Wellness

[teganslaw]

I received a final notice bill from a medical facility where dh went for some treatment. Medicare paid for most of it: we only owed $32. I  sent them a check which cleared 10 days ago, now they send me a notice saying that the debt hasn't been cleared and if not paid will be sent to collections.

The statement sent was dated May 22, and the check cleared on the 15th, so nothing crossed in the mail. No one was available in the billing dept. because of the holiday weekend, so I left a voice mail explaining that I paid, check #, dates, etc. I was polite, but might have sounded a bit annoyed. This isn't the first time something like this happened, although it was with different medical facilities. I get impatient with this kind of incompetence. The amount isn't much, but it's still annoying to deal with this.

[LindaSal]

@teganslaw I am having the same issue right now.  I went for an endoscopy and colonoscopy in late December.  I received two bills, one for the doctor and one for the pathology lab.  I mailed them both in and they have both cleared (in February)......still I get harassing phone calls stating that the one for pathology is not paid and they are going to send me to collections.  I keep trying to call and of course get a different person and have to try to explain all over again that the check was cashed by them!!   One girl kept repeating, it must have got lost in the mail...........I'm like WHAT?????   I said how can that be when I have that it's been cashed.  She just wouldn't listen.  I've about given up as it's been an issue for months now.   Mine is $140, I wouldn't worry about it, it's not even worth the time to send $32 to collections.  It's ridiculous.

[Still Raining]

In my professional life I did a lot with billers.  I have nothing but absolute praise for medical center billers.  If you can go in and see their screens there is always a timeline.  Stand alone facilities are different.

I would vote for bad software, poor cash control, etc.

ETA   Right now I have $4.94 perhaps in collection with a freestanding imaging facility 🤬

[bikerbabe]

I have family who work in billing and the crush of work, the deadlines and push to complete items, the system crashes and downtime, the cryptic and massively long billing codes, are all astounding. Honestly, I’m amazed there aren’t more errors.

Sometimes there is incompetence but more often it’s a reflection of the overwhelming workload and hieroglyphic billing systems.

[CoffeeNut]

I always look at the bill and see if online payment is an option.  Never had any issues with that. 

Mailing checks and then having someone on the other end processing it is too many variables that can go wrong.

[meem120]

Dont continue to aggravate yourselves ladies.  JUst send them a copy of your check, front and the back with their endorsement.  Easy peasy.

[mspatmac]

NEVER mail a personal check!  Pay by a credit card or have your bank send a check. If there is a problem let the bank and the billing party work it out.

[teganslaw]

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@mspatmac wrote:

NEVER mail a personal check!  Pay by a credit card or have your bank send a check. If there is a problem let the bank and the billing party work it out.

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It's kind of late for that advice.  This is the first time I had a problem with a mailed check. The other times I had this issue was when I paid online. So paying by credit card doesn't always work out the way it should. Either way things can get messed up. 

[CelticCrafter]

My husband has diabetic macular edema and the billing office at the opthamologist has it so skrewed up it's even not funny anymore.

They say we owed them $20 when actually it's more like $107.  I have no clue how they are applying the payments from Medicare and our supplement.

If they ever get their act together we will pay them what we owe.

[Nightowlz]

I'm glad we used Boomer Benefits when we signed up to Medicare. If we have any issues like that they will take care of it so we don't have to mess with it. 

Before we were on Medicare I had the hospital keep sending me checks but nobody could tell me why they were sending me refunds. I only paid what my EOB says to pay so I know they are wrong.