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 Posted: Tue Nov 25, 2008 12:56 am Post subject: Facility Fee? |
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Hope this arrives in the right section of the forum.(Health Insurance).
I just got a ton of bills in the mail from my area hospitol. I go to a pain clinic that is run by the hospitol but is actually outside on their grounds. Its a building off to the side. I have always paid the pain clinic up fron t all my deductibles so they did not accumulate. Sometimes ths hasn't been easy with so many appointment and co-pays but thus far I have done it. Well I started getting numerous bills in the mail asking for me to pay more co-pays. Thinking that this was some billing errors I called and was told that no it is in fact correct. Not only was I responsible for paying the pain clinic a $20 co-pay but I also had to pay the hospitol a $20 Facility Fee. I argued this upside down saying I could have easily went elsewhere had I been told this before. Why would I want to go there and pay double when I could go somewhere else and pay once? Is there anyting I can do about this especially since I was not told ahead of time and then they dropped this on me all at once? |
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fireyone
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| Posted: Tue Nov 25, 2008 12:58 am Post subject: |
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| OOPS...they want the $20 fee for every appointment I have had with the clinic. They are now just catching up on the billing? |
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fireyone
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| Posted: Tue Nov 25, 2008 2:37 am Post subject: insurance |
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| FIREYONE...the Pain Clinic ISN'T 'related' to the hospital, in any way? Wow.......in my 'area' the Pain Clinic ( or something similiar..) is located right inside the hospital. Gosh.....making 2 payments doesn't make sense..ya know? |
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sdchargersfan
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| Posted: Tue Nov 25, 2008 3:07 am Post subject: |
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| Yes it is related to the hospitol...actually a part it..thats what I can not understand. I am debating it woth them as we speak and have called my health insurance on it. Gee a facility fee? Thars a crock of you know what. I am really aggravated. |
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fireyone
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| Posted: Tue Nov 25, 2008 10:19 am Post subject: |
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Yeah, it's pure bs but likely legal..see what your carrier has to say about this, then if they say nothing you can do, then I'd contact as high up the hospital chain as I could starting with the admin..(top dog)...the biggest problem I see is two fold..first the pain docs are paying a fee to the hospital to do buisness there, and second you were not made aware of this until how much is due?
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Lori
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| Posted: Tue Nov 25, 2008 11:27 am Post subject: |
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Well as my BS as it is I am hoping not to be responsible...I can only imagine the amount. When I called the hospitol yesterday concerning the bill they said I owed them the money. I informed them this is the first time I ever seen this charge and had always paid the $20 co-pay only to the clinic. She said that the billing was not put through properly and that I infact should have been paying them a co-pay the whole time also. I asked her if they could legally back charge me after the claims were already put through and she replied that she had to look into the matter and would call me back. Now I am wondering by making the call if I screwed myself but I couldn't figure out why they were sending me a bill. I turned it over to my insurer to look into and hope to ehar something this week.
If it is the way they can bill I got to figure out another way I can get treatment without going through them. I am not going to pay them double. I'll get it figured out one way or another I just hope they do not bring all the charges forward from the past...I couldn't count all the times I have been there. I hope the lady was bluffing but I'll see, hopefully soon. |
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fireyone
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| Posted: Tue Nov 25, 2008 12:28 pm Post subject: |
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I would tell them since they admit it was their mistake | Quote: | | I informed them this is the first time I ever seen this charge and had always paid the $20 co-pay only to the clinic. She said that the billing was not put through properly |
That you were kept from making an informed choice about your care, and in fact it would appear to others (ie whomever it is that governs hospital) that this is some sort of 'bait and switch' meaning they led you to believe that you owed nothing more than you had been paying, then bam you owe this much...IMO that debt (the co-pay they can still collect from your carrier) should be forgiven or waived, but should start from your next appointment, now that you are aware of it, which there will likely be none because you will find another facility...ask your doc at the pain clinic about this as well...
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"Never, never be afraid to do what's right, especially if the well being of a person or animal is at stake. Society's punishments are small compared to the wounds we inflict on our soul when we look the other way." Martin Luther King Jr. |
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Lori
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| Posted: Tue Nov 25, 2008 5:59 pm Post subject: insurance |
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Well, FIREYONE,..I can't blame you for being mad. I'd be upset, too. If the Clinic is a part of the hospital, then why are you making double co-payments? Gosh...I'd be yelling in someones ear about that one!!  |
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sdchargersfan
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| Posted: Tue Nov 25, 2008 8:24 pm Post subject: Facility Fee |
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As a Benefits Administrator in the Kansas City area I have been dealing with this BS for about two years now. A new system just came into the area and are a preferred provider on our health plan. However, they are charging a facility fee. Supposedly, for the "privilege of using their facility". No joke, that is the exact words from their COO. I used the same premise of "bait and switch", along with some very taut language on referring employees elsewhere and eventually had the costs written off. If they would like your business in the future it would make good business for them to excuse the amount. I would also contact your Better Business Bureau and report it if they did not make you aware of the payment before billing. This is bad practice at best and downright criminal at worst. Push for your consumer rights!
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Benefits4Life
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| Posted: Tue Nov 25, 2008 9:35 pm Post subject: |
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| Are they required to inform you of this fee before an appointment? I would think that this should be a policy because then I would have had a decision to either use them and pay the facility fee and docotr fee or I could have chose to go elsewhere(which I would have done) where I could have paid on fee. I am hoping this doesn't just slip through the cracks because I feel the person is being decieved when they do this. |
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fireyone
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| Posted: Tue Nov 25, 2008 11:00 pm Post subject: insurance |
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| Yep.........FIREYONE, I would think they would have to let you know of the 'additonal cost'. If for some reason, you DON'T have the 'additional cost', after your apt is done and over with, what would they do?.....just not let you leave until it's paid ( sarcasm of course!!) Good grief!! |
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sdchargersfan
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| Posted: Wed Nov 26, 2008 12:11 am Post subject: |
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| I still haven't heard anything from the insurance comapny. I wonder how long this will actually take. I do not want the bills to be turned into collections and mess up my credit. The biggest thing that scares me is this hospitol does not take payment arrangements. You have to pay them in full with in 30 days or they turn it over. I had it happen before when I went there for some tests. I had a heck of a time with the collection agency and it did go on my credit report. Oh the stress!! |
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fireyone
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| Posted: Wed Nov 26, 2008 1:03 am Post subject: |
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Benefits4life Thanks so much for the great post...fire you listening? Great to have a health ins. expert around here let me tell ya'! Fire, you need to get your insurance carrier 'fired' up about this...then they can pull out the club.
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"Never, never be afraid to do what's right, especially if the well being of a person or animal is at stake. Society's punishments are small compared to the wounds we inflict on our soul when we look the other way." Martin Luther King Jr. |
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Lori
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| Posted: Wed Nov 26, 2008 2:42 am Post subject: |
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| So I can call better business. I tell you if I can I really am. I think this is BS too and should have told me. I think I will give the hopsitol another call and ask them if this was resolved and tell them this is my next move. |
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fireyone
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| Posted: Tue Dec 02, 2008 11:05 pm Post subject: |
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| I didn't enter a hospitol..it was a clinic on hospitol grounds and I never heard of such a thing before..so it was quite a surprise that after treating there for over a year..half of it through my own insurance that they all the sudden added this facility fee. I have talked til I am blue in the face and they just keep informing me that they did not have to tell me about the facility fee. I got yet another explanation of benefits form in the mail today and see I have more co pays to deal with. They are charging for going to the pain clinic in beginning of October now...$450 facility fee I will be responsible for $20...may not seem like a lot but if the doctor is only charging $135 how can they get that much for me just entering into a building they own is beyond me. Insurance company is still looking into it but the hospitol will not give the lady in charge a call back..FRUSTRATING>>> |
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fireyone
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