Questioning medical bill pays off

February 10 01:00 2015 by ushadmin

It pays to question your medical bill.

In January, I received a bill for a Saturday visit to my primary care doctor employed by Big Health Care System that occurred in the previous month. The explanation of benefits from my insurer included a $50 charge for an after-hours visit. I questioned that charge because I had no indication when I made the appointment that morning that there would be an additional charge. In fact, the office used to say on its recorded message that Saturdays were reserved for such urgent matters.

You can read the details of the bills and phone calls to Insurance Company and Big Health Care System.

The other day, I got a second bill from Big Health Care System for only the charges of the office visit. There was no explanation.

I called the billing department to see if what I think had happened actually did happen.

The customer service person looked up the record and said the after-hours charge was reversed. The after-hours code was in error and the appointment was during normal office time.

I will quell the urge to claim my righteous victory. After all, jumping around in I-told-you-so-glee could result in injury, for which I’ll have to make another appointment. If I can’t get in Monday through Friday from 8:30 to 5, I wouldn’t want to incur extra charges and have another go-round with the billing department.