CC rant....AGAIN!

[BookNut]

Thought we had it all worked out. Since my last visit in Oct. for a CT and an abortive attempt at a methacholine challenge test, we have received a bill for over $2,300 every month like clock-work. There is NOTHING on the bill that says what it is for. Only the amount due, the amount paid by insurance ($0), and the total owed by us. And a threat to report us to a collection agency.

We have tried numerous times to straighten this out. We call our insurance. They tell us that they have never received the bill. We call CC, and they promise to submit bill. But it never happens.

We thought we finally fixed it last month. A very helpful person at our insurance company decided the best thing to do was to get us all, including CC financial office, on the phone together for a conference call. All of us agreed that CC would send the bill to Blue Cross, and they would pay it.

Well...the same ^%#^# bill was in our mailbox yesterday. Grrrr...... Will SOMEONE please DO THEIR JOB!!!! Double grrrrr!!

[annekat]

How frustrating, Jacquie, to say the least! I can only hope that what was said would happen really did and it's just that the paperwork at the billing office hasn't caught up to it yet. I'm sure that making more phone calls is the last thing in the world you want to do, though! I hope it falls into place somehow.

[MikeG-2012]

Do you have three way calling Jacquie? Maybe a conference call with CC and your insurance is on order. Get them both on the line at the same time and let them duke it out.

Make sure the CC is logging all your requests for them to send the invoice. OR, have them send the bill to YOU and you can forward it to your insurance company?

Just my .02 for the day.

Sorry this has to happen to ANYONE!! ARRGH! (there, I said it for you too) (-8

[BookNut]

Thanks Anne and Mike. We DID the three way call already but the bill came anyway. Hopefully it is as Anne suggested and the bill was being processed before the conference call and it was too late to stop it. The really dumb thing is that the bill says absolutely nothing about what services were rendered. For that reason, I doubt that sending it to the insurance company will help. I would certainly hope they don't just pay bills that have a dollar amount due and no accounting of services rendered. I guess we will wait and see if any more bills come in. If we get another one...we will try a conference call again. After that....we will have to figure out how to escalate the call to a manager.

[drz]

I know how frustrating it was for me when I spent over two years and made over a dozen phone calls to get a supplier for my diabetic supplies to file with my insurance. I had to pay them first to buy the supplies from them so they had no interest in trying to get me reimbursed.They only filed after I told them i could not afford to buy any more supplies till I got some reimbursement for the supplies I bought over the past two years.

Plus I later learned the insurance contract they have only pays them one third of what I paid them. Their contract says they must accept this as full payment too. I am still waiting for reimbursement but my insurance company tells me they have finally got the claims and paid the company who should now reimburse me for what I paid them but it take another two years and dozen phone calls to finally get my money. I will have copies of actual payments for the claims so I can request reimbursement now.

I believe the business office of medical vendors and most insurance companies are only interested in how much cash they can get and hold onto, not how their poor service or lack of service affects the patients.

Often dealing with the finances of health care is worse than dealing with the medical providers themselves. The business office only know you by a number. The providers usually have a face to go with your name and generally seem to have more interest in your survival and well being.

[annekat]

Wow, it all sounds like such a racket! Shame on them, preying on sick people without a lot of financial means who are keeping up their end of the bargain.