The original poster (OP) narrates how he fought her boyfriend’s erroneous medical bill from $5000 down to $26. Now, her boyfriend disapproves of the steps she used to achieve this “great success.”
Could This Be How To Fight Erroneous Medical Bills?
OP’s boyfriend had to go to the ER after an accident. After insurance, they still had 5K to pay.
This bill was ridiculously high, and OP says it would have messed up their holiday plans. Fortunately, OP had successfully fought erroneous medical bills before, so she offered her boyfriend this “service.”
Her boyfriend agreed, and she took over.
She started by having the boyfriend call the hospital to say that he had authorized OP to handle the bill and also access his medical records.
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Now that everything was under her control, she started by requesting an itemized bill and comparing each code’s prices to the fair prices. She then called the billing department to open a dispute.
The department, however, turned her down, saying that they only collect bills and do not solve disputes. She was bounced around for hours trying to get someone who handles bill disputes without any success.
It was time to pull out the big guns; she went on Google and Linkedin and found the hospital’s board of directors. Guess what? She found 30 emails from upper management in the hospital and even the hospital’s investors.
She started by sending several emails daily, slowly working up the chain. At this point, she is referring to her boyfriend as her “client” in the emails.
As she worked up the chain, she explained how her client had been charged seven times over the fair price of the services rendered. In the emails, she also referenced how she had tried to solve the issue with the billing department in the hospital but failed.
She escalated the emails until she got in touch with the hospital directors and CC’ed the investors. At this point, she asked for a written statement that justified a bill 7 times the national average for the service rendered.
She says she spent 15 minutes daily writing and sending emails. And guess what? Her efforts bore fruits. The bill was reduced from $5000 to $26!
Ungrateful or Reasonable?
She was overjoyed and broke the news to her boyfriend. The boyfriend was equally overjoyed and was jumping up and down, literally calling her a Christmas miracle.
But then, he wanted to know how she did it. I mean, who wouldn’t want to know the way around this? OP explained how it was not such a difficult task; she said she just sent several emails daily.
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Her curious boyfriend asked what she said in the emails that had the bill slashed by nearly five grand. OP handed her boyfriend her phone to let him read close to the 60 emails she had sent over the days.
OP’s boyfriend started stressing over how her girlfriend kept going higher and higher. He was furious, insisting that he thought OP was handling the issue with the billing department and not stalking and harassing the management into dropping it.
Did OP cross the line by contacting the management and investors?
The Masses Weigh In
One comment said, “You are a friggin’ rock star and should be a d**** professional advocate for those who get ripped off in healthcare like this. Your boyfriend is unappreciative and clueless about how diligent you must be to challenge an erroneous bill. What else are you supposed to do when the hospital, doctors, and insurance companies are unwilling to help you resolve their errors? So many people just quit and either pay the massive bill or go into debt. Tell your boyfriend this is the only Christmas gift you’re giving him. NTA.”
Another commenter added, “I’ve worked in billing (not in a hospital, though). I can tell you, at the lower levels (the people you’re speaking to on the phone), we cannot do very much. And for a billing specialist to escalate this (if they even care enough to advocate for you, which can be rare), likely getting denied, needing to go through the appeals process, etc., it would probably take months. When it comes to business, it is often better to escalate things like this early on to people who can address the issue instead of trying to fight it with four departments where no one takes ownership.”
Looking at the comment section, Redditors unanimously agreed that OP was not the ***hole. One commenter, however, had a say on who the real ***hole was, “The biggest a***hole here is the American medical system.”
Many comments also encouraged OP to start a business offering this service to other people. Do you think it’s a service she can sell to other people? P/S: She is an engineer.
Read the original post here.
This article was produced and syndicated by A Dime Saved.
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Originally posted 2023-04-24 09:26:27.