Doctors and billing - Getting worse?

[WItoTX]

Stop paying your bills. Tell them to F-off. When it goes to collections, tell collections you will give them some $ value far less than what you owe. Say either you, mr bill collector, can have these $78 I have, or I will use it to pay another medical bill. You decide.

This method has worked for us when it comes to the birth of our kids. We didn't pay a single bill for a year after birth because we wanted to know what the total cost would be. Then we approached each bill above a certain $ value this way.

The system we have set up here is a disaster.

[RiverRat1]

Stop paying your bills. Tell them to F-off. When it goes to collections, tell collections you will give them some $ value far less than what you owe. Say either you, mr bill collector, can have these $78 I have, or I will use it to pay another medical bill. You decide.

This method has worked for us when it comes to the birth of our kids. We didn't pay a single bill for a year after birth because we wanted to know what the total cost would be. Then we approached each bill above a certain $ value this way.

The system we have set up here is a disaster.

We we had our daughter (no insurance/self pay) we just agreed on most prices up front. Sure it cost a lot but we have zero issue paying what we owe when agreed on or fair.

But I plan to do what you say on this doctor bill if they don't fix it. It's just straight up a scam. Their "out" is running in a circle saying the billing department is a different company than the doctor office..Which is also a different company doing the scheduling. The latter is so you can't ask for pricing up front because they don't know

My daughter is 20 years old and just getting started in life. This is the only hard part because she's worried about her credit etc.. And it just stresses her out. We're the type that pays what we owe ASAP..Hate letting things hang in limbo.

[RifleBowPistol]

This past January, I got coved, then my wife got it. My wife had to have a coved test for work. I kept telling her, you have it, you don't need some doctor to tell you, you have coved. But we went to one of those 24 hour clinics or whatever they call them. Took about five hours of her being in there, only about three people ahead of her, in line, when we got there. She finally got her test results and we left. Now almost 5 months later. She gets a letter from her insurance company saying they are only going to pay something like $1000 of that coved test. That the other $5000, they are not paying. My wife said they can stick that one up their rear, she's not paying it. They charged something like $6,000 for a single coved test, where they stick a Q tip up your nose.

[RiverRat1]

IMO they should be forced to tell you prices up front. It's not like you're at a store buying a coke or loaf of bread. And this is about the only thing in life where you're not given a price, something that you really need. It's insane.

[91cavgt]

I went to school to do medical coding. This is basically the middle man between the doctor and the insurance company. Coders translate what the office says happened into a code the insurance companies use. I aced the classes but could not pass the extremely hard test to get my medical coders license, and I took the test a total of 3 times!!




A year later my daughter had to go get a cyst removed that was starting to grow between her eye and eye socket. When we got the bills in the mail, one stood out as VERY odd, the anesthesiologist bill. After asking for an itemized statement, I started making phone calls. The bill was coded completely wrong, and I passed it by a certified coder who confirmed my concern. It was put down that the anesthesiologist removed 6 cysts from my daughter!! The problem is the doctor is the one who removed the single cyst, all the anesthesiologist did was administer anesthesia and monitor the patient which there are codes for.

I made phone call after phone call. The hospital, the anesthesiologist, the medical insurance, ect. ect., and not a single person had any problems with how the bill was done.


The ONLY people that care about this problem is the patients. No one in the industry cares and no one wants to do anything that will change that, because it will mean they will eventually get a pay cut.

[AZ&F'sDaddy]

I went to school to do medical coding. This is basically the middle man between the doctor and the insurance company. Coders translate what the office says happened into a code the insurance companies use. I aced the classes but could not pass the extremely hard test to get my medical coders license, and I took the test a total of 3 times!!




A year later my daughter had to go get a cyst removed that was starting to grow between her eye and eye socket. When we got the bills in the mail, one stood out as VERY odd, the anesthesiologist bill. After asking for an itemized statement, I started making phone calls. The bill was coded completely wrong, and I passed it by a certified coder who confirmed my concern. It was put down that the anesthesiologist removed 6 cysts from my daughter!! The problem is the doctor is the one who removed the single cyst, all the anesthesiologist did was administer anesthesia and monitor the patient which there are codes for.

I made phone call after phone call. The hospital, the anesthesiologist, the medical insurance, ect. ect., and not a single person had any problems with how the bill was done.


The ONLY people that care about this problem is the patients. No one in the industry cares and no one wants to do anything that will change that, because it will mean they will eventually get a pay cut.

FWIW, if my biller miscoded I would care. Miscoding is fraud.

[adam_p]

I was looking at my insurance claims the other day and the clinic that did my antibody infusion last fall billed my insurance over $40,000 for the infusion.

[WItoTX]

We we had our daughter (no insurance/self pay) we just agreed on most prices up front. Sure it cost a lot but we have zero issue paying what we owe when agreed on or fair.

But I plan to do what you say on this doctor bill if they don't fix it. It's just straight up a scam. Their "out" is running in a circle saying the billing department is a different company than the doctor office..Which is also a different company doing the scheduling. The latter is so you can't ask for pricing up front because they don't know

My daughter is 20 years old and just getting started in life. This is the only hard part because she's worried about her credit etc.. And it just stresses her out. We're the type that pays what we owe ASAP..Hate letting things hang in limbo.

My understanding is the hospital can't hit your credit for medical stuff. At least not until it goes to the collectors. The collectors can hit it, but once you settle with them, good to go.

I understand the sentiment. If it were me, I would have just paid them. But my wife does not stress about this stuff and she handled it.

[Bayouboy]

Try the V.A. Disaster, doesn't even come close....

I will never step foot in a V.A.!

[bmac]

Doctors and billing - Getting worse?

Wife went to one of those quack a box emergency clinics for a covid test in January and just received a bill for $8300. That’s just nuts


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[AgHntr10]

I took my daughter to an urgent doc yesterday for a sinus infection. They tested her for covid and flu which we knew it wasn’t. I got to the front and they said no charge since they tested for covid insurance covers it. I said what if you hadn’t tested for covid, $203. So my next question was how much if I didn’t have insurance, $99. What a scam

[doghouse]

One of the advantages of a small town clinic, population 1836, is my Doc and office manager know I don't pay any more than my co-pay! They don't want my business I'll change docs. One other clinic in this small town.

[STX_Shooter]

I had a doctor walk into my room tap me on the shoulder and tell me everything will be ok, never saw them again. Was in the room literally 15 seconds I got billed $100 after insurance for that… lol

[CEO]

I had a doctor walk into my room tap me on the shoulder and tell me everything will be ok, never saw them again. Was in the room literally 15 seconds I got billed $100 after insurance for that… lol

Small price to pay for peace of mind

[RiverRat1]

My daughter went to see a new doctor since her other one couldn't figure out her issue. To sum up...she had a basic office visit and then lab work.

Finally a couple months later the bill arrives. Of course it was confusing but boils down to this. She owes $350 for the office visit (new patient visit) and $283 office out patient visit,new after Medishare paid $135. No idea what this charge even is. Wife still trying to sort it out.

So total is $768 plus lab work (which was $173)

Seems mighty crazy to me. we haven't been to the doctor in a few years so wondering if they all went nuts.

Update...
So my wife went with my daughter to office visit #3. This is after endless phone calls and admin pulling bill #1 to re-do.

My wife made them show her the cash price list. So visit #3 was $65. But they made her pay for visit #2 which was $135 (after insurance paid $135) so $270

It's freaking stupid. So if you pay with insurance they literally charge 4 times the price.

We just got the adjusted visit #1 bill. Instead of two charges of $350 and $283 (when they double billed the first time) now it's one charge of $400 plus insurance paid $135.
So Visit #1 total will be $535.

Visit 1 - $535
Visit 2 - $270
Visit 3 - $65

I want to dispute #1 and say they didn't offer us the cash up front price. It took them over a month to tell us what we owed. I think the cash price for Visit #1 would have been about $150 total So just how in the F can they have taken $135 from our insurance and still want us to pay $400 (or almost 3x the cash price)?