I think this is what they refer to as a "fuckup."

[richaarde]

My primary care physician performs a test in his office. Doctor submits claim to insurance. Insurance rejects claim because they can't figure out who my primary care physician is. A year and a half after said test, I get a bill from my doctor for $1025. Less than a week after the bill arrives, I receive a letter from a collection agency demanding that I pay up the $1025.

To be fair, at least I got a big fat apology from my doctor.

Comments

[jennie132.livejournal.com]

Ah...insurance companies. I am going through hell with mine trying to figure out with company cover what and who I can go to...

At least your doctor apologized.

[damanique.livejournal.com]

Ah... stuff like that isn't too uncommon. My mom freaks out over it a lot: "But I already paid that money!?!?!" And then you have these scary debt collection agencies whose letters are all WE'RE GONNA TAKE YOUR STUFF AND YOUR HOUSE AND TAKE YOUR KIDS HOSTAGE IF YOU DON'T PAY NOW (all of which they can't actually do without appropriate legal action; most of it is just threats) Ugh, it's so disgusting.

[richaarde.livejournal.com]

Everyone screws up paperwork once in a while. I wouldn't have been nearly as annoyed, except:

-My physician did this test in his own office, and somehow the office had no record of who my physician is, and

-They got a collection agent on my case at the same time they sent me my bill, without giving me any time to respond to the bill.

I don't know about your side of the big pond, but here in the US, if you don't pay up within a certain amount of time, they can go after your credit rating. A strike against your credit rating will affect your ability to get loans, put you in a higher interest bracket, etc. Also, if you don't pay up fast enough, collection agents are known to start calling repeatedly, or calling at all ungodly hours of the night, and they're generally not fun to deal with.

[richaarde.livejournal.com]

That's always fun. Surprise! Your doctor isn't covered under your new insurance plan.

[damanique.livejournal.com]

They can go after your credit rating here as well - by reporting your info to the Credit Registration Bureau (BKR), where your rating will go down and it will get in the way of taking out loans. I don't know much more about it, though.

Over here I've noticed that debt collection agencies don't call as much as they send really mean and threatening letters that according to several consumer organisations aren't even legally solid half the time, but it bullies people into paying.

[dangerouslysane.livejournal.com]

Your primary care physician was in your network for your coverage? WTF?

I'm confident that if anyone can straighten this out, it's probably you who are that person.

BTW--I hate the HMO's.

[richaarde.livejournal.com]

It's straightened out. I'm glad it worked out in the end, because this doctor is a very good one and I wouldn't want to start an adversary relationship with him.

Still, it's a rather spectacular pile of screw-ups.

[richaarde.livejournal.com]

They do the threatening letters here, too. A paper trail holds up better in court, if it comes to that.

It's usually the phone calls that breaks people, though. After receiving enough phone calls randomly around midnight or 6 am (and yes, they will do that for the more persistent cases), people will do anything to get rid of the collection agents.

[damanique.livejournal.com]

Can't you just unplug your phone during the night? Hell, we unplug our phone during the evening because of telemarketers that always freaking call at dinner time.

[jennie132.livejournal.com]

It's not a new plan, I just need different treatment than I have in the past.