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I wish they didn't have a year to submit them. They should at least have to take December off. This year I will spend more on medical bills than on the following combined:
- Entertainment - movies, eating out, biking, snowboarding
- Vacations and personal travel
- Personal computers, cameras & electronics
- Clothes
Pretty much anything that could be considered an "extra" or "fun". I've been going through various online account (affiliate programs, adsens, commission junction...) that have $10-20 and setting them to payout now just so I can pay more medical bills for the holidays.
Oh well. My kid is happy, healthy and full of smiles and laughter so it's all worth it.
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Yea, I haven't quite figured that out. It takes MONTHS for me to get bills from my Doctor's office. I don't understand how they let their A/R sit for so long before even trying to collect.
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best health care system EVAR
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the reason most freelancers or self-employed are either: (a) screwed; or (b) married with a working, benefitted (sic) spouse.
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mrbigstuff wrote:
the reason most freelancers or self-employed are either: (a) screwed; or (b) married with a working, benefitted (sic) spouse.
Our insurance would have covered just about everything if it wasn't for a complicated birth with a hospital transfer. My wife and the baby were in really great shape otherwise they may not have made it. There's essentially two groups that both did all the work they normally would have done (and one emergency) for a birth, but the first place can't bill as a birth because the baby wasn't born there. So everything is piecemeal and thus extra rather than part of the birth. Then there's all the emergency stuff tacked on.
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Our insurance would have covered just about everything if it wasn't for a complicated birth with a hospital transfer.
That sounds very strange. I will assume that you have checked out all of your options in this regard, but do you have a medical professional (physician, administrator) with you to argue your side? This can be very helpful, although it requires that you have a good relationship with the person or for them to be altruistic enough to fight on your behalf with the ins. co.
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I think that all told so far, my son has cost me just about $400. That includes, the birth, clothes, food, and diapers...oh, and $15,000 for his college fund.
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...is screw anyone trying to do anything that isn't "normal" - doesn't matter why you're doing it, just be NORMAL like everyone else!
What, trying to save lives?
I think there ought to be standardization of medical billing into 3 phases:
Phase 1 shows you what the preliminary total is for all the procedures, supplies, and service associated with a particular "event" and must be submitted within 30 days of the beginning of the event (or the end, I don't really care.) and what will be submitted to your insurance.
Phase 2 shows what your insurance will cover and what out of pocket expense you can anticipate, as well as opportunity to challenge underpayments, and would have to be completed within 30 days of the first bill.
Phase 3 shows what you really do owe after all is said and done, options for payment plans, and would have to be complete within 30 days of phase 2.
Of course, what we'd all really like is the payments aspect of health care to be invisible as end users; and it's frustrating that you may be getting a course of treatment but you don't really know what your insurer is going to cover and what they're not going to cover. I had a case where, after an emergency room visit, there was a bill coming from the ER doctor's office because he wasn't actually paid by the hospital and, while the hospital was covered by insurance, the doctor's office was not "in network" so the ER patient was responsible for the bill, according to the insurance. How do you have control over who sees you in an ER when you might be unconcious?
Sorry to rant... it's been a frustrating day in general. Thanks for reading something totally unrelated to my frustrations but definitely one of MAVIC's current frustrations. I can definitely sympathize.
Whatever happened to the idea of letting self-employed folks form cooperatives for health care?
And why is the health care business run for profit? If anything should be non-profit...
g=
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Just tell them it will be a year before they get paid.
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C(-)ris wrote:
Yea, I haven't quite figured that out. It takes MONTHS for me to get bills from my Doctor's office. I don't understand how they let their A/R sit for so long before even trying to collect.
I think it's generally because the patient is the last one they collect from. First they bill the insurance company, wait for that to get billed/disputed/refiled/paid/etc, and then when that's complete they bill you for the rest.
I recently got a bill for $13 from an office visit back in January, that was the amount that the insurance didn't cover, I think they must have resubmitted it a few times, possibly thought it wasn't worth billing me for, and then finally it seemed to get shipped to some other collections division that just sent me a bill.
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