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I went in for surgery on Monday. I had the same surgery on my right hand 2 months or so ago. I paid my co-pays when I went to the doctor, and paid my surgery co-pay at the time of service.

Today I get a bill for $120 for 3 visits. There should have been no charge because I paid the one co-pay, and the other 2 visits were post-op.

Oh no ....... they charged me a "facility fee" for each visit. Why? Because they can. I like my surgeon, but I am letting him know that I wil never be back as long as he's part of that organization. I feel that kind of thing is no better than lying, and I don't like being lied to.

Then, I got a call from my dentist. They sent me a ridiculous bill for a crown, which should have been $400. I called, and my dentist told me that the insurance co. sent me a check, and that they had cancelled it, so don't try to cash it. OK. No problem.

So they send me a higher bill the other day. I was kinda ...irritated. I called the dentist, and he said something about the insurance company saying that I had cashed the check (A LIE) and that they had declined the bill. (also a lie) I called the insurance company and they told me that they had stopped payment on the check (as the doctor said the 1st time I spoke to him) and then we dug into the bill. No wonder it was so high ...... he put the wrong provider code on it, so it was billed as out of network.

I hate to think of my doctors as greedy, and their offices as incompetent, but I guess I have no choice. I have lost a ton of respect for 2 doctors I previously did respect.

Bleh. They shouldn't have dropped this on me 3 days after carpal tunnel surgery.

Ahhhh… the joys of for profit medicine.

I recently had to have a root canal on a tooth that had a crown on it. The endodontist drilled a small hole in the back of my crown, then into my tooth, to do the root canal. I then had to go to the dentist to get the crown fixed from the procedure.
My insurance refused to pay for the crown ‘repair’ even though it wasn’t a repair, it was a hole caused by the procedure of having a root canal… a root canal that they covered. Nope. They refused to pay for it. I had to anti up out of pocket.

When insurance companies control such medical decisions this is what we get.
This country needs to surgically remove the insurance industry from our medical system. Period.

That sucks. Sorry Dawg.

This world has gone mad with sheer incompetence, "gougery", and lack of accountability.

My urology dept scheduled a ECG a couple days ahead of my surgery. They called in a panic to schedule because they forgot to do it earlier. Drove 25 minutes in traffic, arrive for ECG, none scheduled. Called office... "closed" with the phone message stating their hours of 9 - 5... it was 3pm.


Between the medical field and insurance companies, you literally have to possess some type of black magic to get intended results or fix mistakes after they're made.


It's not just there -- it's everywhere.

Drove 3 hours round trip to a festival over the weekend. We were on the fence but saw a musical playing at a local theater and that sealed the deal. Bought tickets online. Festival sucked because it was 90 and humid. Went to the venue early for the show... NO SHOW. "Cancelled due to covid concerns for our acters". W-H-A-T?? No email or anything, just "because Covid". Walk inside to witness an employee asking other disappointed patrons if they would like a refund... Would they like a refund? lol

This sixteen year old girl is scratching their name on a piece of paper and tells them "we're going to try to get around to refunds next week".

They ask when the show was cancelled... "Friday at noon". We bought tickets 5 hours after that. We jump on our phone to see they are still selling tickets for this and three more shows over the weekend. I keep my cool but ask for the managers name and extension. It make it clear to this young lady that she needs to notify the manager asap that tickets are still being sold. "I'll try to get ahold of someone". Multiple people piling into lobby as we walk out.

Tickets remained on sale all weekend for shows that were cancelled.

Left a message on manager's vm Monday. No return call. Left another one today. I guess I'll just file fraud charges if I don't hear anything tomorrow. Ridiculous.


I'm to the point that I realize: whether you're buying a house or a cup of coffee, you better be prepared to walk the other party through every aspect of their job and triple-check their work... or pay the consequences.

Don't even get me going on this. I'm going to change the oil in my golf cart now. And sadly, I'll be back, I'm afraid, to "get me going" on this.

My favorite Dr visits are when they charge a flat fee upfront and dont get insurance involved. Like when I get scans. I had a routine heart scan. It was 90 bucks, including radiologist reading it.

Or if I go to Urgent Care instead of ER. Urgent Care is so inexpensive.

I also like ordering my own tests. Like from those "request a test" places. I have Crohns. I can keep an eye on my bloodwork without getting the Dr involved unless something is wrong.

Just don't go slugging anybody with your good hand. 😁

Okay, oil is changed, ate dinner, went for a cruise.

Daughter went up to my parent's place in Northern Michigan day after Christmas. 13 or so of them there. She had chest pains. Dad (my dad, her grandpa) thought they ought to go to the hospital - 35 minutes away. 21 year olds shouldn't have chest pain like that.

Long story short, she was fine - but had covid.

Took 4 months to get the bill. Something like $1800. I paid it. About 3 months later we get another bill for about $40. Called the hospital, told them I paid the entire bill 3 months earlier. Gave them the check number, date it was mailed, etc. and "Oh, this is just a separate doctors bill."

Wife, couple years ago. Turns out she had a fractured vertabrae in her back, after 6 months of chiro appts and physical therapy. Chiro gave up and said "I can't help you. I ordered an MRI. " That's when we found out her back was broken. Needed surgery. Appt. set. Surgery set. Insurance co. said "Nah, we won't cover it. Go to physical therapy." UH - she's GONE to p.t. for 6 months. "We won't cover the surgery". I mean, literally at 4:30 the day before the surgery, the ins. co. called and said "Okay, we'll pay". The surgeon - Biani in Toledo - called the ins. com and said "Her vertebrae is broken. It will never heal on it's own." 13 hours later, we were on our way to Toledo for the surgery. (which turned out great, by the way)

She has a broken back and they wanted her to "walk it off"? WTH? lol

Do you Celebrate, and what?

With the maze of paperwork and red tape, I am surprised there aren't more billing errors and communication problems between patients, Dr's, and insurance companies.

Well, this is no miscommunication. This is a giant middle finger to the patient, saying "We can charge this, and so we will".

No doubt. Back in the day, you go in for surgery and you get one bill from the hospital and insurance probably covered it. Now, everything is billed seperately.....surgeon, anesthesia, radiology, facility, etc. You have to watch for duplicates and really watch for what the hospital is charging and what insurance pays. Both the wife and I have had recent major surgeries. We received bills from her surgery before insurance paid. You have to wonder if they would have been refunded or not had we paid them right away and not kept an eye on them. I feel sorry for elderly or people that just don't have the knowledge to follow thru. It's almost a certainty that they're being taken advantage of.

Another area where people are getting the short end of the stick is with insurance denials and refusals. A lot of things that are denied can be appealed or pre-authorized to get covered. This has to be done by the physician's office, and sometimes they don't let you know that this is an option. It can include treatments, prodedures and medications....and can be as simple as changing a diagnosis, identifying other treatments that were ineffective or better documentation of the problem.

I know this will move this thread in a PP-direction...

but it really doesn't HAVE to be like this.

JMHO, people are human- wrong codes are put in. Their time and yours will NORMALLY fix the problem. You're lucky crown cost $400- in Fl I was just quoted $800. Considering pulling them out and putting in implant. Cheaper in long run.