 GMT -5
So today, I sat down (again) and paid a batch of medical bills that I received in my last mailing from home.
Some were straightforward, but others make me want to scream. For instance, when I went to the rehab center, it was considered in-network. I have 100 days/year of rehab, so my 18 days there is waaay below my yearly limit. But I have a bill for $182. What's it for? Totally clueless, so called the rehab unit and no one was in the accounting office. I did not take any equipment with me from the rehab unit and the doctor and NP are billed separately.
Which brings me to my second gripe. The rehab unit is staffed via doctors through the hospital I was in (which was also in-network). However, I now owe nearly $1000 for doctor and NP visits. My gripe is that I KNOW I did not receive this many visits from either the doc or NP. How do I prove it? In fact, I was billed for 2 doctor visits on the same day. The first visit, he came into my room and I was working with PT, so he left and came back later. Is walking into and out of a room immediately afterwards worthy of a $354 doctor visit? In any case, I now have to do battle with the insurance company as to why they're not paying for both of these people who are on staff of the hospital where they are in-network.
Moral of the story.....keep a log of any and all medical professionals that deal with you during a hospital stay.
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Apple
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Post by Apple on Mar 12, 2012 20:20:09 GMT -5
Oh, mich, not again, that sucks I really hate hospital billing. I had a bill from surgery where my insurance (BCBS) adjusted the amount and the hospital kept trying to charge me for the difference (they are preferred provider so they can't do that). Anyway, call to the hospital, call to the insurance, call to the hospital, call to the insurance... Finally, the lady at the insurance told me to give her the number and she'd take care of it. She called me back and told me it was taken care of--I don't know what I would have done without her, she seemed like a good one.
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Post by The Walk of the Penguin Mich on Mar 12, 2012 21:10:12 GMT -5
Last year, it took until September to get my issues resolved from my hip replacement in Feb. and the gall bladder surgery in March.
I have to wonder how long it's going to take for all this to get resolved?
I think I'll make a prediction that these bills will be resolved in June, 2013........
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TD2K
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Post by TD2K on Mar 12, 2012 22:40:28 GMT -5
No problem since the world ends this December 21st.
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Post by naggie1972 on Mar 13, 2012 9:36:21 GMT -5
So funny, my two back surgeries were 150.00, that is it, that was the copay. BOTH times an extra 4.64 bill came in the mail. I paid them both as I wasn't getting all stressed out about 4.64 twice.
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Bluerobin
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Post by Bluerobin on Mar 13, 2012 9:44:39 GMT -5
Mich, I have long suspected that medical bills are padded. I am going through what you are after my recent heart attack. I just love the guy who walked into the room during my stress test, didn't say a word, didn't even look at me or the computer, walked out and sent a bill for $245. Seems like these tests have to be supervised by a cardiologist - that was him. Tell them you didn't receive the service and they will probably cancel. If not, tell them you are advising the insurance company to dispute that charge. They would much rather lose your copay, than the whole thing.
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NomoreDramaQ1015
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Post by NomoreDramaQ1015 on Mar 13, 2012 10:02:31 GMT -5
I hate medical billing. Alegent got on my husband about a bill and we hadn't even recieved it yet! Here is an idea, if you want paid in a timely manner send it to us sooner than two months after the appointment or have him pay upfront. I am not giving you a dime until I see an actual bill.
My dental office kept trying to bill me for BCBS's portion of the bill. I called BCBS and they told me they had already paid and it has cleared on their end. They did some digging and the stupid bank my dental office uses had been sitting on the check for THREE WEEKS! Thank god the insurance lady knew who to call to get that straigtened out.
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swamp
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Post by swamp on Mar 13, 2012 10:04:59 GMT -5
I had that problem with a bill for DD. We never got billed, and it got sent to collections, and the collections people wanted money without sending us a bill. I've got no problem paying a bill that's owed, but you need to send it to me first. Once I was provided with the bill, I paid it promptly.
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NomoreDramaQ1015
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Post by NomoreDramaQ1015 on Mar 13, 2012 10:14:37 GMT -5
I got sent to collections a few years ago for a bill I never recieved for. . . $11.98 and it was a three year old bill by that point. I was a bad YMer and just paid the damn thing but geeze, you made due for the past three years without an extra $12 in your coffers. Why all of a sudden do you need it now? I really wish all the billers would get on the same page. Nothing sucks more than you get the hospital bill paid, the doctor bill paid and then six months later the damn lab bill finally shows up.
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swamp
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Post by swamp on Mar 13, 2012 10:19:26 GMT -5
I got sent to collections a few years ago for a bill I never recieved for. . . $11.98 and it was a three year old bill by that point. I was a bad YMer and just paid the damn thing but geeze, you made due for the past three years without an extra $12 in your coffers. Why all of a sudden do you need it now? I really wish all the billers would get on the same page. Nothing sucks more than you get the hospital bill paid, the doctor bill paid and then six months later the damn lab bill finally shows up. If it was $12, I would have paid it, but it was about $350, it was for an ambulance transport. I had already paid out about $3000 for this incident, so I wanted to make sure I wasn't being double billed. For some reason, I never got billed. The collections lady was really snotty about it. I told her I had paid several bills out of this incident, I have money, I pay my bills, and if I owed it, I'd pay it, but I want to see the bill to see if I've paid it yet. She didn't believe me that I never got a bill. She did her damndest to get me to pay over the phone right that day, and I wouldn't give her a checkign account number or a credit card number and she was getting pissed. I had her fax the bill to my office., checked it and had never been billed. I sent a check out immediately. And included a note about how unprofessional their collector was.
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NomoreDramaQ1015
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Post by NomoreDramaQ1015 on Mar 13, 2012 10:24:52 GMT -5
The biller for the hospital I gave birth at was really rude. I called to set up a payment plan for Gwen's share of the hospital stay and she was really snotty "And why may I ask can you not pay the $500 upfront?"
Because I don't have $500 lying around you rude bitch.
Don't give me the option of setting up payments if you don't want me to.
I get why she asked it, they probably collect statistics it was her attitude like I was trying to get out of paying that pissed me off.
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wvugurl26
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Post by wvugurl26 on Mar 13, 2012 10:26:16 GMT -5
My brother ended up with new car insurance over that swamp. Hospital ER didn't charge him his copay. Sent bill to wrong address which doesn't exist, never called him and sent it to collections.
He sent them the $50 and got it removed from his credit report. Insurance company refused to adjust his premium so he went elsewhere.
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swamp
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Post by swamp on Mar 13, 2012 10:30:17 GMT -5
LOL!! This lady didn't seem to get it that even though I had the $350 in my checking account, I wasn't sending it to her on her say so alone. She actually seemed kinda shocked when I said, yes, I have the money and I could send it to you right now, no I don't want a payment plan, and no I'm not paying you until you give me a bill.
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sesfw
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Post by sesfw on Mar 13, 2012 10:39:53 GMT -5
'And included a note about how unprofessional their collector was.'
Unfortunately this is how collection agencies want their bill collectors to be. As rude and intimidating as possible. It's surprising how many people can be bullied into paying a bill they know nothing about.
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NomoreDramaQ1015
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Post by NomoreDramaQ1015 on Mar 13, 2012 10:43:39 GMT -5
DH told Alegent that he wasn't paying them a dime till we recieved a bill, he wasn't going to hand over his check card based on the receptionist telling him her computer says he owes money.
He also said if this is how they are going to treat their patients from now on he wasn't coming back. He doesn't need to be treated like he's trying to get out of a bill first thing when he walks in the door.
Said she was pretty surprised. I wonder how many people just hand over their money without question?
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 13, 2012 10:46:14 GMT -5
Mich, I have long suspected that medical bills are padded.
Suspected? Yes they are. For instance they almost always charge you for the medication that you take during your stay...Even if you bring your "normal" drugs from home.
I am going through what you are after my recent heart attack. I just love the guy who walked into the room during my stress test, didn't say a word, didn't even look at me or the computer, walked out and sent a bill for $245. Seems like these tests have to be supervised by a cardiologist - that was him.
This one makes some sense to me. Yes the cardiologist "supervises" the test but he is also there in case you have another H/A. Of course it depends on the problem but putting stress on the heart could bring one on. I'm in cardiac rehab (another name for an after H/A exercise program) & we have to have a doctor there before we can exercise (& that's even on a tread mill, which is walking).
Tell them you didn't receive the service and they will probably cancel. If not, tell them you are advising the insurance company to dispute that charge. They would much rather lose your copay, than the whole thing.
To be honest most insurance companies really don't bother. They pay a certain amount per procedure & understand that there will be extras added on. My WAG is that if you only paid for what was really done you bill would be between 20 to 40 percent less. Oh & they also get creative with billing. I remember about a charge of $125 for mucus collection devise. It turned out to be a box of Kleenex. That's creative!
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tskeeter
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Post by tskeeter on Mar 13, 2012 10:55:33 GMT -5
Gee Swamp, you sure passed up a good opportunity to tweak the collectors a bit for being so aggressive. In your case, I probably would have insisted that they send a hard copy of the bill to the office, with your firm name included in the address. And I would have made a big production out of making sure that I had the spelling of the collector's name correct and the name of the collection agency they represented. Then I might have made an off hand comment about how fun it is to sue collection firms for violations of collection statutes. Yeah, I don't play well with others
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Post by naggie1972 on Mar 13, 2012 10:57:12 GMT -5
Oldtex that is hilarious, mucus collection I looked at both bills and tried to figure out where the 4.64 came from, funny it was the exact amount twice for the exact same surgery. I couldn't find it but darn tooting if it was not just 4.64 I would and do go through bills with a fine eye. This is where I have the luxury and the background to do it. The luxury as I am not working and have the time (don't get on my ass all you working peeps, I know you like to keep your money too) also being in the biz I know a little. I TRY to circumvent issues before hand (knowing what is covered, how much the copay is etc etc) and I know with emergency stuff a person can't always do that, so good luck Mich, hope you can get it figured out. Even with that I still get surprises, really the copay was 150 where did this 4.64 come from......AARRGGHH gonna bug me all day now.
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Post by The Walk of the Penguin Mich on Mar 13, 2012 11:52:02 GMT -5
Suspected? Yes they are. For instance they almost always charge you for the medication that you take during your stay...Even if you bring your "normal" drugs from home.
Of course they do and I do not have a problem with this. I know that they charge more than your prescriptions cost, but you have to consider the number of hands that your meds go through and the amount of record keeping involved in making sure that you're getting your meds, as prescribed. This also puts the onus on THEM to make sure that there are no contraindications.
My objection is a doctor charging me for 2 visits because the first time he walked into my room I was tied up with PT. My objection is the NP charging for more visits than I remember.
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wvugurl26
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Post by wvugurl26 on Mar 13, 2012 11:58:14 GMT -5
I would definitely object to two doctor visits. As for the NP you can always ask. Hindsight's 20 20 but your suggestion to keep track of doctor visits is excellent. Then you could say the NP did not visit on these days.
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Post by The Walk of the Penguin Mich on Mar 13, 2012 11:59:37 GMT -5
Even with that I still get surprises, really the copay was 150 where did this 4.64 come from
Did you call the hospital and ask?
My first rounds of surgery, in 2007, I was under an HMO and had to pay $100 copay for the surgery. When I received the bill, it was all covered but $112. I was totally clueless about this, so finally called the hospital and asked why it wasn't covered.
It turned out that the day I left, I asked for some dressings so that I could change them at home. So she gave me a large handful (maybe about 12 of 'em). That was what the $112 was for.
I ran out, needed a couple more so went to a medical supply company. <gulp> A box of the dressings, less than what they gave me, was $88! Essentially, the medical supply company (these dressings were large, I think 6"x 15") charged me less than the hospital!
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Post by naggie1972 on Mar 13, 2012 12:12:47 GMT -5
uhuh, I do have it on my list to call, not a priority though. I do wonder about it but just paid it to get that part off my "to do" list. I am curious about it but honestly it means I have to print out the EOB AFTER finding it on the Humana site, re-familiarize myself with it then get on the phone to Humana and the hospital, frankly I don't feel like doing it yet for 9.28. Maybe it was the socks!!!! or the foamy pillow thing, or maybe the plastic bag that you put your stuff in, maybe it was the apple juice and crackers I had....
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