Got to watch them like a hawk....sneaky bastards.

[The Old Jaybird]

went to my diabetes doc this AM for blood work and the clerk at the desk gave me a clipboard with a sheet of about 6 statements to initial.

OK, went thru them until #4 and it was to the effect that the only contract involved in my care was between me and my insurance company.
Hold the phone Betty, this is a participating, in network contracted provider that sure as hell has a provider contract with the insurance company.
I checked this kind of stuff for 40 years....what ****-head lawyer came up with this crap.

I scribbled thru it and put an X where I was supposed to initial..

As a regulator, I used the flip side of this very coin to hold insurance companies feet to the fire and get them to pay claims they were trying to weasel out of.

Be careful what you sign/initial/agree to at a medical facility, they will try to get a legal leg up on you at every turn.

 

[4ssss]

So, am I right into thinking the Dr. is trying to get you to pay if they don't like the insurance payment?

 

[basstracker89]

So, am I right into thinking the Dr. is trying to get you to pay if they don't like the insurance payment?

Yep

 

[basstracker89]

I seldom fill out doctors paperwork due to my “forgetting my glasses”

I've gotten so tired of filling out paperwork, I hand it back to them and tell them nothin has changed. Tired of feeling like I work for everybody else when I'm the one paying the bills.

 

[The Old Jaybird]

So, am I right into thinking the Dr. is trying to get you to pay if they don't like the insurance payment?

probably, that's called "balance billing" and is against the law for in0network providers, not saying that ever stopped them from trying to collect a few extra bucks.

I bet over 95% of the patients just initial OK on this and move on.

 

[buellbrewer]

happened to me at the endodontist..... $300 clams....

 

[4ssss]

Not too long ago, weeks apart, I received 2 bills from a hospital that I KNOW I paid. One was from 2 years ago, and the other was from almost 3 years ago. My wife is a Social Worker, and handles not only our medical bills, but insurance payouts for the clinic she works at. She called the number to dispute the bill, and found out that the bill was definitely paid, but the hospital was "fishing" because they know that people tend to just pay up without questioning the charges. My wife said that was the actual response from the person she talked to at the hospital's billing. The hospitals and other providers are going thru older payments because of the amounts they're losing with insurance and Medicaid. That was also the reason for the 2nd bill, which by the way threatened to turn it over to a collector.

 

[basstracker89]

Not too long ago, weeks apart, I received 2 bills from a hospital that I KNOW I paid. One was from 2 years ago, and the other was from almost 3 years ago. My wife is a Social Worker, and handles not only our medical bills, but insurance payouts for the clinic she works at. She called the number to dispute the bill, and found out that the bill was definitely paid, but the hospital was "fishing" because they know that people tend to just pay up without questioning the charges. My wife said that was the actual response from the person she talked to at the hospital's billing. The hospitals and other providers are going thru older payments because of the amounts they're losing with insurance and Medicaid. That was also the reason for the 2nd bill, which by the way threatened to turn it over to a collector.

Crooks......My Wife even checks what the ins. co. pays

 

[The Old Jaybird]

Welcome to my world....

.40 year career in regulation of insurance companies for state insurance departments

 

[GodBlessTheUSA]

the hospital was "fishing" because they know that people tend to just pay up without questioning the charges.

Older people especially will pay a bill without looking at the EOB, explanation of benefits.

I know T The Old Jaybird and I have been on opposite sides of the billing arguments, but we both find “balance billing” and fishing repugnant.

I know, for a fact that when I worked for a big gastroenterologist “corporation “ (they were #1 a business and #2 a healthcare provider), that they billed astronomical charges for the anesthesia I provided, but paid me a whole lot less! In essence, if one person paid what was charged, the company covered my salary for a day. And I was doing 12-20 anesthetics a day.

A patient’s insurance would be billed, often a four digit amount, the insurance would agree to pay the accepted rate of a few to several three digits, and then the company would send out a “bill” showing that the insurance company didn’t pay the total “charges”.

It looked like the patient needed to pay the difference, but upon closer examination, somewhere in the micetype it would say “this is not a bill”.

And yet, people, especially the elderly , would pay it.

Unethical and now mostly illegal.

I don’t work there anymore.

On the other hand, Medicare and Medicaid don’t pay enough to cover actual costs, and worker’s compensation pays way more than most private insurance. Figure that one out.

Always, always read the “bill” which is usually an EOB.