Wednesday, July 12, 2006
Medical Bills Have Made Me Ill
Oh boy! I spent about an hour and a half on the phone today going round and round with different agencies in bill paying hell.
Last year my son had chest pains and naturally I took him to the emergency room. I had heard of children with undiagnosed heart problems and feared the worst. Well, I put money in a flex spending account every year since 2004 because I had to have some surgeries and want to be sure that I have the means to pay my debt. So, in short, I had the money to pay my bills!
About two months before having to take him to the hospital, I moved. No, problem, I updated all my employee records as necessary, made sure the post office had a forwarding address etc. I should be square... or so I thought.
I don't know how many of you have ever had experience with hospital medical bills but it is a seemingly endless barrage of medical bills soon to follow. You get a bill for this, for that and for the other. All from different sources. It is very difficult to make sure nothing is outstanding.
Months go by and bills are paid to facilities and diagnostics... And so, I'm thinking I'm good to go. No statement from the insurance company telling me that any other expenses had been submitted so I'm thinking I'm cool.
Well, not too long ago I got a call from a collector. The collector informed me of an outstanding bill for a medical expense in 2006, of which I was aware or at least waiting for, and an outstanding bill for '05. WTF???? The caller tried to get me to pay by phone but I was more interested in seeing the bill in paper. So I asked them to send me the bill. During the call, they also addressed me by my former name, which was changed in '03. I made sure to correct them, give them my address and informed them that even if I wanted to pay the bill I would need paper copy for the IRS because if you use your Flex card, you've got to retain proof of the bill.
Wait.
More waiting.
Well, I called today and finally, after making several phone calls to three different places I finally got to the bottom of this situation. Though I had my name changed in '03, they persisted in showing the former. Though I moved in April '05, they continued to show my old address. Though my insurance company was MGIS last year, they submitted the claim to Cigna.
Blah!!!!
Every time I talked to them today, I had to keep telling the different people over and over again what my name was, what my address was and to which insurance company the claim should have been filed against.
To make matters worse, the company I work for changed insurance providers again this year and the window of opportunity to submit '05 claims to the previous provider closed 6/30. CRAP.
Last year my son had chest pains and naturally I took him to the emergency room. I had heard of children with undiagnosed heart problems and feared the worst. Well, I put money in a flex spending account every year since 2004 because I had to have some surgeries and want to be sure that I have the means to pay my debt. So, in short, I had the money to pay my bills!
About two months before having to take him to the hospital, I moved. No, problem, I updated all my employee records as necessary, made sure the post office had a forwarding address etc. I should be square... or so I thought.
I don't know how many of you have ever had experience with hospital medical bills but it is a seemingly endless barrage of medical bills soon to follow. You get a bill for this, for that and for the other. All from different sources. It is very difficult to make sure nothing is outstanding.
Months go by and bills are paid to facilities and diagnostics... And so, I'm thinking I'm good to go. No statement from the insurance company telling me that any other expenses had been submitted so I'm thinking I'm cool.
Well, not too long ago I got a call from a collector. The collector informed me of an outstanding bill for a medical expense in 2006, of which I was aware or at least waiting for, and an outstanding bill for '05. WTF???? The caller tried to get me to pay by phone but I was more interested in seeing the bill in paper. So I asked them to send me the bill. During the call, they also addressed me by my former name, which was changed in '03. I made sure to correct them, give them my address and informed them that even if I wanted to pay the bill I would need paper copy for the IRS because if you use your Flex card, you've got to retain proof of the bill.
Wait.
More waiting.
Well, I called today and finally, after making several phone calls to three different places I finally got to the bottom of this situation. Though I had my name changed in '03, they persisted in showing the former. Though I moved in April '05, they continued to show my old address. Though my insurance company was MGIS last year, they submitted the claim to Cigna.
Blah!!!!
Every time I talked to them today, I had to keep telling the different people over and over again what my name was, what my address was and to which insurance company the claim should have been filed against.
To make matters worse, the company I work for changed insurance providers again this year and the window of opportunity to submit '05 claims to the previous provider closed 6/30. CRAP.
Comments:
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All this just makes me shake my head. Then I'm going to fall to my knees and pray to God that I never get sick again ... sick enough to require medical attention. BTW - I love the title of your post!
It may have been the last day YOU could submit a bill, but they (the medical center or whomever) can still file the claim with the responsible insuror. It is why you have paid all your premiums etc, and it is their responsiblity to file it correctly, and while they will tell you differently just keep plugging at them about it. THEY made the error, not YOU.
You may have to climb the corporate chain of command a while to finally get someone to fix the problem and act on it. They are going to try and wear you out cause its easier to get money out of you than it will be the insurance company after all this time.
You may have to climb the corporate chain of command a while to finally get someone to fix the problem and act on it. They are going to try and wear you out cause its easier to get money out of you than it will be the insurance company after all this time.
HR is going to try to do this for me. Thanks for the words of encouragement. I do, however, still need the stinkin paper bill! Not here yet!
I HATE dealing with insurance companies. Seems United Healthcare won't pay any of our bills until we send them a letter saying we have no other insurance EVERY SINGLE FRIGGIN TIME.
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