Re: ? about hospital denying tx

July 4, 2008

Hi,

I don't know if this will help, but. I had a similar situation and kept a log of

every phone conversation and every bill I received. I knew I did not owe this

money. I eventually wrote a letter with one of the bills enclosed and said that

what they were doing was harassment and it needed to stop immediately. I never

got another bill or phone call.

Good Luck,

Deb

From: DEBBIE GIBSON <Debbullwinkle@...>

Subject: rheumatic ? about hospital denying tx

" support group " <rheumatic >

Date: Friday, July 4, 2008, 10:34 AM

Hi all,

Wondering if any of you out there have any info on this issue? To make a long

story short, it took me over a year to get approval from my ins for a tx ordered

by my rheumy, DR. Whitman.

Ins finally agreed..been receiving it 3 yrs.

Hospital where I receive my tx, billing dept. is simply horrendous.

We receive bills that we don't owe stating that ins has paid and the balance is

ours...I call ins and find that they did not bill them as I have a

secondary..Beginnin g of 08 I received 6 bills, I called our ins and found that

we did not owe any of them...that the hosp had billed incorrectly and not b

illed our secondary.

Hospital makes me sign a paper prior to tx that I will pay for tx...which as my

ins tells me, if you sign it, and agree to p ay for it...and the hosp advises

you of the charges in advance of the tx...you are liable for the r emainder of

the contract balance, not paid by ins..I sign it..because if I don't, it states

I am refusing tx...but I write, I AM ONLY AGREEING TO PAY ANY PORTION LEFT THAT

WOULD BE MY DEDUCTIBLE AND OUT OF POCKET PER MY INS...t hereby negating what

they have me sign..Numerous other issues...

Anyway, I filed a BBB complaint on their secondary billing people, in Fl, I get

my tx in Indiana..the woman there is rude, does not return calls and yells when

you call to question a bill...Since so many are in error, I have to call on each

bill...call my insurance... etc...After 3 yrs of this, I filed a complaint at

the FL BBB..

So can the hospital where I get my tx, refuse me tx on this service. It has been

approved by my insurance and ins has been paying...

Thanks for any info.

July 4, 2008

Thanks, Deb, I did that...took a 6 pg letter in after 2 months of erroneous

bills that took me about 10 hrs each week to straighten out...at my t x in

Feb...I hand delivered a letter to the hosp ADM office...with copies of the

bills where the hospital stated, BALANCE IS YOURS, INSURANCE HAS PAID...and

showed them that my secondary had not been billed...never have received another

bill from them..but think since I filed this BBB complaint about their billing

agent, Sonic Billing in FL, the hospital may try to deny me tx...I also

complained because the hospital told me that they were filing appeals to

Medicare to cover my tx...(Medicare is my primary) Hosp told me for over 7

months that they were filing and had filed the appeals..Medicare quit covering

my tx in Jan 07...by the time I requested documentation of the appeals

supposedly filed by the hosp to Medicare...they had NOT filed ANY appeal and the

dates for appealing it had long since passed by...I added that to my complaint

letter.

rheumatic ? about hospital denying tx

" support group " <rheumatic >

Date: Friday, July 4, 2008, 10:34 AM

Hi all,

Wondering if any of you out there have any info on this issue? To make a long

story short, it took me over a year to get approval from my ins for a tx ordered

by my rheumy, DR. Whitman.

Ins finally agreed..been receiving it 3 yrs.

Hospital where I receive my tx, billing dept. is simply horrendous.

We receive bills that we don't owe stating that ins has paid and the balance

is ours...I call ins and find that they did not bill them as I have a

secondary..Beginnin g of 08 I received 6 bills, I called our ins and found that

we did not owe any of them...that the hosp had billed incorrectly and not b

illed our secondary.

Hospital makes me sign a paper prior to tx that I will pay for tx...which as

my ins tells me, if you sign it, and agree to p ay for it...and the hosp advises

you of the charges in advance of the tx...you are liable for the r emainder of

the contract balance, not paid by ins..I sign it..because if I don't, it states

I am refusing tx...but I write, I AM ONLY AGREEING TO PAY ANY PORTION LEFT THAT

WOULD BE MY DEDUCTIBLE AND OUT OF POCKET PER MY INS...t hereby negating what

they have me sign..Numerous other issues...

Anyway, I filed a BBB complaint on their secondary billing people, in Fl, I

get my tx in Indiana..the woman there is rude, does not return calls and yells

when you call to question a bill...Since so many are in error, I have to call on

each bill...call my insurance... etc...After 3 yrs of this, I filed a complaint

at the FL BBB..

So can the hospital where I get my tx, refuse me tx on this service. It has

been approved by my insurance and ins has been paying...

Thanks for any info.

July 5, 2008

Hi Deb,

As far as I know no hospital can resuse treatment. Also there is a plan that

pays for people that do not have ins. I do not remember the name of it but I

willl find out for you.

Do you by any chance have Humana?? I do and at first they did the same thing

to me. I asked to talk to a supervisor. If that supervisor did not help I

called another time and asked for a supervisor explaining that the other

could not help and could she or could she pass me to someone who can. I had

to do that a few times before I go one that had to come from somewhere else

and she was sooo great. There are those that only work there and there are

those that actually know what they are doing.

Hope this helps.

Cooky

..

Hospital makes me sign a paper prior to tx that I will pay for tx...which as

my ins tells me, if you sign it, and agree to p ay for it...and the hosp

advises you of the charges in advance of the tx...you are liable for the r

emainder of the contract balance, not paid by ins..I sign it..because if I

don't, it states I am refusing tx...but I write, I AM ONLY AGREEING TO PAY

ANY PORTION LEFT THAT WOULD BE MY DEDUCTIBLE AND OUT OF POCKET PER MY

INS...t hereby negating what they have me sign..Numerous other issues...

Anyway, I filed a BBB complaint on their secondary billing people, in Fl, I

get my tx in Indiana..the woman there is rude, does not return calls and

yells when you call to question a bill...Since so many are in error, I have

to call on each bill...call my insurance...etc...After 3 yrs of this, I

filed a complaint at the FL BBB..

So can the hospital where I get my tx, refuse me tx on this service. It has

been approved by my insurance and ins has been paying...

Thanks for any info.

[_,___

July 8, 2008

Hi Carol, thanks for the post. I do have insurance and it has approved my tx for

this year and is paying. The hospital has been awful. They bill me.....stating

that ins has paid and I owe the balance...then when I call (spend hours on the

phone on hold) I find that they have NOT billed my secondary yet...so I don't

owe...stuff like that...then they LOSE my ins info and I have to call them and

give it over and over...its a mess...AND when I call to ck on a bill...the one

billing office they use, a billing office, Sonic Billing in Florida...the owner

is snotty, demands I call the hosp to see why my pamt has not been

posted...stuff like that...all stressful and time consuming...The hosp lied tome

at one point and told me ins was not paying and wanted me to pay for tx up

front...then be reimbursed when ins paid...I called in the local media...lying

from my hosp bed, receiving tx...and the hosp backed down...told me I was

confused, mistaken..etc...uh huh!

RE: rheumatic ? about hospital denying tx

Hi Deb,

As far as I know no hospital can resuse treatment. Also there is a plan that

pays for people that do not have ins. I do not remember the name of it but I

willl find out for you.

Do you by any chance have Humana?? I do and at first they did the same thing

to me. I asked to talk to a supervisor. If that supervisor did not help I

called another time and asked for a supervisor explaining that the other

could not help and could she or could she pass me to someone who can. I had

to do that a few times before I go one that had to come from somewhere else

and she was sooo great. There are those that only work there and there are

those that actually know what they are doing.

Hope this helps.

Cooky

.