Well, my son's billing issues started arriving. The way doctors and hospitals frequently work is that they hire billing agencies to take care of all invoicing issues. They also hire collection agencies to collect on unpaid invoices. Their large profit margins allow for all this downstream outsourcing.
In June I received a bill from Alcoa Billing Center in Tennessee for my son's ER doctor's services in Georgia. Despite the foreknown uselessness of doing so, I wrote a letter to the billing center:
I am in receipt of your invoice_____ for
$992.00. This was for an emergency room consultation with Dr. ____ on April 10 when my son was dehydrated. He reports that he saw the doctor for
maybe a minute.
I find this billing egregious, especially in light of the
fact that the Medicare reimbursement rate for the diagnosis code (99285) is in
the neighborhood of $175. On what basis or justification do I have to pay over
four times as much as a Medicare patient receiving the very same services from
Dr. _____? This is patently unfair. I know of no other instance where a
professional would charge one customer at a rate four times the other.
I know Alcoa Billing Center is precisely that, just a
billing service, but I request that this matter be referred back to Dr.
_____ for review. I request that either the billed amount be readjusted or
that an explanation be offered as to why it is fair and appropriate in light of
the Medicare reimbursement rate.
Their response, as expected, was to simply send another bill for $992. I will send the same letter again, this time in a certified envelope to see if it gets someone's attention. Eventually I plan to offer them 150% of Medicare which I've had an outside party estimate to be $249.03.
Meantime I've gotten no bills from the hospital. I wondered why it was taking so long until my son got a call from a collection agency. Apparently invoices had already been sent but to another address, perhaps his school address. The school he's already graduated from.
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