You'd think that as much as they have their hands
in one another's pockets, hospitals and doctors
would share insurance information.
Guess what? They often don't.
Double-check with your insurance company and
verify that the claim was filed on the hospital
portion of your bill. Go through that explanation
of benefits with a fine-toothed comb. A typical
plan usually has a coinsurance of $50 on
emergency room visits, then, depending on your
plan's specifics, should cover a good portion of
the rest of it. If there's an issue with your
deductible not having been met, double check
that. We're early enough in the calendar year
that it's very possible it's legit for it to have
been applied to it, but don't take it at face
value. For example, in my state it's mandatory
that all X-rays be read by a licensed
radiologist, but that is almost always outsourced
and the doctor/hospital NEVER passes insurance
information on to them.
Bottom line, insurance companies, like everything
else, are in business to make money. But that
doesn't mean you have to make it easy for them.
Crawl up customer service's ass (they work for
you, don't be shy about reminding them of this)
or get help from your work's HR department.
Because of so much insurance fraud, many
legitimate claims don't get paid, and consumers
simply don't know any better.
Go for it, and I wish you lots of luck.
*heh* Guess that year doing bookkeeping and
computer work for a medical collections agency is
coming in handy...
~kea |