The Annoying Thing About Medical Bills

[drcpunk]

Okay. I've been to two emergency rooms this year, so I knew I was getting medical bills. Annoying, but reasonable.

I knew that there are separate charges for different things -- labwork, x-rays, doctors, whathaveyou. Annoying, but okay, I understand.

But the thing I mind most is that I have no idea of how many different bills are going to come. Why do I have to guess on this? Why can't the hospital have a single billing service coordinate and send me a single statement, either billing me for everything up front or at least saying, "These are the things for which you will be billed. These are the amounts you will owe"?

Why should it be idealistic of me to expect this?

Comments

[kyrielle]

Or even just "these are the things for which you will be billed, these are the companies that will bill you, they'll let you know the total" - at least then you know when the bills are done coming, or who to contact if one doesn't appear.

[drcpunk.livejournal.com]

It'd be better than nothing, since as it is, best I get is "This doesn't include everything." But, it would still be annoying, if a little less so.

[kyrielle]

Yeah, but I'm not sure getting all the amounts in one place is a reasonable expectation, since each separate company/biller has to first bill insurance and get not only the insurance payments, but the insurance adjustments, before they know what their final total to you will be. I doubt the first guy out the door wants to wait for the last one to get their response before they send you the bill. But honestly, it should be that when you leave the hospital (not even in the first bill), you get a list of who will be billing you. :P

[drcpunk.livejournal.com]

I guess. At least then I'd know what I should be getting, yes.

[womzilla.livejournal.com]

Because large parts of the American medical establishment are dedicated to creating billing so complex and unfathomable that no one can be sure that they've been overcharged.

[drcpunk.livejournal.com]

And I just got email from the office of my gp saying I owe them money and I can pay via PayPal. This is a bill I received some time ago, called the doctor's office and was told to take it up with th collecting agency, called said agency and got voice mail, called the insurance company and was told precisely when the check to cover the doctor had been cut by them, and called the agency again, leaving this information. This is the gp I was annoyed at to begin with, and, while I doubt he is personally involved with bill collecting, this is not endearing him to me.