Re: Americans want universal health coverage, group says (but who pays?)

On Sat, 10 Jun 2006 18:17:57 GMT, Rita <nitany_98@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Sat, 10 Jun 2006 15:29:35 GMT, Rumpelstiltskin
<PleaseDoNotReplyByEmail@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Sat, 10 Jun 2006 14:08:28 GMT, Rita <nitany_98@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Sat, 10 Jun 2006 09:05:54 -0400, "Pat in Atlanta"
<patga@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Lucky you. My doctor's office would have sent me a bill for the additional
$215.

Doctors who accept Medicare are prohiibited by law from charging
whatever they wish and billing the patient. In some states they can't
bill for more than Medicare pays, and I believe in some they can
bill perhaps 5% more. You can report those who don't comply to
Medicare, and call Medicare once you have the bill and find out what
the going rate of Medicare reimbursement is for whatever you had
done.

A doctor can choose not to accept Medicare patients at all, but if he
accepts even one then he has to accept Medicare's payment scheme.



One can't allow oneself to be overcharged $225 of course, but it
sure puts the patient in a lousy position to be the one responsible
for monitoring and straightening out finances between the government
or private enterprise provider and his doctor with whom he obviously
wants to maintain good relations. What a horrible system - let's have
real National Health ASAP, and get rid of this turkey setup that we
have at the moment, IMV.

The doctors who try to bill patients for more than they should are
not commonly encountered. But if a doctor is going to agree to
accept Medicare payment and then try to gouge the patient, who
wants to have that person as a doctor? Doctors also agree to
accept what various insurance companies pay -- and can't bill
more if they want the advantages of getting patients with certain
types of health insurance. I really don't see the difference.
Sometimes the overbilling is an error of the doc's office staff and
not a policy so it is always important to check that out. You need
not contact the doc directly -- just talk to Medicare or if you are in
a Medicare HMO, contact your HMO. I have been mistakenly billled
for charges I should not have been but always settled the matter
with one phone call.


My dentist always seems to be a couple of dollars over the
amount a procedure is supposed to cost. I don't usually complain
because he's very good and I don't want to bug him. A bill came
in where the patient part was $150 ($75 twice) over the limit,
though, so I did complain about that to his office manager. She
took care of it, and sent me a list of my billings and payments
over the last couple of years. I haven't checked that out
carefully, but I wonder now if those couple of dollars over the
limit haven't been automatically corrected all along, so I didn't
need to say anything. I haven't checked that out yet, but now
that I have this list in hand, I will be able to do that, and I guess
I will feel prompted to look at that past history the next time I get
billed for some new work done. I tried at first to keep track of
things as they're happening, but it's really impossible because
the time between billing and the insurance company paying is so
long, and I don't get reports of final amounts that I ended up
paying myself: just of the amounts the insurance company has
finally paid and what my remaining payment is supposed to be.
The first bills from the dentist sometimes come before the
insurance reports, and don't include any mention of insurance
payments or lack thereof, so I've often found that I have a
credit with the dentist as a result of paying a bill before the
insurance has come in.

The medical charge that riled me the most was when I broke
my arm the first time, when I was about 28. It was a compound
fracture, so the bill was huge, though the great majority of it
was covered by insurance. I was, however, charged a couple
of dollars for a broken thermometer. I remembered that
incident: the nurse had pulled the thermometer out of its container
and had dropped it on the floor and broken it - I never touched it.
I complained about that to the hospital but they said it was a
legitimate charge because it was broken in my care. I should
have said, but didn't think to say, that I was glad the nurse
hadn't broken my bed. After the unsatisfactory result from the
hospital, I complained to the insurance company that they
should not be paying for this item and told them why. They
apparently just dismissed me as a hopeless crank, though, which
is what usually happens to me especially when I'm the only sane
person in sight, and they paid for the thermometer along with
most everything else.

One of the things I like most about Kaiser, which I have
now, is that I never see a bill. I like that, since it makes me
less likely to die of apoplexy brought on by rage, which is
what El Castor might eventually die of: I see El is getting all
worked up about polygamy now, though I wouldn't have
thought that would be as big an issue as wife-swapping or
hot-tub affairs or pea*** feathers in Mill Valley. I saw
where he lately suggested in a post to you that I might like
to comment on polygamy, though I can't imagine that I
could add anything of substance to the scholarship he may
have applied to the topic already.





 
"Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom: it is the
argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves" -- Wm. Pitt the Younger
.

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