Always question hospital charges!

[KG]

The bill came for my surgery yesterday. I had contacted the Health Care Provider previous, to make sure it would be covered.

 

The bill says I owe $229.00...???? I call the hospital, they had added (incorrectly) a State surcharge. But I am still responsible for the $75.00 co-pay. I asked if it could be reduced if I sent in the check today...they cut it in half!

 

I can't count the # of times I've run into this....so just a reminder to question everything when you get that bill.

[CallingAllAngels]

Good post KG.....we have to question everything these days.

 

I think everyone is trying to rip us off.

[lostandhurt]

I always do. I once got a bill from the hospital for $196,000.00! Yeah almost 200 grand.

My son was in ICU for 5 weeks and we had double insurance coverage at the time and they still sent the bill. It turned out it was for the doctors that visited his bed and checked on him. They shot gun their bills to anybody involved hoping someone will pay it. I tore it up and tossed it.

 

You are smart to take control of the situation and stay on top of it.

 

lost

[COtuner]

I believe it L and H. I was hit with $100,000 worth of bills for my mom and I became a little demon from hell down in their offices.

[maritalbliss]

The bill came for my surgery yesterday. I had contacted the Health Care Provider previous, to make sure it would be covered.

 

The bill says I owe $229.00...???? I call the hospital, they had added (incorrectly) a State surcharge. But I am still responsible for the $75.00 co-pay. I asked if it could be reduced if I sent in the check today...they cut it in half!

 

I can't count the # of times I've run into this....so just a reminder to question everything when you get that bill.

 

this is true... hospitals messing up on the bills. Glad you posted this though, as my husband has to have his hernia surgery soon... I'm sure we'll be dealing with messy bills. Did you know you can also make payments on it if you can't afford the whole thing? Thats what we'll do more than likely.

[Creative]

Geez, you guys are listing prices of 1/4 of a house.

Nevermind having coverage, they don't even deserve that much money from anyone in the first place.

Are hospitals some sort of big business?

[karvala]

this is true... hospitals messing up on the bills.

 

I'm touched by your faith. Personally, I don't think they're messing up at all, I think it's systematic fraud. If they had to pay a $100,000 fine every time they sent out an incorrect bill, I wonder how long these billing "mistakes" would continue? At the moment, crime pays for hospitals (even if only one in ten pay it, or a small proportion of it, it's still profitable for them), and so of course it continues and grows every year, because there is no penalty for these attempted crimes.

[KG]

After my wife passed, I had to have a friend in the Insurance biz show me how to cross check all the bills from eight different service providers.

There were bills from Doctors I'd never heard of, honestly. When I learned how to do it, began calling them on every single statement. I would've paid almost $3000 that I did not owe.