Would you pay this bill?

[ExitLeft]

In April, I went to the ER for fear I was having a stroke. (I had some symptoms that could have been caused by artery dissection--Horner's syndrome and severe headaches.) They did a CT w and w/o contrast of head and neck. The person who reviewed the images said everything was normal, so they sent me home. Two weeks later, I took the images to a neurologist and she said I had 90% (critical) blockage of my Interior Carotid Artery. She called the hospital and got them to review the images and they updated the info on my chart. I was lucky, given the circumstances and thankfully the artery is back to normal.

I have paid all the other bills, including for the CTs at the hospital, but I can't bring myself to pay the person who read the images incorrectly. I was charged $750 (adjusted by insurance to $150). I am furious with the person who could have cost me everything, but not sure how to handle the bill. WWYD?

 

[Spock]

Either pay the bill or file medical malpractice, or both. You can't just stiff the bill.
Rather than full blown lawsuit, you could try raising a stink with the provider to argue they remove the charge... basically contesting the bill.

 

[W2R]

I agree. I'd go ahead and pay the bill. I am sure the error was not intentional. Maybe next time choose a different ER if you don't think this one is competent, and I'd definitely file a complaint just so that the hospital knows what is going on.

 

[COcheesehead]

I agree with everyone. Two issues. Pay the bill, but take action on incompetence.

 

[njhowie]

I was charged $750 (adjusted by insurance to $150). I am furious with the person who could have cost me everything, but not sure how to handle the bill. WWYD?

So the maximum you're going to get back is $150. Is the time/effort going to be worth it?

 

[pb4uski]

Either pay the bill or file medical malpractice, or both. You can't just stiff the bill.
Rather than full blown lawsuit, you could try raising a stink with the provider to argue they remove the charge... basically contesting the bill.

I would not pay it. I would call the provider, explain what happened and that the service that they provided was flawed and ask that they waive the $150.

Escalate it within the organization if needed... the person who you first talk with may not have the authority to waive the charge so you may need to escalate it.

If they decline, then let them know that they will be hearing from your lawyer.... that may bring them to their senses.

 

[RobbieB]

If you pay a lawyer to handle a $150 dollar issue, you may need to come to your senses.

 

[pb4uski]

To be clear, I wasn't advocating hiring a lawyer for a $150 issue, but rather, just telling the obstinate provider that they will be hearing from your lawyer.... big difference.

 

[joeea]

I have paid all the other bills, including for the CTs at the hospital, but I can't bring myself to pay the person who read the images incorrectly.

Do you like your current credit score? Are you prepared to go to small claims court (and almost certainly lose)?

I am furious with the person who could have cost me everything, but not sure how to handle the bill. WWYD?

I would be furious. And I would pay the bill.

 

[REWahoo]

I would not pay it. I would call the provider, explain what happened and that the service that they provided was flawed and ask that they waive the $150.

Escalate it within the organization if needed... the person who you first talk with may not have the authority to waive the charge so you may need to escalate it.

If they decline, then...

...pay $6.66 on the bill and tell them they will have a devil of a time collecting another cent from you.

 

[Red Badger]

To be clear, I wasn't advocating hiring a lawyer for a $150 issue, but rather, just telling the obstinate provider that they will be hearing from your lawyer.... big difference.

+1. When someone damn near kills you, its not about the $150.

 

[pb4uski]

Interesting reading.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/financ...d-from-disputing-a-medical-bill/#314c211d416f

But I still didn’t think I should have to pay for these doctors who didn’t dig deep enough to solve the mystery.

I thought of it the same way I might address finding a hair in my food at a restaurant or getting a haircut that ends up looking horrible. Sure the restaurant served me the food and the stylist cut my hair, but I’m unhappy with the outcome. Do I really have to pay for that?

At the end of the day though, while I would aggressively press the provider to waive the charge it isn't worth suing them or getting your credit score dinged for $150, so you may just have to pay it.

 

[Jerry1]

I would engage the provider, as mentioned, and try to get the bill waived. I'm not sure on this, but if you care, check into it further. I worked with a guy who, while not an expert, should know and he said that medical claims are handled differently on your credit score. Who knows. $150 isn't going to make a big difference on your credit score and I assume you're somewhat past your credit score mattering.

Thing to do is if you don't get this resolved with your first conversation over the phone, put your request in writing, as in a piece of paper put in the mail with some level of tracking to make sure they got it. Get it to the most senior person in the provider's organization you can find. Don't threaten to sue. Everyone knows you're not going to sue for $150. I would appeal to their sense of professionalism. Basically, "I trusted you with my life and you let me down. They you billed me. I'm sure you can understand how upsetting this is and that you would feel the same were it you or a member of your family."

Note: Many providers (doctors) outsource their billing. You don't want to talk to a biller unless they are an employee of the doctor who read the scan. You want to talk (write) to the Dr or a member of their staff.

That's what I would do.

 

[joeea]

I worked with a guy who, while not an expert, should know and he said that medical claims are handled differently on your credit score. Who knows.

https://www.creditkarma.com/advice/i/how-to-remove-medical-collections-from-credit-reports/

"Medical collections can have a substantial negative impact on your credit scores, as payment history is generally considered a high-impact credit factor."

$150 isn't going to make a big difference on your credit score

Sorry, that's completely incorrect.

https://www.gocleancredit.com/how-many-points-will-a-collection-affect-your-credit-score/

"The amount of the collection debt is essentially irrelevant. This means if the debt is over $1, it does not matter how much you owe. Instead, the debt impacts your credit score the same way, regardless of how high the dollar amount is. For instance, if you have a debt of $200 and it lowers your score by 50 points, a $100,000 debt would drop your credit score by the same—50 points."

 

[Bir48die]

I had my first shoulder surgery and the doctor diagnosed the wrong problem. Out of pocket was in excess of two grand. His fellow doctor had it pegged in ten minutes. I wrote an email to the head of physicians to complain. I paid the money but voiced my dissatisfaction.

On the other hand I know we expect 100% correct diagnosis. It just doesn’t happen. I know it’s frustrating but there is a part that is human error. When it comes to our health we want perfection. It’s just not going to happen. If you have a concern, do what you did and get another opinion

 

[jollystomper]

I would pay the bill but would also go through whatever complaint channels are available to you. We had a similar "medical misdiagnosis" error with one of our sons that cost us more money, we paid but also began raising the issue through complaint channels and ended up getting reimbursed for about half of what we thought were excessive charges.

 

[Teacher Terry]

We went to the ER at one of our hospitals that has 2 locations. After checking in and waiting 90 minutes my husband had to take a ambulance to their other location because the location we were at only handled a few conditions yet their advertisements on TV never said this. Then they billed for a ER visit at both locations. I sent the CEO a email explaining what happened, that I wanted one of the ER fees waived and them to change the misleading commercial. They complied. I also let them know that if their advice had not been misleading we wouldn’t have needed the ambulance ride that wasn’t cheap.

 

[Jerry1]

https://www.creditkarma.com/advice/i/how-to-remove-medical-collections-from-credit-reports/

"Medical collections can have a substantial negative impact on your credit scores, as payment history is generally considered a high-impact credit factor."


Sorry, that's completely incorrect.

https://www.gocleancredit.com/how-many-points-will-a-collection-affect-your-credit-score/

"The amount of the collection debt is essentially irrelevant. This means if the debt is over $1, it does not matter how much you owe. Instead, the debt impacts your credit score the same way, regardless of how high the dollar amount is. For instance, if you have a debt of $200 and it lowers your score by 50 points, a $100,000 debt would drop your credit score by the same—50 points."

I guess I'm lucky that I don't care what my credit score is. No need for no stinking credit.

However I stand corrected. Thank you.

 

[ExitLeft]

Thanks for all the advice. I called the billing department and explained the situation. The person was very apologetic, froze the account and sent it for review along with her detailed notes. (It was also apparently a recorded line, probably a CYA thing for them.) She said it would take a few weeks and would probably be written off.

Thanks Pb4uski for the Forbes article. My situation was more complicated than what I first posted, and had me thinking I could have written a similar article. It took me 6 doctors + the ER visit to finally get an answer for what was going on. It was 4 weeks from first doc visit to finding out I had a 90% blockage. Suffice to say that we must be our own advocates in our health. I paid all the other bills, since there was a lot of fuzziness around the docs' thoughts and recommendations, even though they cost quite a pretty penny on my bronze plan and only one doc made a difference in the end.

 

[caramel]

I know it's not the main issue, but it's very easy to get a medical collection removed from your credit file due to HIPAA.

https://whychat.me/GUIDE HIPAA PROGRAM.html

 

[samclem]

I know it's not the main issue, but it's very easy to get a medical collection removed from your credit file due to HIPAA.

https://whychat.me/GUIDE HIPAA PROGRAM.html

Caramel, Thanks for the link, it appears to provide useful information. It's hard to tell where the guidance came from--do you know who produced this guide?

 

[badatmath]

Certainly I would pay it but I would complain to hospital about the error as the person reading it should have been more careful.

 

[dirtbiker]

Thanks for all the advice. I called the billing department and explained the situation. The person was very apologetic, froze the account and sent it for review along with her detailed notes. (It was also apparently a recorded line, probably a CYA thing for them.) She said it would take a few weeks and would probably be written off.

Thanks Pb4uski for the Forbes article. My situation was more complicated than what I first posted, and had me thinking I could have written a similar article. It took me 6 doctors + the ER visit to finally get an answer for what was going on. It was 4 weeks from first doc visit to finding out I had a 90% blockage. Suffice to say that we must be our own advocates in our health. I paid all the other bills, since there was a lot of fuzziness around the docs' thoughts and recommendations, even though they cost quite a pretty penny on my bronze plan and only one doc made a difference in the end.

Good move. As a physician, if I made a mistake and a patient contested paying it, I would absolutely waive the cost. This being said, I would actually be calling the billing department and request this. I work for a large corporation and can really only make requests in this type of situation. But it's in the best interest for everyone to just waive your portion of the payment.


If it comes down to push vs shove, just pay it. I had a bill a few years ago that I disagreed with from AT&T. I had canceled service, and then they billed me for two of my lines for a few months. I called back and told them I had already canceled service, so they canceled my other two lines, but said I still owed the bill. I called and fought back and forth about it, and eventually just flat out refused to pay. I still stand by that I should have never been responsible to pay that bill. However, it went to collections and hurt my credit score. Stupid me. It was about $100. Totally not worth it, no matter how right I was. I learned from that.

 

[sengsational]

I know it's not the main issue, but it's very easy to get a medical collection removed from your credit file due to HIPAA.

https://whychat.me/GUIDE%20HIPAA%20PROGRAM.html

That's a good reference to keep handy. I've got a "dropdead" letter (as Clark Howard calls it), but this process looks very well documented and specific. But I'd be careful with MS Word files... maybe copy to Google drive and open there.

 

[foxfirev5]

Certainly I would pay it but I would complain to hospital about the error as the person reading it should have been more careful.

Yes. Simple and to the point. I think the emphasis should be in your overall health and wellbeing