sometimes, i think this kind of thing has something to do with lack of
thoughtfully projected written directives or process protocols.   how very
frustrating for you, hon, and for us all.

kate

OK, I am absolutely appalled and outraged!

Was going back and forth with my insurance companies and the local
hospital today over some bills from earlier in the year.   You all know
the drill.   And anyways,  they can't seem to get things straightened
out with their billing and so some things have gotten billed incorrectly
and some things have been paid by both insurances as if they were
primary meaning that the hospital got paid more than they should have,
etc., etc.

So after making a number of calls to both medicare and then to my other
insurance company, I am now on the phone with the billing dept of the
hospital, and the fellow tells me something completely opposite of what
medicare just told me, so I tell him that I am more than willing to do
anything I can to get this mess straightened out, but someone is lying
to me as medicare tells me one thing and he is telling me something
completely different.   He gets a tad snotty with me and I tell him
never mind, I will just call patient relations and speak with someone
there, and he says fine and hangs up.   OK, so I put in a call to
patient relations and they tell me someone will call me back shortly.
In the mean time, this fella that was getting snotty with me all of a
sudden calls back and wants to be mr. helpful now.   So we continue to
discuss things further and he tells me that he is just frustrated
because they are trying to reimburse medicare and medicare is refusing
reimbursement because they keep saying that they were my primary payor
since 1998.   I tell him that medicare only became primary payor as of
april 1 of this year and it seems kind of funny that an insurance
company would refuse a reimbursement especially if they overpayed on
something.   Seems like they would be overjoyed to get money back!
This fellow then proceeds to tell me that "you would be surprised".   He
said that many, many times they try to reimburse money to insurance
companies and if both insurance companies refuse to accept the
reimbursement, that they usually just end up sending the overpayment
amounts  then to the state!

WHAT???

No darn wonder our whole system is in the state it is.   Insurance
companies refusing reimbursements?!!!!   Overpayments going to the state
where they probobly misspend it on some other non-related issue?!

I wonder just how often this is going on and how is it that insurance
companies can refuse bills and give their patients such a hard time on
things and yet they regularly refuse reimbursements for overpayments
that they made!   How is this possible???    Are they just too lazy to
deal with the extra paper work, so they blow it off and let the monies
go to the state instead of being better utilized or to help the
patients???

Absolutely unbelievable to me!!!

Have any of you heard of this before???

Unreal!!!

.
.
.
Donna G

It figures ----  I know all kinds of strange things used to happen with my
dad's insurance when he was on phased retirement because his primary carrier
switched back and forth between the State plan and Medicare depending on his
status that semester.  They never seemed to get the right one as primary at
the hospitals.

Hey, can you get the hospital to just credit it to your future co-pays there
;)  (I know they won't, but one can dream can't one?)