ITT: Advice needed on a weird medical bill/statement

[Eve Hill]

Ouch, that's a hefty charge for a 20 min. ultrasound.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Ouch, that's a hefty charge for a 20 min. ultrasound.

Yeah, I'm kind of wondering how the hell they justify it.

[Pope Pixie Pickle]

 

this is one reason I am glad I never moved to the states. Seriously the healthcare system there is fucked. Plus my ex was a loser who probably would not hve had decent insurance.

[Suu]

I fucking hate capitalism.

When I take over, I'm going to give this country a cruel dose of true fascism so they learn to STFU.

[Eve Hill]

I fucking hate capitalism.

When I take over, I'm going to give this country a cruel dose of true fascism so they learn to STFU.

After your rise to power, will you make it so mammograms and pap smears come with a box of chocolate and a note of apology? I'd support your regime for that. 

[Succulent Plant]

Oh, and that was 20 minutes. A 20 minute ultrasound. It cost $200 to have each kid ultrasounded, and they use the same equipment. I even went to the same place. And, it's not like that includes ANY treatment. Just the ultrasound. I still have an ovarian cyst the size of a walnut, and can't do a fucking thing about it.

I had one of those several years ago.  I found out because I was dancing and all the jumping about burst it and it started bleeding internally, I blacked out and had to be taken to the ER, it ended up costing me $3000+ for the whole 2 hour ER visit!  This was about 8 years ago and I'd just switched jobs and my insurance coverage wasn't active yet. 

EveHill, my credit was shitty at the time so I just fucked with the collection agencies that called for a few years and didn't bother even trying to make payments.  After a few years I had enough cash to pay it off and was cleaning my credit up, so I called them and they ended up settling for a payment of $2000. 

tl;dr version: I don't have any advice for you, but I'd keep calling them and being an ass about it till they explained to your satisfaction or fixed it.

[Eve Hill]

Oh, and that was 20 minutes. A 20 minute ultrasound. It cost $200 to have each kid ultrasounded, and they use the same equipment. I even went to the same place. And, it's not like that includes ANY treatment. Just the ultrasound. I still have an ovarian cyst the size of a walnut, and can't do a fucking thing about it.

I had one of those several years ago.  I found out because I was dancing and all the jumping about burst it and it started bleeding internally, I blacked out and had to be taken to the ER, it ended up costing me $3000+ for the whole 2 hour ER visit!  This was about 8 years ago and I'd just switched jobs and my insurance coverage wasn't active yet. 

EveHill, my credit was shitty at the time so I just fucked with the collection agencies that called for a few years and didn't bother even trying to make payments.  After a few years I had enough cash to pay it off and was cleaning my credit up, so I called them and they ended up settling for a payment of $2000. 

tl;dr version: I don't have any advice for you, but I'd keep calling them and being an ass about it till they explained to your satisfaction or fixed it.

Definitely will be calling again in the morning.

*wincing at your experience* Ouch! *and wincing at the big bill*  Glad to hear they settled for less!

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Oh, and that was 20 minutes. A 20 minute ultrasound. It cost $200 to have each kid ultrasounded, and they use the same equipment. I even went to the same place. And, it's not like that includes ANY treatment. Just the ultrasound. I still have an ovarian cyst the size of a walnut, and can't do a fucking thing about it.

I had one of those several years ago.  I found out because I was dancing and all the jumping about burst it and it started bleeding internally, I blacked out and had to be taken to the ER, it ended up costing me $3000+ for the whole 2 hour ER visit!  This was about 8 years ago and I'd just switched jobs and my insurance coverage wasn't active yet. 

Now I'm skeert. 

[Succulent Plant]

Oh, and that was 20 minutes. A 20 minute ultrasound. It cost $200 to have each kid ultrasounded, and they use the same equipment. I even went to the same place. And, it's not like that includes ANY treatment. Just the ultrasound. I still have an ovarian cyst the size of a walnut, and can't do a fucking thing about it.

I had one of those several years ago.  I found out because I was dancing and all the jumping about burst it and it started bleeding internally, I blacked out and had to be taken to the ER, it ended up costing me $3000+ for the whole 2 hour ER visit!  This was about 8 years ago and I'd just switched jobs and my insurance coverage wasn't active yet. 

Now I'm skeert. 

The doctor told me at the time that it probably would have eventually dissipated (gently) had I not burst it.  About my 'dancing'... I am very white and people occasionally think I'm having a grand mal seizure when I attempt to dance.  So a coordinated person gracefully moving to a musical beat probably wouldn't have the same thing happen. 

[Suu]

I fucking hate capitalism.

When I take over, I'm going to give this country a cruel dose of true fascism so they learn to STFU.

After your rise to power, will you make it so mammograms and pap smears come with a box of chocolate and a note of apology? I'd support your regime for that. 

Are you fucking kidding me? They're coming with an almost-naked sexy man servant to take care of you for the rest of the day after your annual who HAND feeds you the chocolate. Paps make me cramp for 2 days, I deserve to be carried in a goddamn litter for letting someone do that to me once a year.

[Triple Zero]

Even though I have no idea what it must be like, I think that's perfectly reasonable.

[Luna]

Even though I have no idea what it must be like, I think that's perfectly reasonable.

Seems more than reasonable to me.

[GIGGLES]

This month's bill/statement from one of my medical providers has something new on it that's got me going WTF?! They acknowledged only 1/3 of my payment and listed the rest of it as "Bad Credit Write Off". WTF? I haven't seen anything like this before.

(A bit of history: I incurred a big medical bill 5 years ago. I had called the business office and worked out a payment plan. I've been faithfully sending a check every month since day 1. Really glad now that I've kept bank statements & receipts of everything going back 7 years!)

Has anyone else had this experience? Is this even legal?
I've called the business office. Got their voice mail so I left a message. They haven't called back yet. It's been 2 days. Tonight, I'm looking up #s for the Better Business Bureau, lawyers, etc. but I'm not sure who I should be calling about this. I don't want my credit affected by their (?) mistake (?)....
Any advice?

BURN DOWN THE MOTHERFUCKING EVERYTHING!

[Eve Hill]

I fucking hate capitalism.

When I take over, I'm going to give this country a cruel dose of true fascism so they learn to STFU.

After your rise to power, will you make it so mammograms and pap smears come with a box of chocolate and a note of apology? I'd support your regime for that. 

Are you fucking kidding me? They're coming with an almost-naked sexy man servant to take care of you for the rest of the day after your annual who HAND feeds you the chocolate. Paps make me cramp for 2 days, I deserve to be carried in a goddamn litter for letting someone do that to me once a year.

  Even better!

[Eve Hill]

I'm happy to report that I got through to someone in the business office, and also someone from Consumer Protection called back this morning.
The lady in the business office didn't make much sense. She talked about the write off being one of the ways they coded old bills. (?) She said my payment had been fully applied to the bill. I asked her for an amended statement showing the full amount of my payment, and if the way she "coded" my bill was going to affect my credit. She said not, but I'm still suspicious. She is going to send me an amended statement, so that's good.
  The lady from Consumer Protection offered to send me some information and a complaint form. She suggested I get a copy of my credit report. If it is affecting my credit, I can file a complaint and they'll help me with that.