This never ending saga with the insurance company is driving me crazy. They have not paid ANY of the bills for the hospital visits from FOUR months ago.
Now the hospital is sending ME bills of over $20K apiece as if I can afford to pay that. Well they are on mother’s name…but still, I am the one opening them up every few days.
The hospital has now taken to calling her cell phone to harass her about the bills. Now am I wrong here…but if the hospital verified the insurance shouldn’t that part be THEIR problem now? I do not see why they are calling my SICK mother and telling her that they have tried to call the insurance manager and keep getting put on hold for over 15 minutes with nothing happening.
If YOUR business office verified the insurance then you should know who to deal with at the insurance office. Stay on hold with them for 30 minutes if you have to. Don’t call a sick woman who is lying on a hospital bed to tell her that you cannot get through to the insurance manager and she will now be responsible for the full bill.
She is SICK and this STRESS is not helping. Call the insurance company and harass them!
Ok end of rant.
Yea, I hate it when stuff like that happens. If they just took the time to read the file I am sure they would find out its their fault.
There has to be someone that you can notify at the hospital billing department that you can talk with isn’t there? I’d almost be willing to say to write out a blanket statement along the lines of “The person you want to speak with about payment is blah blah and their phone number is blah blah extension blah, and will be happy to address all concerns you have, thank you and good bye” I feel for your mom, and hope that she gets better.
@ Stocks
It is too late now. They told her at the hospital that she would not be able to come back and the doctor closed her case that very day. They told her she needed to get care within ten days so we got a flight that weekend.
I’m really sorry to hear that. I hope some type of patient advocacy group is out there reading this, and an investigation is done, because I KNOW your family is not the only one going through this.
Your family is in our thoughts and prayers..
That’s horrible that the hospital is harassing you and your mom about an insurance issue. Your mom needs to heal. All of this harassment will lead to more stress and a longer recovery for your mom. I hope you’re able to get everything worked out.
Jerry
@ Jerry
Well today I got a call for her from a collections agency. What I don’t understand is that the hospital accepted the insurance…they spoke to the insurance company so I don’t see why they are not harassing the company first.
I’ve recently started working in the billing department for a local hospital system here in Texas.
What I’ve noticed with insurance, the hospital electronically bills the insurance. The visit is coded so the insurance company knows what type of visit it was and how much to pay and how much to let the patient pay. The end result is called an EOB(Explanation of Benefits) from the insurance company.
Basically the EOB will show the what the insurance paid, the copay the patient owes(if any), the coinsurance the patient owes (if any) [i.e. 80%insurance,20%patient] and deductible(if any). It all depends on your policy and hopefully the visit was coded correctly.
97% of the time this process takes one month. If it takes longer it really does fall on the patient, or someone helping the patient through this difficult time (Son, husband, daughter, friend, etc), to put a foot to butt over at the insurance company. It’s your money that you’ve been spending hundreds of dollars on every month to get the help you needed.
The hospitals do a great job doing their best for as busy as they are keeping on the insurance companies.
Ultimately the balance of the bill is patient responsibility. If the balance is not paid by the insurance company for whatever reason. Time constraints, denied claim, whatever, the hospital does have the right to send the bill to the patient or family member with power of attorney or permissions on financial situations.
The sad fact is, a hospital is a business. As much as we all wish that each hospital was a Patch Adams type of facility, it’s truly about giving great care for a profit.
I know all of this is insanely frustrating and I apologize for your difficult time. I wish there was more that I could do. Each State is different and each Hospital is different but if you have any questions regarding the billing process or insurance companies or collection agencies please feel free to e-mail me. This is my personal email which I don’t mind sharing – I’d love to help in any way that I can. I know this post is a bit older, I hope things have improved.
Best wishes this holiday season from my family to yours.
p.s.
after proofreading my post — I realized how much my 3 year old little girl distracted me while typing that up!
I hope it’s easy to understand, again feel free to email me anytime.
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@ David
Thank you for your explanation of the system. Actually the situation has not improved….we are still in the same stagnant situation.
Thank you for your prayers and well wishes.
Lulu,
I hope things are getting better on the insurance front with your mom’s bills. That is so strange that they didn’t contact them first and chose to harass you guys instead. What a nightmare. Well, I hope the new year will lead to better things for both you and your mom.
Jerry