hospital took 17 months to bill me - vent

[deegack]

My daughter is turning 17 months on Christmas day. About 2 months after she was born, I called the hospital to ask about my co-pay ($250 each for me and my daughter so $500 total). I was told if I owed anything I would be billed shortly. Ok. Called one more time. Was told the same thing, then forgot about it.

Fast forward to last week and I received a bill for $500. Late but ok. I figure we will pay it after the first of the year. Yesterday, I received a bill in my daughters name for $250. The date of service is listed as the day she was born.

I call and spend 20 minutes explaining this to the billing department. All they can tell me is they have 2 years to bill me and to call my insurance company. I call my insurance company. They don't know what the hospital is doing. They paid the claim in Sept 09 and we only owe $500 total. They will call the hospital and get back to me in 3-5 business day. While I am on the phone with them, the hospital calls back. So i return their call. Explain the situation to another woman, who get very snippy with me and told me I need to understand my insurance. I assured her I do that is why I want to know why they are charging me 3 co-pays for 2 people. She offered me a payment plan for the $750 she said I owed. I told her my insurance company says I only owe $500 and until this is resolved they will be getting none of my money. She put it to a secondary review and I have to call in 10-15 business day (which is AFTER the bill is actually due, but I'm not worrying about that).

My plan is to call back get it resolved and then pay it off over 17 months. I can just pay it in a lump, but if they can take their time billing me and be rude about it, I can take my time paying them.

This is why health care is screwed up.

 

[bicker]

Billing messes are nothing that can't be fixed by throwing a lot more money into the system for process improvement and for information technology support. That'll keep me employed, but will spike everyone else's health insurace costs.

Another alternative is to insist on payment before service, leaving the patient to seek reimbursement from insurance carriers after-the-fact. However, what do folks do when the doctor walks in and says, "You need emergency surgery: $40,000 please, in advance; cashier's check or money order only." So that won't work.

So while health care may be screwed up, none of the alternatives are necessarily better.

 

[deegack]

I agree that paent before hand is not the way to go and billing is a mess. I remember other times I was in the hospital having to meeting with billing right as I was discharged to pay copays or set up a payment plan/talk about alternatives. My problem is more about the attitude. I offered to pay last year, heck I had the money all set aside in a pretax acct. They wouldn't take payment then.

 

[deegack]

I agree that paent before hand is not the way to go and billing is a mess. I remember other times I was in the hospital having to meeting with billing right as I was discharged to pay copays or set up a payment plan/talk about alternatives. My problem is more about the attitude. I offered to pay last year, heck I had the money all set aside in a pretax acct. They wouldn't take payment then.

 

[Andtototoo]

My problem is more about the attitude. I offered to pay last year, heck I had the money all set aside in a pretax acct. They wouldn't take payment then.

We've had that problem in two different hospitals. In both cases, we asked to prepay our copay and they refused. What really chaps my hide is that in both cases, we NEVER got a bill from the hospital, but DID get harassed by collections agencies. Two years later. In both cases, even though we had filled out the intake paperwork properly, the hospital had sent the bill to an incorrect address, so the bill was marked returned to sender. In both cases, instead of checking THEIR OWN paperwork or Googling us (we have a very unusual name and I am literally the only person in the US with this name), they sent the bill to collections.

To say that we were furious about being harassed by a bill collector when THEY were so incompetent as to use incorrect addresses and then not bother to correct THEIR OWN mistakes, is an understatement.

 

[Green Tea]

If the bill is just a copay, the hospital must be an authorized provider for the insurance company. Make them work it out. It sounds like the first billing just didn't include the baby's info. I think it will ultimately work out for you. Just keep notes of the calls.

 

[powellrj]

We just got a bill last month for my DFIL, thats well and good except that he died over 2 and 1/2 years ago and the estate was settled over a year ago. Sorry, its aggravating to deal with.

 

[FireDancer]

If someone wants to take forever to bill me I don't really have a problem with it, it just means I get to hold onto my money longer and earn some additional interest on it. Due to a problem with the system upgrade Cleveland Water did I went an entire year without a water bill and then got one for the past 12 months. I knew I owed it but I had 11 months of interest I earned on that money that otherwise would have been sitting in their accounts.

The attitude on the other hand there is no excuse for.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

One case where I like the auto insurance approach--though not sure if this was a fluke.

In 2005, I was in PT for a back issue and did not have much more to go. I was paying my co-pays as I should.

Well, I ended up getting rear ended in a hit and run. My back was flaring up within hours. All that work undone. For me to continue PT, we had to do a new file, new eval, and new treatment plan. After consult with an attorney, I went to my physician to get a new MRI so that we could document my neck condition post accident. (I had an mRI prior, so this was to validate that my neck didn't sustain a new injury so that any future claims could not contest the fact.)

Anyway---I knew I had a $1000 deductible on auto for medical treatment and wanted to pay. Noone would take my money. Thy had to file first. Fair enough.

In a comedy of errors, the doctor,'imaging center, and pt all failed to file the claim in a timely matter and it ended up that by law, they couldn't make me pay. I did try, but they could not accept it. I don't know what haPpened, but in the end, everything was free. Noone gave me attitude though.

Perhaps the medical insurance should operate the same way?

 

[Coach K]

I got a bill last month for the last 2 dialysis treatments that my wife had. She passed away 21 months ago!!! The insurance industry is overloaded with beauracratic (sp?) mumbo-jumbo. Maybe they should go to being non-profits. The health care industry is not the problem; it is the insurance companies that deal in the health care industry that needs fixing.

 

[Planogirl]

The biggest problem is that so much of this incompetence ends up in collection agencies which then hits people's credit reports. People are always calling the credit bureaus upset because of these collections but there's usually not much that can be done unless something can be worked out with the collector.

 

[deegack]

I got a bill last month for the last 2 dialysis treatments that my wife had. She passed away 21 months ago!!! The insurance industry is overloaded with beauracratic (sp?) mumbo-jumbo. Maybe they should go to being non-profits. The health care industry is not the problem; it is the insurance companies that deal in the health care industry that needs fixing.

My insurance paid in full less then 6 weeks after DD was born. Considering it was over $100,000 that's not too bad. The hospital decided not to bill me for my co-pay until now. Its correct on the insurance side but not the hospital side. The insurance company is actually being helpful! They are going to talk to the hospital and get back to me in 3-5 business days. The hospital has to refer it to another department and wants me to call them back in 10-15 business days. They may have an answer for me then or they may not.

 

[clori]

Many years ago I went to a new doctor (moved) for a routine physical. I had insurance but knew that I had a $250 deductible to meet and the appt was $180. I tried to pay the $180 at the appt but the office said no I had to wait until the insurance came thru. Honestly I assumed I would get a bill and forgot all about it.

More than a year later I got a letter from the insurance company saying they only accept claims for 1 year from date of service and since they were just getting the claim from the drs office it was rejected. I called and stopped into the drs office in person to pay my bill. I had the money the entire time but was waiting to get a bill. The drs office refused to accept payment saying it was their fault. I tried to explain it didn't matter since I would have had to pay anyway but they refused to accept the payment.

Last year I had a hospital insurance issue after my dd was seen at Childrens Hospital. Somehow it was billed under dh's birthdate instead of dd's so the insurance company rejected it. Basically they said dh was too old to receive regular services at a Childrens Hospital. I called up the hospital billing to try and change the birthdate and was given a direct exchange. I was asked to call the insurance company and request a 3 way call. I was also told it might take a few weeks to get straightened out but I was not to pay any bill I got in the meantime. I thought both the hospital billing and insurance was very professional and straightened the issue out quickly.

 

[sbell111]

As I understand it, the OP has two issues:

1. The hospital didn't bill her until 17 months after services were provided.
2. The amount she is being billed is believed to be incorrect.

I don't see the first issue as a big deal. The OP knew that she owed the money and the hospital had two years in which to bill. The OP has been earning interest for two years on this money. She should pay what is owed and be happy about any interest earned.

The second issue is apparently being handled by the insurance company. Within a few days, the hospital will likely correct the amount that the OP owes or the insurance company will explain to the OP why she owes the larger amount.

I simply see no reason for angst related to these issues.

 

[deegack]

Actually there is a problem. I had set aside $500 for the copayment in my pre tax acct that year. I called about it and was dismissed. At the end of 2009 we scrambled to buy items that qualified for the pretax acct and even ended up buying thing to donate to a womens shelter because how much advil can one family use. This year we had several major medical expenses so our pretax dollars are spent. So although I could dip into our savings acct to pay the bill it is annoying to have to do so when I would have paid the bill in full using my pre tax money last year.
In addition I was treated rudely by the billing department an issue I will be addressing with a strongly worded letter once this is over. In addition even though I am in no way responsible for the screw up, I have to take more time out of my day to resolve the issue. I already spent over an hour on the phone with them trying to resolve it but they would or could not look at both bills and say oh yeah your right we double billed you.

 

[INDISMOM]

I had a billing issue with the hospital when my youngest was born. I had preregistered, but they could not find me in the system, so they registered me again when I was in labor.

I arrived at the hospital around 4:30am - 5am in the morning and gave birth at 7:30am.

When I got the bills, there were 3 -- 1 for my daughter and 2 for me with different patient numbers listed. I wanted to be sure we weren't being billed twice so I called the billing department. I explained what I was looking at and the lady in the billing department said it was impossible that I had 2 patient numbers for the same admittance and that I MUST have come to the hospital, been sent home, and then came back to deliver later. I calmly asked her to look at the times the charts were open. The first one for me was at 5am, my daughter's was at 7:45am, and the second one for me was 8am. I told her I was pretty certain I didn't leave the hospital between 5am and 7:45am while in labor!! She just kept telling me it was impossible that I had 2 patient numbers.

I ended up calling the insurance company who said they were flagging my account and would send the bills back to the hospital for auditing.

Turns out they didn't double bill me for anything so all was fine. The only thing I can think is after they registered me that morning they must have found the preregistration information and then used that from 8am on. Who knows what exactly happened, I just know according to the billing department I did the impossible!!!

 

[lillygator]

I find it hard to believe that a bill didn't drop prior to 2 yrs.....did you move in that time frame?

 

[deegack]

Nope same house. I asked about that. All they would say is they have two years to bill me. They have my address and phone number correct in the system.

 

[ReneeA]

I find it hard to believe that a bill didn't drop prior to 2 yrs.....did you move in that time frame?

I think it depends on the hospital - the one I use now bills within 90 days of service. The one I gave birth at? I never received a bill within a year...at least 8 invoices were received more than a year past the date of service. Not only that, they never, ever sent detailed invoices. Only you owe$____. When I called to request detailed invoices, they told me they charged $100 for that "service".

I loved my doctor, but dropped him due to the hospital he was associated with.

 

[bumbershoot]

In a comedy of errors, the doctor,'imaging center, and pt all failed to file the claim in a timely matter and it ended up that by law, they couldn't make me pay. I did try, but they could not accept it. I don't know what haPpened, but in the end, everything was free. Noone gave me attitude though.

Perhaps the medical insurance should operate the same way?

I have Aetna, and they work like that. But in a fast timeframe. DS saw a group of NDs who did some tests, and we were billed and everything was squared away with insurance and the labwork people and the NDs. Then around 7 months later the lab people asked for more money. Online I saw that they'd sent the bill to Aetna as well, so I waited, since the lab people are a preferred provider. Aetna told them that they waited too long to bill, and no one is responsible for that extra amount. It wasn't much, I wouldn't have had a problem paying, but if I'm not responsible for it, I have no interest in paying for it. And since asking for more money will get a provider kicked out of a preferred provider status, I doubt I'll be hearing more from them.