Comments on: Medical bills can make you ill: Avoid phantom expenses

By: Georgia Watch » Blog Archive » Medical bills can make you ill: Avoid phantom costs

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 20:34:24 +0000

[...] that bill a lot,” said Holly Lang of Georgia Watch, a nonprofit consumer advocacy group…read more. [...]

By: catlady

catlady — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 12:56:26 +0000

My son got in a “sword” fight (using baseball bats) with another kid and popped his fingertip open. Went to the ER; had to have 4 stitches. Got a bill that included general anesthesia and an abdominal drain!

Somewhat different: State employee insurance sent back a bill for brain surgery for same son. Wanted to know if it took place in the drs. office or in a hospital. They had already paid for 10 days in the hospital, and the dr. had clearly marked on his bill that it was a hospitalization.

Gave birth in the hospital. Same insurance sent back the bill, saying it should be paid first by my auto insurance. Had already paid the doctor. Let them know that no part of the child’s birth, conception, or anything else had anything to do with a car!

When I was born, my dad went to pay the bill and found that he was being charged for my circumcision. He told them to show him where his daughter had been circumcised.

By: Stan

Stan — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 19:22:54 +0000

tap tap tap, hello, is this thing on?

By: RN in Chicago

RN in Chicago — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 06:36:09 +0000

I am a registered nurse at the front lines of patient admissions and discharges. It is a sorry fact that all patients undergo a ‘wallet biopsy’ before being admitted. And then, as others have commented, it’s all about padding the bill. With all the talk about the rising cost of health care, more scrutiny should be given to the hospital/insurance billing process. These two players are in bed together BIG TIME! And don’t let ‘non-profit’ lull you into believing it’s any better. Often it is just as cut-throat.

By: sick and tired

sick and tired — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 19:11:53 +0000

Seems to me that the healthcare bill should address this madness. This is downright theft on the part of the hospitals. I reported my insurance company for charging me for sutures after the birth of a child that required NOT ONE STITCH!

By: Stan

Stan — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 13:26:18 +0000

I don’t think for a second that these are data entry errors. This is how the hospital’s off-set for the un-insured and under-insured.

By: mitzymy

mitzymy — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 11:57:24 +0000

A few years ago I had arthroscopic surgery on my knee. There was a charge on there for an assist in holding my knee while the doctor inserted the needle. The doctor said another doctor assisted him in the process of holding my knee and charged $900.00. The insurance company refused the charge, and when I called them they informed me that a nurse could have done the same thing. I looked for the hospital to send me the bill that the insurance company would not pay, but it never came, and I breathed a sigh of relief. The hospital was just padding the bill to the tune of $900.00.