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Old 01-23-2021, 12:54 PM
 
5,250 posts, read 4,645,545 times
Reputation: 17352

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Interesting that we all seem to have a horror story or two about the convoluted, for profit, healthcare system. But, in spite of all that consternation many feel no need to reduce the entire current charade to an easily understood single payer system. On another front, computer generated billing has grown to be it's own worst enemy, and in that vein, we are forced to deal with such nonsense simply because "they" refuse to allow the layman's language to prevail. It's come down to us worrying more about the bills we receive-- than the disease we have..

When looking over my own med billings of the past, I noted the sheer lengthiness of the bill, most certainly leading to the majority of the also lengthy phone inquiries which result in a lot of wasted time on hold. All in all, our current medical and health care system seems to be incapable of meeting the huge demand, no attempts to streamline the process, and worse, is the refusal to standardize policies, leaving only the cost and quality of service to consider.

I don't labor under the illusion of "free healthcare for all" as a real thing, but I'm more than willing to pay the necessary taxes that would allow us a more standardized, simplified, straight forward, no surprises system. One ID card, one statement of charges, and, a concerted effort to reduce the costs. Education with regard to healthy living practices, an end to all the advertising of pharmaceutical products, an end to the draining the aged of their life savings, an end to the vagaries of for profit health care, wherein the sick are hustled for their money.. We need an end to a nonsensical system that fears for it's survival because there is no profit if we aren't sick. Where is the system's long term motivation to heal us in such a convoluted setup?
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Old 01-23-2021, 01:35 PM
 
6,844 posts, read 3,919,399 times
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There's been problems with health insurance coverage on private ambulances for decades. When you call 911 the call generally gets routed to a private ambulance service. Our town has a volunteer ambulance service and that is what we use. I've used them several times. They are just as good and fast as private ambulances, and they go to whatever hospital you direct them to. They accept whatever your health insurance covers. I usually send them a donation at Christmas. When my doctor wanted to call an ambulance to bring me from her office to the doctor's office, I stopped her and told her to call the volunteer ambulance.

Regarding health care you need to be an informed consumer. We have (and always had) good health insurance and Medicare plus prescription and dental insurance. Despite the fact I have racked up over $425K in doctor and hospital and lab and prescription bills in the past 5 years, I've had no billing problems or surprises. I pay about $10K per year for all our insurance, deductibles, co-pays, drugs, Medicare etc. It doesn't matter how much or how little our expenses are. I've gotten 14 pints of blood, chemo, surgeries, all kinds of scans, weeks in intensive care electronically monitored 24 hours a day. Between my wife and I, we are on 10 prescription meds daily. One $375K hospital bill cost me $1700 out of pocket. Medical and prescription copays generally run less than $100 a month even though we have about a dozen doctors and specialists visits and 10 lab visits a year, and 1 or 2 scans a year.

Last edited by bobspez; 01-23-2021 at 02:09 PM..
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Old 01-27-2021, 07:30 AM
 
Location: Wonderland
67,652 posts, read 60,329,256 times
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Update - no contact from the ambulance company since my email, and no new bills. We'll see by February 7th or so I guess.
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Old 02-02-2021, 02:04 PM
 
1,845 posts, read 3,698,368 times
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After 160+ days in 3 different hospitals, requiring ambulance transport to each one, the ONLY bills that weren't covered fully by either our primary (BC/BS) or secondary insurance (Tricare) were ambulance services. All things considered with expenses well into $2M, it was a minor amount, about $4k total. But having experience in HR and understanding in and out of network expenses, and contractually agreed upon amounts between insurers and medical service providers etc. I was surprised to not be able to get this solved. That being said we just kept referring it back to BC and/or tricare. Was always polite, they never billed it as overdue, but about a year it just stopped.

As for overbilling, after insurance payment...good luck. But I definitely wouldn't pay. Have it marked as under investigation.
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Old 02-02-2021, 08:40 PM
 
Location: USA
8,899 posts, read 5,924,242 times
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The Fire Dept EMS generally responds to 911 calls.
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Old 02-03-2021, 10:54 AM
 
Location: Wonderland
67,652 posts, read 60,329,256 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Lillie767 View Post
The Fire Dept EMS generally responds to 911 calls.
This was a hospital. Still haven't heard anything back since I sent them my email (which they said they'd return but didn't - this was a month ago).
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Old 02-03-2021, 10:55 AM
 
Location: Wonderland
67,652 posts, read 60,329,256 times
Reputation: 101015
Quote:
Originally Posted by slduvall View Post
After 160+ days in 3 different hospitals, requiring ambulance transport to each one, the ONLY bills that weren't covered fully by either our primary (BC/BS) or secondary insurance (Tricare) were ambulance services. All things considered with expenses well into $2M, it was a minor amount, about $4k total. But having experience in HR and understanding in and out of network expenses, and contractually agreed upon amounts between insurers and medical service providers etc. I was surprised to not be able to get this solved. That being said we just kept referring it back to BC and/or tricare. Was always polite, they never billed it as overdue, but about a year it just stopped.

As for overbilling, after insurance payment...good luck. But I definitely wouldn't pay. Have it marked as under investigation.
Thank you - I haven't heard anything back from them. Maybe they just wrote it off, who knows. I mean, they've already been paid for it by insurance so they should be happy about that. Insurance paid more than the original bill!
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Old 02-03-2021, 11:35 AM
 
5,386 posts, read 3,406,889 times
Reputation: 9033
Quote:
Originally Posted by KathrynAragon View Post
Thank you - I haven't heard anything back from them. Maybe they just wrote it off, who knows. I mean, they've already been paid for it by insurance so they should be happy about that. Insurance paid more than the original bill!
Continue to check your credit report. I had something similar happen many years ago and I thought it was resolved only to pop up later when I applied for a mortgage. Sorry you are going through all this.
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Old 02-03-2021, 11:44 AM
 
Location: Wonderland
67,652 posts, read 60,329,256 times
Reputation: 101015
Quote:
Originally Posted by SanyBelle View Post
Continue to check your credit report. I had something similar happen many years ago and I thought it was resolved only to pop up later when I applied for a mortgage. Sorry you are going through all this.
Good idea. So far so good but it's only been a bit over a month since I last heard from them.
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Old 04-05-2021, 08:48 AM
 
16,235 posts, read 25,097,721 times
Reputation: 27047
Send the info to your insurance company re: the already collected payments, and trying to get more from you. In my experience an Insurance Co is the best at protecting their assets. and, perhaps contact Senior Legal Aid for additional help.
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