Medical Bills: Errors, Padded Bills, and General Craziness

As I've said before, I have trouble mustering both the energy and the focus to sort out medical billing problems. So I tend to let them go for a month or two, or longer, until I have a batch, and then I deal with them all at once on a day when I've got a head of steam up.

So on the Monday before I left for the beach, I gathered up a stack and went to the phone. I always make these calls from my landline, as I don't want these folks capturing my cell phone number--I never give that out to medical providers, only to my nearest and dearest.

Here's how it went:

Bill No. 1
This was a bill from Quest Diagnostics, a lab which runs my tumor marker tests now that I've switched doctors. The bill was for $102 and change. I talked to Tim and discovered that Quest didn't have my insurance info (don't ask, I didn't), which is why they kept billing me.

I gave Tim the info and now everyone is happy. That was an easy one.

Bill No. 2
This was from Via Radiology, for an MRI. Cost: $1,415. I talked to Michelle, who said that my account had just been sent to insurance a few days before I called, so not to worry about the bill.

That's two down.

Bill No. 3
This was an old one, for a mammogram on 3/20, cost $79. Provider: Seattle Radiologists.

I talked to Dana, or maybe it was Dara, can't read my notes now, and she had a completely wrong insurance company for me. Somebody on the provider side entered the wrong info into the system, apparently, and they were merrily billing the wrong insurance, month after month.

I gave Dana the correct insurance info., and, again, everyone was happy.

Bill No. 4: the Padded Bill
Bill No. 4 was a little more interesting. After I saw Dr. Livingston in Tucson in May, I received two bills. One was for Dr. L's services, and I promptly paid my share of that. (I owed a percentage of the bill because Dr. L is no longer part of WSHIP's network.)

But then I got a second bill, for the same visit, for $53 for "hospital charges."

Except that I saw Dr. L in the clinic as an outpatient, and didn't have any tests or anything else.

My insurance went ahead and paid $31.80 on this one, leaving me with a balance of $21.20. But I didn't see how I could possibly owe this.

So I called, and the person I talked to, Cindy, said that the billing system "automatically bills a facilities fee for patients seen at the cancer center." But, since I didn't have any lab work, she would remove the charge.

And what about all the people who don't question their bills?

Bill No. 5
And then there's my favorite, a bill that I've been fighting over for two years now, from the University of Washington Medical Center. I am satisfied that this bill has been a mistake from the beginning, but I was never able to sort it out. And then a couple of months ago, UWMC started billing me for it again, but now it shows that I made a payment of $25.81, which I certainly didn't do.

This means that the money I sent in to pay some other bill was applied to the disputed bill, and now there's one hanging out there that I thought I paid that will come back to haunt me ...

But in any case, when I called and talked to Jessica in the billing office, she said, "You shouldn't have received that bill. It was corrected as of 6/07. Don't worry about it."

OK. I won't.

Don't ask me. I'm just the patient.

However, something to keep in mind: As many as eight out of 10 hospital bills contain errors, increasing the tab by 25 percent, according to Money magazine.

Read more:

Paying Bills

Medical Billing Woes

Comments

[jessica]

holy moses...you have my utmost respect and admiration for taking care of this (all today?)! my chest is tight just reading it. that might have a little to do with the utter disdain i feel for insurance companies and the corruption of the billing process in general, but i never was much the bureaucrat type. ever.

pat yourself on the back! (or have someone else do that, where ever it feels good...)

[Lisa]

As much as this isn't funny, it made me laugh. I filled out my disability paperwork the other day where I have to tell them what I do with all of my time while I am not working. Most of it is easy, but for months now, I have been addign the hours a month I spend, organizing, double checking, disputing, etc. hospital and doctor bills. Today my insurance agent called and disputed that amount of time. Ha- I actually write it down and she was floored. This is truly the biggest waste of time. Good luck

[jeanne]

Lisa--now I HAVE to know. How many hours a month? Please post that number.

I need to do that: start keeping track. What a great idea.

Are you applying for social security disability? If so, how are you finding the whole process? I was dreading it, having heard horror stories from friends, but it went pretty smoothly in my case.

[Lisa]

Combined with the disability stuff, I am averaging 2-5 hours a week depending on how many calls I have to make. Last month it was 25 hours... I had to make several pointless calls in July. Freightening isn't it.

No social security disability for me yet. However, if my return to full work schedule doesn't go well I will have to do that.

[jeanne]

Argh! That's what I would have guessed, though, on the amount of time.

I'm going to start tracking mine.

Are you back at work yet? When is that going to happen? Please keep me posted.

Jeanne

[Jill]

This is the most frustrating part of living in CancerLand for me -- the ENDLESS calls to straighten out a bill.

FYI, my oncolcogist's office also charges a fee when I get treatment, even though I don't see my doctor since I'm getting zometa only. Eventually along comes a notice that they've billed my insurance company for seeing the head of the whole clinic, which I think is a cover for a facility fee. And the insurance company pays it, every time.