Why Does Bad Financial News Always Come on Weekends?

[LadyBeBop]

...and you can't get anyone to deal with this until Monday?

This is a double whammy on me. I'm leaving on a (non-Disney) vacation tomorrow, so I have to deal with this while on vacation.

I had my colonoscopy done in March. Insurance is taking its good ol' time covering it (it should be covered...I'm 55, and this is my first colonscopy done in over five years). Now, today I get a hospital bill for over $1,000.

To put things in perspective, I was in the hospital last year for over a week, and my total hospital bill did not come close to $1,000.

I know the hospital's business office is closed. I called my insurance company (Blue Cross/Blue Shield), hoping they have Saturday hours. But nope.

Hoping everything will be taken care of. But it's a dark cloud over me until (at least) Monday. And this cuts into vacation.

This isn't the first time that I've gotten bad financial news late Friday or over the weekend, and we have to wait until Monday to take care of it.

 

[kymom99]

It sounds like you are a responsible person, but I would not even give this a thought until I got home if I were you.

 

[DizneyLizzy]

Agreed. Don't give it a thought. Look over your insurance coverage carefully and make sure the procedure was done by an in network doctor. If all is well and covered, contact your insurance company, tell them what's going on, send them the bill, and let them work it out with the hospital. Do not pay the bill if it is not what it should be, re: your out of pocket costs.

 

[luvdisney87]

I can totally relate to this. Or stuff breaks down right before vacation...It'll work out. Have fun on your vacation and try not to think about this.

 

[DOOM1001]

Have you seen the movie Office Space,in that movie they mention that they always fire people on Fridays since studies show there's less chance of an
incident.I'll assume it's the same reason,you'll want to put it out of your mind since you have the weekend coming up,put it off and forget about it until Monday.

 

[Iowajes]

Just put it out of your mind until Monday. Nothing can be done about it, so don't let it ruin your weekend.

Hopefully the insurance just hiccuped, and didn't get the money to the hospital in time, so they billed you- and you'll be able to submit for reimbursement.

 

[justlook3]

I agree with everyone else. I had one myself at the beginning of the year (and wow, mine was $500 not over 1,000) and they told us it wouldn't be covered because I hadn't met my deductible blah blah blah. So we just paid the bill. 3 months later, I get a check for the full amount back! Insurance decided to cover it after all. So I would go on your vacation and deal with it when you come back. In the meantime the insurance could pay it.

 

[bumbershoot]

I wouldn't worry about this at all, and I wouldn't assume it's something you're going to have to cover. Even if it is...if your deductible hasn't been met, if it was a non-preferred provider, if if if...you've got a couple months to go back to the provider and have them rebill insurance, then go back to insurance and make sure they did it right, make sure the billing codes were right, etc. As long as you're in contact with everyone, you should have time to work this out with no one sending you off to collections.

This wouldn't bother me at all.

Oh and since you were unfamiliar with your insurance company hours, it's possible they are new to you. Make sure the office billed the right insurance company.

I've been super-flakey recently and was ignoring envelopes from my (former) acupuncturist, because I knew that I had paid the copay each visit and that we hadn't gone over our allowance. Finally opened it, $122 from my son's visits in December. Hmm. Looked at every word on that page...they billed our old insurance. EASY fix. One message and a 5 minute phone call, done.

 

[LJSquishy]

It's the same reason plumbing issues only happen on weekends also.

I'm sorry you've got the stress of the bill over your head going into your vacation. I'm sure insurance will probably cover it, though. Try to relax...there isn't anything you can do to fix it right now. Have a fantastic trip!!!

 

[Planogirl]

You sound like me. I would reason that I couldn't do anything about it but I would fret and worry.

Try to relax and enjoy your weekend. Just have everything prepared (phone numbers, insurance info, etc.) for when you do call on Monday. Again, you sound like me so you will probably be calling Monday. Try to do it mid-morning or afternoon to help avoid holding as long.

 

[kymom99]

Have you received an EOB from your insurance company? The EOB tells you exactly what your responsibility is. If you don't have it in hand, you may be able to access it online.

 

[LadyBeBop]

Have you received an EOB from your insurance company? The EOB tells you exactly what your responsibility is. If you don't have it in hand, you may be able to access it online.

Thanks for bringing that up. I went online to access my EOB. It states my responsibility for everything is about $115. Apparently, my hospital failed to provide some requested information, so the insurance company did not cover everything. I emailed my hospital a copy of the EOB, emphasizing that the insurance company stated I was only responsible for the $115. I am expecting either an email or a cell phone call early next week from the hospital. Hoping this will take care of everything.

 

[tvguy]

I may have been dreaming, but I swear that businesses that mail things "First Class, Pre-Sorted" get a discount not only for pre-sorting, but because the post office delivers the mail on Saturday, when mail volume is lower.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I wouldn't look at this as "bad financial news". More like just another thing to deal with. Enjoy your vacation and deal with it when you get home.

 

[scrapquitler]

...and you can't get anyone to deal with this until Monday?

This is a double whammy on me. I'm leaving on a (non-Disney) vacation tomorrow, so I have to deal with this while on vacation.

I had my colonoscopy done in March. Insurance is taking its good ol' time covering it (it should be covered...I'm 55, and this is my first colonscopy done in over five years). Now, today I get a hospital bill for over $1,000.

To put things in perspective, I was in the hospital last year for over a week, and my total hospital bill did not come close to $1,000.

I know the hospital's business office is closed. I called my insurance company (Blue Cross/Blue Shield), hoping they have Saturday hours. But nope.

Hoping everything will be taken care of. But it's a dark cloud over me until (at least) Monday. And this cuts into vacation.

This isn't the first time that I've gotten bad financial news late Friday or over the weekend, and we have to wait until Monday to take care of it.

I would completely put it out of my mind until I got home from vacation.

 

[ThisIsTheYear]

I may have been dreaming, but I swear that businesses that mail things "First Class, Pre-Sorted" get a discount not only for pre-sorting, but because the post office delivers the mail on Saturday, when mail volume is lower.

This makes sense. I ALWAYS receive medical bills on Saturday.
OP- I once received a bill that insurance should have covered on a Saturday. I stewed about it for the rest of the weekend (I think I even complained on here). When I called the Drs that Monday, they said, "Oh yeah, it's taken care of. No worries".

 

[seashoreCM]

At least you can still go on vacation; you don't have to actually pay the bill tomorrow.

Unlike the car breakdown where you won't be going anywhere until it is fixed.

 

[bumbershoot]

Thanks for bringing that up. I went online to access my EOB. It states my responsibility for everything is about $115. Apparently, my hospital failed to provide some requested information, so the insurance company did not cover everything. I emailed my hospital a copy of the EOB, emphasizing that the insurance company stated I was only responsible for the $115. I am expecting either an email or a cell phone call early next week from the hospital. Hoping this will take care of everything.

Sounds like the bill was simply sent out before the EOB made its way through the hospital's systems.

Had a situation once where DS got to go to the ER via ambulance. Once all the smoke cleared (nearly a year later) we realized that the ambulance company billed first. The insurance did their coverage of the ambulance bill before doing the visit. The ambulance company billed US dead last. After arguing about a discount they offered then took away, trying to get the insurance company on the phone with the rep at the ambulance company, etc etc, for months and months, the ambulance company finally gave the discount back, and then a rep at insurance noticed that they had covered it as a NON-emergency, because they didn't have the ER billing and codes in their system yet, and they sent us a check. We actually made money on that one, weirdly.

Anyway, places bill sometimes before EOBs show up. It'll be OK.

 

[Owlpost23]

Could be a coding issue.My husband had his colonoscopy,and we got a big bill from it because it was coded "Diagnostic".Should have been coded "Preventative",which is covered at 100%.Hopefully it was something like that.