healthcare rage
:D hi first post here and all that jazz and I apologize at once for the doozy that is this post! /inb4no1curr
SO I am a sickly person. I am quick often sick! I live in the US and, while I am lucky to have insurance, the healthcare system can be royal pain in the backside.
Moody Hospital, as I will call them, is a subsidiary hospital ~chain~ of a hospital chain in our state Capital Das Money. Moody is the hospital chain with my usual doctors and my award winning physical therapists. It has, however, the most obnoxious piece of crap billing system known to man kind. Everytime you see a doctor? NEW ACCOUNT #. I mean every time. Makes it 'easier on them' to bill insurance and medicare/medicaid but a bloody nightmare for the, you know, patient being seen. This means when you try and make payments on your account under your name, you don't get one lump sum. They don't ~do it that way~ unless you set up payment plans through the Das Money office.
Onto the bad service rage. (if the billing nightmare isn't enough of a suck in and of itself)
Back in October, we realized our insurance had done some evil dastardly insurance buiznez and that we were now being charged a 15% copay on all physical therapy visits (in years before we didn't have this) and we realized this right after I had 30 PT sessions on my knee. That's a lovely 1.5k bill if you were wondering.
So I go into the hospital billing to set up payment plans because, well, who the heck has 1.5k just LAYING AROUND. >> I get to deal with Rude Lady. She insists that 'most people' pay the full balance up front. That it's 'irresponsible' to go on payment plans. Blah blah blah, I get the lady to put me on a payment plan and get my mom on one as well. They tell us, no biggie, 50 USD a month for both of you (100 USD total) til it's paid off.
Flash forward to last week. I had pnuemonia in the month of April (payment date is the 20th) and I missed my payment by a week. I have 14 days to get it in, I show up on May 2nd and pay the bill. I'm told, no big problem, none at all! I go home. I forget about it. Flash forward to yesterday.
Das Money office calls us. 6 times. Each time the ladies on the phone are getting nastier, demanding money, saying we've got this massive balance that's never been paid on and that it's going to go into collection soon. Tells us later the only recollection they have of a payment plan is 50 USD a month for BOTH accounts which is HALF of what I've been paying.
I go down to the Moody Hospital billing office to try and find out wtf's going on.I've been paying the god forsaken bill for the past several months and I know i've cleared some accounts in the process. Moody Hospital's end says I've paid, Das Money's office says I haven't. Insert an hour and a half of lady griping at the lady on the phone that no, I really have been paying and yes, it's a computer error. Supposedly, supposedly it's been fixed. Nothing in collection. However, there's a catch (when isn't there <<) in that in order to finalize this, I have to give them 100 USD. Why? Because I never made that April payment.
I protested, saying I did, that it was within the 14 days and I was there ASAP after you know having bloody pnuemonia. Lady's response?
"It's like a car payment sweetie. You have to pay it within the month. If you pay it on the first of May, even tho that's within the 14 day grace period, that's May's payment."
"Then why did you tell me that that payment counted for April?"
"I was misinformed but that's no excuse on your part. You can't be irresponsible like that when you have a car and this is like a medical car payment. If you don't make your payments wtihin the month, they repossess your car. It's the same with medicine. It's really not that complicated. If you can't make the payments, maybe you should put off your treatment until you can better afford it, okay sweetie?"
(so they're going to repossess my knee? Does that mean I get a new one?)
So I gave her my 100 USD (Sorta had no choice) and asked to speak with a supervisor.
....
.....
They don't have any! All their supervisors are located in Das Money. Meaning they can't be touched locally.
...yeah.
tl;dr: Billing people at this hospital screwed up something royally, offered no apology, then lectured me on car payments.
SO I am a sickly person. I am quick often sick! I live in the US and, while I am lucky to have insurance, the healthcare system can be royal pain in the backside.
Moody Hospital, as I will call them, is a subsidiary hospital ~chain~ of a hospital chain in our state Capital Das Money. Moody is the hospital chain with my usual doctors and my award winning physical therapists. It has, however, the most obnoxious piece of crap billing system known to man kind. Everytime you see a doctor? NEW ACCOUNT #. I mean every time. Makes it 'easier on them' to bill insurance and medicare/medicaid but a bloody nightmare for the, you know, patient being seen. This means when you try and make payments on your account under your name, you don't get one lump sum. They don't ~do it that way~ unless you set up payment plans through the Das Money office.
Onto the bad service rage. (if the billing nightmare isn't enough of a suck in and of itself)
Back in October, we realized our insurance had done some evil dastardly insurance buiznez and that we were now being charged a 15% copay on all physical therapy visits (in years before we didn't have this) and we realized this right after I had 30 PT sessions on my knee. That's a lovely 1.5k bill if you were wondering.
So I go into the hospital billing to set up payment plans because, well, who the heck has 1.5k just LAYING AROUND. >> I get to deal with Rude Lady. She insists that 'most people' pay the full balance up front. That it's 'irresponsible' to go on payment plans. Blah blah blah, I get the lady to put me on a payment plan and get my mom on one as well. They tell us, no biggie, 50 USD a month for both of you (100 USD total) til it's paid off.
Flash forward to last week. I had pnuemonia in the month of April (payment date is the 20th) and I missed my payment by a week. I have 14 days to get it in, I show up on May 2nd and pay the bill. I'm told, no big problem, none at all! I go home. I forget about it. Flash forward to yesterday.
Das Money office calls us. 6 times. Each time the ladies on the phone are getting nastier, demanding money, saying we've got this massive balance that's never been paid on and that it's going to go into collection soon. Tells us later the only recollection they have of a payment plan is 50 USD a month for BOTH accounts which is HALF of what I've been paying.
I go down to the Moody Hospital billing office to try and find out wtf's going on.I've been paying the god forsaken bill for the past several months and I know i've cleared some accounts in the process. Moody Hospital's end says I've paid, Das Money's office says I haven't. Insert an hour and a half of lady griping at the lady on the phone that no, I really have been paying and yes, it's a computer error. Supposedly, supposedly it's been fixed. Nothing in collection. However, there's a catch (when isn't there <<) in that in order to finalize this, I have to give them 100 USD. Why? Because I never made that April payment.
I protested, saying I did, that it was within the 14 days and I was there ASAP after you know having bloody pnuemonia. Lady's response?
"It's like a car payment sweetie. You have to pay it within the month. If you pay it on the first of May, even tho that's within the 14 day grace period, that's May's payment."
"Then why did you tell me that that payment counted for April?"
"I was misinformed but that's no excuse on your part. You can't be irresponsible like that when you have a car and this is like a medical car payment. If you don't make your payments wtihin the month, they repossess your car. It's the same with medicine. It's really not that complicated. If you can't make the payments, maybe you should put off your treatment until you can better afford it, okay sweetie?"
(so they're going to repossess my knee? Does that mean I get a new one?)
So I gave her my 100 USD (Sorta had no choice) and asked to speak with a supervisor.
....
.....
They don't have any! All their supervisors are located in Das Money. Meaning they can't be touched locally.
...yeah.
tl;dr: Billing people at this hospital screwed up something royally, offered no apology, then lectured me on car payments.