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Medical Forum / Diseases and Disorders / Arthritis / March 2005Re: not such good times - part 2
Carole, I am starting a new thread here as the other one has just gotten way too long. Before you max out your new credit card or put youself into debt with a loan or whatever, you may want to talk to the president or CEO of the hospital and let him know your situation. One of the largest hospitals here in my area tells its patients the same thing.......ie: they are not in the business of financing or loans, so they want thier patients to pay right away either with check, credit card, or by obtaining a loan through a financial instituition. If patients were unwilling or unable to do any of the above, the hospital would eventually turn the accounts over to a collection agency. Well, they got so many patients going straight to the head honcho and making arrangements and complaining, that they eventually had to change thier practices and as long as people were making a concerted effort to pay on thier accounts, they let them go and stopped turning people automatically over to a collection agency. Just a thought, but by contacting the CEO, you may be able to explain your situation and work out some type of payment plan with the hospital without paying all the extra finance charges that putting it on your credit card would cause! I would also find out if that hospital has a policy of turning people over to collection agencies. I mean, if you don't have the money, you don't have the money! You can't squeeze water out of a rock so to speak. I would think they would try to be a little more lenient if you promised to set up some type of regular payment plan with them and they could see you were serious about paying your account! Just some thoughts! Praying that this somehow all works out for you and that you can quit stressing about it and take the good care of yourself that you need to be doing!!! Hang in there!!! Donna G Thanks, Donna. I hadn't thought about doing that as their policy is stated at the admitting desk and they give you a copy when you register. But I will do that. Thus far I haven't gotten a bill from them. Maybe they'll forget :) What I do have to do is to change my medical insurance plan next year though. I got United Healthcare's PPO Plus because everyone said it was the best as you weren't tied to in network doctors. But all my doctors out here are new to me since I've only been here a short time, and they are all in network as is the hospital. If I had taken the cheaper plan (the EPO), all of this would have been covered. I would have only had to pay the hospital a $300 copay instead of the $1100 I now owe them. Also, my tests would have been covered 100% instead of only 80%. And there is no deductible - I have a $200 deductible with my plan. The EPO works like an HMO (ie you have to get a referral from your primary care physician), but at this point he's coordinating everything anyway. So I could be saving a LOT of money. I am going to see if they will let me switch when I get back to work, but I think I have to wait until October to switch for 2006. With the plan I have there is a maximum out of pocket of $1500 but that doesn't include copays or the deductible, so at this point I'm looking at $1700 worth of bills :( Carole > Carole, > [quoted text clipped - 33 lines] > > Donna G > Thanks, Donna. I hadn't thought about doing that as their policy is stated > at the admitting desk and they give you a copy when you register. But I [quoted text clipped - 19 lines] > > Carole bummer, carole. y'know, in washington, state law requires that nobody can be denied er/hospital medical treatment because of the inability to pay. even with your medical coverage, you might want to look into that law (though i don't know the name of it), as it might help reduce those bills for you. the hospitals all have the details. i'd call patient services/billing about it, tell them your story and see where they may or may not lead you. kate >> Carole, I am starting a new thread here as the other one has just >> gotten way too [quoted text clipped - 31 lines] >> >> Donna G Carole, Another thing that comes to mind after reading Kates post, is, don't be afraid to enlist the help of some of your representatives. They often can help where you can't seem to get anywhere. See who has local offices there such as state rep, congress person, etc. Enlist thier help in dealing with the hospital. Check into what Kate has suggested as well. Donna G > bummer, carole. y'know, in washington, state law requires that nobody can > be denied er/hospital medical treatment because of the inability to pay. [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > > kate Thanks, Kate. I will look into it. The real bummer is that I had been saving to go to my niece's college graduation in May. Now there is no way I can go unless I can get payment plans for all these bills. And I did want to be there as I'm the only family she has since my sister passed away a little over two years ago. Maybe I'll win the lottery between now and then :) Carole :) |
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