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Originally Posted by Littlepaw
Ugh! It does get overwhelmingly expensive. especially with insane deductibles like most everyone has now. Definitely look at balance billing. It varies by state. My son had an ER visit and I had to get a contract admin person and a supervisor to get the hospital to stop sending me bills. I had met his deductible and they still kept trying to charge me for the remainder of "their" price not the contracted price. It took a lot of phone calls (with people who insisted I had to pay) and me being a bulldog because I worked in healthcare and knew the law here. If I had not known better I probably would have paid it.
I can only imagine if I was elderly or cognitively impaired. The darn thing would've gone to collections. It was several thousand dollars of pumped up charges...
So did you meet deductible for this year? It would be nice for you to be able to get the workup you need.
I think it is very hard for people to understand what this kind of thing is like. Pain is not something you "get" unless you have it and it doesn't go away. Root canals, childbirth, kidney stones...all those things get better and people forget what the pain was like. A 24/7 animal is beyond most everyone's comprehension.
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Sadly I was turned into collections from the hospital after only 60 days of getting my first bill! I was livid!!! I to work in healthcare, and I know you have 90 days before they can turn you into collections!!!!!! I wasn't able to pay them the $150.00 per month, as I had other obligations from other medical institutions from my surgery - in-which I had to make payments to. I was going to their website making small payments, while I had placed an item up for sale, on our local Craigslist.
When I called and asked to speak with their manager, they told me "well since it's already been turned into collections, it's out of our hands!" I was livid. I have always been perfect with my bills, and I stated to the hospital that I have an 825 credit score! What does that tell you!!!!!!!!!!!???? It tells anyone that I am very responsible, and take pride in my responsibility to made good with what I owed. A week later, I sold my snowmobile, and immediately was able to pay $1100 out of the $1500 I owed. They simply didn't care! I was totally shocked.
The sad thing is, I loved their clinical care, as I spent my hospital stays and had all 3 surgeries there, but I don't know if I can go back to them because of their inability to work with you, and their crooked billing department! =( This year I haven't even come close to meeting my $3500.00 deductible, and with my days getting cut from work, I don't know if I can afford to take on more medical bills. I feel like I'm damned if I do, and damned if I don't! Vicious circle! this is where being poor would be beneficial for me getting tests done that I need! *sigh* I hate where I'm at!!!!