[DesertFlower]

I need to complain to someone about my doctors accountants. I am at a loss as to how to resolve my situation.

I have been seeing my neuro since about May 2009 and I like him and things are working out well.

But, the accounting department is horrible!!! I don't have insurance and am paying my own medical bills. The accounting department had a hard time figuring out how to bill me since I don't have insurance, but finally came up with a method. I pay my bill in full every time I visit the doctor - and they give me a slight discount for paying immediately.

Well, every time I go to the doctor AND pay in full, I get an invoice in the mail later showing I didn't pay the bill in full. The bill is for 2 to 3 times the amount I am paying.

I then have to arrange to meet with the accountants every time I get an invoice in the mail and they explain that it was an error and are nice and say it will be corrected, at least until recently.

My invoice has not been corrected for my last 4 visits even though they said it would be fixed previously.

Today I talked to someone on the phone and they said that they are not going to give me a discount anymore and that I now owe the statement balance in full. I already paid for those doctor visits!!!

They verbally gave me an amount to pay for each doctor visit and I have been paying what they said. How can they go back and now say that I owe more money for the past visits? I paid my bill in full each time!!!!

I understand them changing the future doctor visit amount, but how can they change an amount for the past and want more money after I paid in full?

Does anyone know how I can resolve this? They were very rude to me on the phone and said there was no other resolution other than me paying extra for my past doctor visits.

I am going to find another doctor even though I like my doctor and really don't want to deal with finding another doctor. How is the best way to find a good MG specialist?

My whole life is crashing at the moment and I can't deal with this. I have been taking sick days off from work and have tons of work to catch up on and no one to help me. I have lots of other issues to deal with too and I just can't do it. It is all piling up and I really mean I just can't do it all. And now this stupid doctor bill that I didn't know I had! I just want to run away from it all. HELP!

So there is my big complaint. Thanks for listening.

[Joanmarie63]

OK, first things first, take a deep breath...

I used to work for a medical billing company so I know a little about what I am telling you here.

Start by being sweet, that is really important, I know it can be hard but the person will work with you more, I know I had many patients bills written off because they reached out, were kind and took the time to work with me as I did them.

Now when you paid the other bills in full, do you have anything that states you paid it in full? If so, than they can't force you to pay more.

As for the bills saying you owe so much more, all Dr.s and Hospitals do that so the insurance will "deal" with them but when we pay cash they slash the bill a lot. { I have a bill from hosp. that shows if I pay out of pocket the bill is 450 but if I pay through ins. it is 3 times that}

Now talk to your Dr directly and explain the situation. Dr.s hire an outside company to do their billing and don't know what the patients are being billed. Make a deal with your Dr. or the office manager {the Dr.s office manager, NOT the billing company manager}

Please try this and let us know how it goes. I really hope you don't have to change Dr's. Also when you pay for your office visit, have them write on the receipt Paid in Full.

[AnnieB3]

If I were in my right mind tonight (major headache), I could remember the part of our government that deals with this. Call your state offices and ask if anyone knows who deals with patient rights when it comes to this kind of thing. They are obligated to stick to their word, I know that much. And if you have proof of all payments, that helps. I wouldn't normally recommend recording a conversation but, in this case, it might be worth it.

I'm sorry things are so tough right now. Don't give up. Is there some kind of medical assistance you could go on in your state? Any kind of insurance, state run or other?

I'm sort of running on empty right now too or I'd have more energy to shore you up. I do believe that good things will happen if you keep trying. At least put some music on and dance in between all the crap.


Annie

[jana]

I'm stunned -- about how you are being treated -- and about you NOT having insurance!!

This is a really GOOD reason for you to get on disability -- since you meet the criteria anyway. After 2 years on disability, you will qualify for Medicare -- about $100 a month will pay for 80% of your medical bills except for drugs. You will even qualify to sign up for a drug plan.

[DesertFlower]

Joanmarie,

I have been so nice to the billing people, even when I didn't want to be, even when I knew they were making mistakes, and I was nice on the phone today too. I know being nice works, people like to work with nice people. Didn't work this time for me.

On most of my bills, I have a paid in full receipt...but only for the expensive ones where I had tests done. For checkup visits, I only received a receipt for my payment, nothing showing paid in full. Different office procedures for paperwork obviously since it is consistant. So I have "proof" for one of my overcharges.

I will talk to my doctor, why didn't I think of that? The doctor and the billing department are so separated that I didn't even consider it. The doctor's nurse is so wonderful too, I will talk to her first.

From now on, if I go back, I will insist on a paid in full note on my payments!

I am the kind of person who always pays my bills on time and never owes anybody anything - this is really upsetting. I have never had this happen to me.

Thank you!

[DesertFlower]

Annie,

I hope you are feeling better and your headache goes away soon.

This evening I am finally recovering from doing little too much last week. It took 4 days of rest to recover from working 3 days at only 5 to 6 hours each day! (I usually work only 2).

I am going to talk to my doctor and/or his nurse and if they are unable to help I will find whatever state office there is to help with this situation.
I had a suggestion to call the local news station since healthcare is a big issue right now...I don't know if that would help.

I have proof of all my payments and on none of these papers does it show that I had a balance remaining. For my checkup visits I didn't receive a paper showing the amount due so I have no proof that I paid in full.

There is state insurance that I applied for when I got MG initially but since my previous two months of income were too high, they denied it even though I told them I couldn't work (at the time I couldn't work at all, I could hardly even get out of bed). I know right now I am earning under their limits, so I will apply again. Thanks for the reminder.

I don't like needing help. I would work and pay for it all myself if I could.

I absolutely love the music and dance idea. I need that more often...in fact I haven't been listening to much music recently, no wonder why I feel so sad, I love music.

I did make two homemade lemon pies with my son tonight. He is bringing one to school and we get to eat the other one tomorrrow. Lots of lemons on the lemon tree so we are trying out lots of lemon recipes. Yummy!

Thank you.

[DesertFlower]

Jana,

It is too bad about me not having medical insurance, MG caught me at a bad time in my life. I HAD a great job with lots of benefits, but I had to quit...still angry about that, and it wasn't my fault (not going to explain here right now). I couldn't afford those ridiculous COBRA payments - or whatever they are called to continue your insurance when you lose a job.

I do have a savings account that I use to pay my medical bills. It won't last forever so I do need to figure out something else for the future.

Everything I read about social security disability is discouraging since I have "mild" MG. I have decided to document every time I can't do something because of MG so that I can fill out the forms better. I have a tendancy to be positive about my abilities and I have a hard time focusing on my limitations. This is good for my happiness but bad when it comes to filling out a form where I need to explain what I can't do. I don't like to think about what I can't do let alone write it down! Makes me feel terrible.

Thank you for thinking of me.

[Nicknerd]

All of that sounds really lousy, Desert! I read through it and got exhausted imagining having to deal with that.

In Canada, we have OHIP, so we don't have to worry about needing insurance in order to get medical treatment. Dental needs aren't covered, though. Going to the dentist is a pain in the butt for the same reasons you're describing with going to your doctor. I'm pretty sure that not all doctors are the same, but I've noticed that dentists don't like to deal with billing info.. They always route you to the office manager.

I hope that it's not like that when you try to discuss things with your doc.. Your MG needs are so important, and I hope he has empathy in this situation. What they're doing really doesn't seem fair at all. You had a verbal agreement that the bills you payed were payed in full. It actually kinda sounds like stealing, white-collar style. I can understand them changing the price for future procedures, but not what's already been payed. They probably haven't done it on purpose, but their errors and bad attitude(s) toward you isn't very good customer service!

I totally feel for you. I wish you guys all lived in Canada, or you had universal health coverage through the government!

Desert, when you say that your MG is mild, is it because your doc. told you it was? I think that you're a very strong person, and you've done everything in your power to make your health as good as it can be, but when an illness interferes with one's life like it has in all ours, causing the bills for some to pile high, keeping us from doing the things we enjoy because we have to rest cosntantly, making it hard ot eat, talk, even laugh (doesn't anyone find they can;t breathe when they laugh? OT), type, write, brush the old hair, hold a cup, keep the noggin up, blink, (i could go on and on), it's not mild. I say this so that you can remember that you're a very strong person with a very serious illness, and you're doing well because of all your strength- but also, give yourself a break too, but don't give up either!

Sorry if that seemed cheesy at all and non-sensical...I'm sleepy

nicky

[DesertFlower]

Nicky,

Thank you, I needed that more than I can say.

My doctor said I have mild MG and should be able to work and live normally with Mestinon.

I don't feel like my MG is mild at all, although I know that a lot of people here are worse off than me, mostly because I don't have serious breathing problems. MG has impacted my every day life. Not one second goes by that I can forget that I have MG, because it makes me slow, weak and clumsy, even forgetful sometimes! The Mestinon does make it so I can live with MG. It is only the financial situation that I haven't figured out yet. I can deal with all the symptoms as long as I don't have to work full time and can rest whenever I need it.

In my opinion the medical system here is ridiculous. I agree that I should pay the agreed upon price for past visits and if they want to raise the price for the future then fine. I agree that they probably didn't do it on purpose, from my past discussions this is all a clerical error. I think yesterday I talked to the person that has been making the errors and I got her in trouble or something (my impression) so she is refusing to fix it.

It IS hard to laugh, it makes me weak and it is hard to breath, makes me out of breath.

Thank you.

[Maxwell'sMom]

Hey, I'm so sorry. If you don't think your MG is mild, then it probably isn't. And all this added stress can't be helping it either. I think you should go for the disability as well. And that's a great idea about writing down everything. I don't really know how the Social Security disbility works. I too have never applied. I think there are web sites where all is explained. Trying googling it.

The next time you go in to your doctor, try to tell him in very plain language that this is weak, that is weak, I can't do this with out this happening..etc.
And ask him somthing like, "you know, you said once, you thought I had mild MG, I don't think it is still mild at all anymore, I'm very weak all the time, ...etc.."
Stuff like that. So he really understands what is going on.
Do you have someone with whom you can take, some one you can say, please don't let me forget to say this, or that. Sometimes,two are better than one.
Take someone who has seen how weak you get on a daily basis. I'm thinking you need some back up.
Wish I could give you a real one, but (((hugs)))
Keeping you and your situation in my prayers.
Love Lizzie