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Gripe About Hospital Bills - Major Setback

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IOBA
Senior Contributor

Re: Gripe About Hospital Bills - Major Setback

Beginning of this year, DH learned that he had a brain tumor or two.  There went savings, reserves, cc rewards, future income...in came family loans, friend loans, business loans, cc debt, line of credit maxed out....I am about 330k STILL in debt.

 

My place is under contract - and once it sells, after paying off the existing debt, I will still have about 80-100k in debt.  (I moved out.)  And I just found out yesterday that the hospital just mailed MORE bills.  *insert eye roll*

 

Anyways - I definitely feel medical bill pain.

 

I DID learn that if you go to a hospital and use their services and they claim to be "in-network" they should be in network.  What SOMETIMES happens is that the employee is new to the hospital and their status may NOT be updated with your insurance company.  YET.

 

So...I would suggest going back to the hospital and ask them to update the records with the insurance company and then to rebill the insurance company.  Explain that you believe that the at the time of the original billing there was a mistake made.

 

That's one the one doctor's assistant told me when he required thousands of dollars prior to scheduling surgery.  

 

And take it with a grain of salt when the medical facilities ask for money BEFORE the procedure claiming the insurance company has already told them what you owe.  The insurance comapnies have not and will not say how much you owe before the process.  If you have a standard co-pay when you walk in, you can pay that.  But that's it.

 

Hang in there.  I am.  I have asked almost every medical provider to rebill the insurance company and issue me a refund of what I have paid so far.  (They are "rebilling" but I am out the money I already paid before I realized thatt they made a mistake.)  My life was frugal before...and I didn't think it was possible to tighten the belt even more...but I have.  I gave up the internet.  Smiley Sad  I use public wifi now.

 

Keep moving forward.  Be thankful that your daughter is making a full recovery.

Message 11 of 15
UncleB
Credit Mentor

Re: Gripe About Hospital Bills - Major Setback


@IOBA wrote:

Beginning of this year, DH learned that he had a brain tumor or two.  There went savings, reserves, cc rewards, future income...in came family loans, friend loans, business loans, cc debt, line of credit maxed out....I am about 330k STILL in debt.

 

My place is under contract - and once it sells, after paying off the existing debt, I will still have about 80-100k in debt.  (I moved out.)  And I just found out yesterday that the hospital just mailed MORE bills.  *insert eye roll*

 

Anyways - I definitely feel medical bill pain.

 

I DID learn that if you go to a hospital and use their services and they claim to be "in-network" they should be in network.  What SOMETIMES happens is that the employee is new to the hospital and their status may NOT be updated with your insurance company.  YET.

 

So...I would suggest going back to the hospital and ask them to update the records with the insurance company and then to rebill the insurance company.  Explain that you believe that the at the time of the original billing there was a mistake made.

 

That's one the one doctor's assistant told me when he required thousands of dollars prior to scheduling surgery.  

 

And take it with a grain of salt when the medical facilities ask for money BEFORE the procedure claiming the insurance company has already told them what you owe.  The insurance comapnies have not and will not say how much you owe before the process.  If you have a standard co-pay when you walk in, you can pay that.  But that's it.

 

Hang in there.  I am.  I have asked almost every medical provider to rebill the insurance company and issue me a refund of what I have paid so far.  (They are "rebilling" but I am out the money I already paid before I realized thatt they made a mistake.)  My life was frugal before...and I didn't think it was possible to tighten the belt even more...but I have.  I gave up the internet.  Smiley Sad  I use public wifi now.

 

Keep moving forward.  Be thankful that your daughter is making a full recovery.


@IOBA, I'm so sorry to hear about your DH and the financial issues you've both experienced.  I wish a speedy recovery to him and financial re-bound to you both.

 

What you're describing about the hospital re-billing insurance is basically what I experienced after my surgery.  Instead of having the out-of-network providers send another bill, the Aetna CSR was able to re-process the existing claim at the in-network level.  It did take a phonecall by me, though... on the first-pass their computers had a couple of the providers out-of-network, and the bill I received from the provider reflected that. 

 

I completely agree that when you go to the hospital for a surgery (or anything that requires multiple providers and you have no choice at the time) that it should be cut-and-dry if you did due diligence to use an in-network facility.  In my case, one of the providers was only in the ER... not only did I have no say in his selection, I never even saw him while conscious.

 

Thankfully a co-worker told me to call Aetna and ask about it (rather than just pay the bill), and I'm probably also fortunate that I got a CSR that was well-versed on what needed to be done (i.e. it's all about finding somebody who knows what buttons to press...).

Message 12 of 15
IOBA
Senior Contributor

Re: Gripe About Hospital Bills - Major Setback

I am so glad it was easy for you to get the situation resolved!

 

Thanks for the well wishes.  I take one day at a time.  There are little things that give me joy.  (Going to the mailbox doesn't give me joy anymore.  Maybe another time it will.)

 

The insurance company told me that they negotiate a set price for all procedures now.  Period.  Even if there are complications, it's suppose to be one set price.  Smiley Happy

Message 13 of 15
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Gripe About Hospital Bills - Major Setback

Well, I have news. 2 of the biggest hospital bills have been forgiven by the hospital as a part of their charity care program, as well as a few of the doctors and consultants that the hospital bills on behalf of. This leaves me with only $1.5k in bills to pay. 

 

Thank you everyone for listening to my panic, it was definitely an eye-opener!

 

My daughter is doing great. I am definitely grateful.

Message 14 of 15
Appleman
Valued Contributor

Re: Gripe About Hospital Bills - Major Setback

Thanks for sharing the good news! REally glad to hear that your situation was resolved and that your daughter is doing well.

Message 15 of 15
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