Families are Forever

Friday, June 3, 2011

Patient Beware.

Honestly, in the last 2 years, I have had every. single. medical bill overcharge me.
Every single one (ok, every single doctor office/hospital)! (this is more of a vent than an informative post)

  • Pregnant with Kaius, doc office billed some random insurance, instead of the insurance I GAVE THEM. I got 4 full bills from like Aetna or something for hundreds of dollars and they took forever to correct it. I blogged about it a long time ago cuz I was pregnant and cranky and if I didn't vent I was going to go down there and shove the Aetna bill down the billing girl's throat.
  • Kaius Hospital stay; Remember the whole "no one in the universe told us we needed to call to add our baby to our policy" thing? Well, not the doctor office's fault...
  • Pregnant with Monroe, moved away and got a new doctor...old doctor sends me a bill for the full amount of prenatal care. I called them and they were like "Oh thats weird, (add nonsense about whoever billed this messed up) we didn't bill your insurance at all...sorry! disregard your bill."
  • ER trip for the chicken bone in my throat. They billed my insurance and then sent me the bill for the remainder. I called my insurance and just asked them to look at it. The lady offered to call the hospital. She put me on hold, called them, then came back and said "They didn't bill us for the full amount, so go ahead and disregard your bill"
  • Monroe Hospital stay, I get a rather large bill for. I call my insurance and they tell me the hospital is overcharging me, that they paid all but a couple hundred for my portion. So I call hospital...and what do I get told?? "Oh, thats weird, how does billing you for that much make sense (add nonsense about whoever billed this messed up) diregard your bill, I'll get it taken care of."
So, people, never just accept that a bill is correct. They make mistakes ALL THE TIME. and in my case, it LITERALLY IS ALL THE TIME. Can you tell I'm a bit angry? I could have just paid them and gone about my business...and I'm sure most people just do.

Sorry for the boring rant, here's a cute picture

4 comments:

Chantalle said...

Our pediatrician kept billing the wrong insurance too. I think I just got it resolved- the appointments were last September!! Good thing you called on yours! Ours unfortunately was the right amount...$6000 to have Elizabeth!

Rachel said...

Hospital bills are ridiculous! Smart woman for calling and complaining.

Bonnie said...

I'm still waiting to pay mine to see if the insurance company is going to pay for more of it. But it seems like they do screw up a lot! Especially with yours!

Mom said...

Since I work for health insurance, I know about making errors on claims. Our company audits every claim we process-so we don't mess up every one. Only about 10%.

Yes, always call and make sure they are doing it right. One insurance company-a large one, which starts with "U----- H-----care" won't fix their mistakes unless the patient calls to tell them to. Most don't. scary.

Good job Carly!

Very cute picture and so very cuddly!

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