View Full Version : Healthcare billing crap on the government dole
iris lilies
10-30-20, 2:49pm
I now have Medicare coverage. Let me emphasize that
1) I am grateful to have it
2) it certainly is cheaper than the COBRA insurance from my workplace (Not sure if it is cheaper than our ACA policy)
3) I am happy with the quality of health care I receive
I have always said that despite my conviction that expanded social programs of government funded health care is a wrong move for our country, i would be happy enough with the care, mainly because I dont know enough to spot problems in the low level care I consume.
But.
Now that I actually have a doctor and am under a doctors care* the usual billing problems show up. Yeah I’ve heard that and the stories about them.Even though I’m doing my damnedest to not spend my prime retirement years fussing around with stupid medical bills, they Consume my attention.
So my very first foray into medical testing, a mammogram, took place last February. Here it is October and I’m still getting bills for that event. The first bill for $300 I just paid. I didn’t want to investigate it even tho my friend said”you should look into that, mammograms are supposed to be free.” Yeah whatever, just keep me out of medical billing hell.
So when the second bill came for $200 last week I thought oh fk, this is ridiculous. I sat down with all of the billing notices from our federal government, the Medicaid statements, and couldn’t figure out much.
So I called the hospital where the mammogram event took place. They made a mistake. They overbilled me.Hunh, what a surprise. Not.
This is so incredibly irritating because this is the first medical bill I have received That I remember in decades. I mean it’s the first procedure I’ve had that I can think of in a long time. Well I did get a dog bite years ago when I was employed and that was more straightforward in that I had insurance, I had a deductible, I had to pay something on it and that was expected. But this whole mix of government paid Medicare and a supplement plan is messy.
This is mostly a rant, no real purpose other than to rant.
* I didn’t go to a doctor for around 15 years. Am now going to a Doctor who does not take insurance but requires a fee. I like that model. It’s so damn simple.P and it keeps me somewhat out of medical billing hell.
I agree - medical billing is hell.
I was sent to collections by my employer 2 years ago for a bill that was never sent to me. It was only $100 and I owed it. But they never billed me. They said we told them to never contact us again when they called us. They never called us. I work there! They could have just emailed me, or walked to my office and asked me. I informed the director of that dept and they fixed it. And I paid the bill after they sent it to me,
Teacher Terry
10-30-20, 3:57pm
Medicare has been smooth in over the year I have been on it with no mistakes. I have had plenty of insurance issues through the years.
That's good to hear Teacher Terry. We are counting the days until we can both be on it. Although I am on my husband's work plan and they just paid for my Shingrex shot and TDaP shot with no copay, so I am happy about that.
IL at what age do you plan to stop getting mammograms? I have debated stopping. Breast cancer "survival" rates are high because mammograms find many very slow growing early stage cancers that would never kill anyone because you will die first of something else. I have cut back to 5 years and soon may drop them all together. At some point the radiation from the mammogram is a greater risk than the cancer risk.
Yppej, this may help you think about this question:
https://www.health.harvard.edu/screening-tests-for-women/should-you-still-have-mammograms-after-age-75
Teacher Terry
10-30-20, 5:46pm
Interesting that the recommendation is every two years. I didn’t know that.
That recommendation received changed from 1 year to 2.
iris lilies
10-30-20, 6:07pm
That recommendation received changed from 1 year to 2.
I only went for a mammogram because Imhad a cyst near my breast. It was a cyst, my doc did ultrasound and thought it was a cyst, I knew it was a cyst, but gotta test this stiff I guess.
dado potato
10-30-20, 8:14pm
Iris Lilies,
It saddens me to hear that the billing around your mammogram is causing you anxiety.
I have been a Medicare client for a few years, and I have had my share of surprise billings as well.
I learned that I have to adopt a new attitude to bills from health care providers. All my life I believed that I should strive to pay every bill the same day I received it. "Cash on the barrel-head". In the indoctrination by my WASP parents, I was bred to the bone to owe no one anything after payday.
Since I have been on Medicare, on medical billings I have learned to let them ripen a bit. And I question the "coding", if that may been the reason Medicare does not cover the procedure. Apart from one costly failure on a shingles vaccination, I have generally been successful .
catherine
10-30-20, 8:30pm
Apart from one costly failure on a shingles vaccination, I have generally been successful .
Yes, Medicare does not cover the shingles vaccine.
I suppose in the end it is all about how something gets coded. I thought preventative screenings were paid for by Medicare but perhaps this was diagnostic instead. I had three medical visits after starting Medicare a year ago and have never received any bill.One was for a MRI with contrast which would have been expensive. Maybe my supplemental work insurance paid the difference? I have a friend who recently went in for a routine mammogram (she is in her early 70s). They found a tiny "malignant" dot and immediately scheduled her for surgery and radiation. She was told it was most likely very slow growing but she opted to have the slash and burn done anyway.
iris lilies
10-30-20, 9:57pm
That is interesting pinky toe that there’s a difference between diagnostic mammogram and preventative mammogram. See this is where I am a naïve rube, I have no idea about this stuff. But this mammogram event also included an ultrasound which apparently is really the charge I need to pay.
Dado. I think that’s useful information about letting the bills ripen.
I’ve had a kidney scan in July and colonoscopy in October. I will watch with interest the bills that are generated from those procedures. I got the shingles double series shot and paid for it straight up. No problem, I just wanted the shot. I also had the pharmacist at another time give me pneumonia shots which I think Medicare paid for.
Oh my gosh I am consuming so much healthcare the past six months compared to 15 years prior. There was only the minor dog bite in that 15 year period. But even then it was not simple. I thought that was kind of a scam because when I visited the Doc in a box and he sewed me up with little fuss, he then sent me to the hand specialist up the block to avoid a scar. At the time I just acted like a Sheeple and obediently went to the hand specialist, but I should’ve just said no that’s not necessary.
rosarugosa
10-31-20, 7:59am
Iris: It often works that way, no healthcare expenses for many years, and then yikes! That was my experience.
My mother has some amazing supplemental plan from BC/BS. She goes to whatever provider she wants, everything gets covered in full and she never ever gets a bill for anything. She pays about $2600 a year for it though, and she does have significant out of pocket prescription costs, although not unaffordable.
You seem very with it IL, so this does not apply to you, but it is sad that as people age and face cognitive decline they must deal with more and more medical paperwork and bureaucracy. It should get simpler not more complex with age. Is the US the only country where things are so complex there is a whole industry of medical brokers and agents to try to help people figure out options?
iris lilies
10-31-20, 9:45am
You seem very with it IL, so this does not apply to you, but it is sad that as people age and face cognitive decline they must deal with more and more medical paperwork and bureaucracy. It should get simpler not more complex with age. Is the US the only country where things are so complex there is a whole industry of medical brokers and agents to try to help people figure out options?
Jeppy this worries me. It is true that as I get older I do not want to deal with complex medical paperwork or complex financial paperwork. I thought about calling my Medicare broker for my first question but it seems like I should try to figure it out myself and I finally did. I reserved her expertise for the more complex things.
The Medicare supplement thing is complicated and I’m paying for it more expensive than normal policy because it’s supposedly covers multiple networks, or at least doesn’t have a network limitation that others do, or somesuch thing. The network Limitations scare me to death. There a horror stories about owing thousands and thousands of dollars simply because one professional walked into your hospital room ordered a test, and that specific event was “out of network. “
Jeppy this worries me. It is true that as I get older I do not want to deal with complex medical paperwork or complex financial paperwork. I thought about calling my Medicare broker for my first question but it seems like I should try to figure it out myself and I finally did. I reserved her expertise for the more complex things.
The Medicare supplement thing is complicated and I’m paying for it more expensive than normal policy because it’s supposedly covers multiple networks, or at least doesn’t have a network limitation that others do, or somesuch thing. The network Limitations scare me to death. There a horror stories about owing thousands and thousands of dollars simply because one professional walked into your hospital room ordered a test, and that specific event was “out of network. “
What about setting up a trust and having someone pay your bills for you as you get older? I was just reading Suze Orman Retirement after 50 (or whatever it is called) and she talked about one reason for setting up a fixed income annuity is to protect oneself as one develops dementia and other cognitive impairment. What if you went one step further and put money in a trust and outsourced all the bills, etc.
My mom has had dementia for TWENTY YEARS, I realized yesterday. I think about this--what if I only have ten dependable years left with my brain--I would need to set up something now. Or at least have a gameplan for how to have a simpler retirement, and how to handle bills etc.
While she was a very early adopter of technology, had the first Apple computer of anyone I know, she lost the ability to use the computer, to remember or find passwords, etc. So all "modern" bill paying etc. became beyond her.
You know things are just going to get more and more complicated, or at least different, and that is a problem for people as they age, the ability to adapt to a new technology.
I can already see in myself, as if I have a difficult phone call to make to family, I try to use my landline and not my cell phone, as muscle memory with the phone under my ear, in my hand, helps me feel normal. Because for most of my life, that was how you made a phone call.
iris lilies
10-31-20, 10:50am
Well, we already have a trust.
DH exerts complete control over our finances so I don’t have to worry about it, personally. A far more logical issue will be when he starts to decline mentally, will he be able to let go of the control?I’m hoping I am dead by then, or in some Alzheimer’s fog where it doesn’t bother me.
I talk to him all the time about simplifying our lies. Simplifying the “stuff “that we have. Simplifying our bills. Simplifying our financial situation. I’m hoping that by the time I am in decline some of these thoughts will be upper most in his brain.
I often wonder and even fret about becoming unable to cope with on line bill paying, paperwork etc. I had a dream I couldn't make phone calls anymore because I couldn't read the number on the paper and hit the right keys fast enough...kept getting cut off. Then there is the who do you trust and how do you set things up and on and on and on!
catherine
10-31-20, 1:13pm
What about setting up a trust and having someone pay your bills for you as you get older? I was just reading Suze Orman Retirement after 50 (or whatever it is called) and she talked about one reason for setting up a fixed income annuity is to protect oneself as one develops dementia and other cognitive impairment. What if you went one step further and put money in a trust and outsourced all the bills, etc.
My mom has had dementia for TWENTY YEARS, I realized yesterday. I think about this--what if I only have ten dependable years left with my brain--I would need to set up something now. Or at least have a gameplan for how to have a simpler retirement, and how to handle bills etc.
While she was a very early adopter of technology, had the first Apple computer of anyone I know, she lost the ability to use the computer, to remember or find passwords, etc. So all "modern" bill paying etc. became beyond her.
You know things are just going to get more and more complicated, or at least different, and that is a problem for people as they age, the ability to adapt to a new technology.
I can already see in myself, as if I have a difficult phone call to make to family, I try to use my landline and not my cell phone, as muscle memory with the phone under my ear, in my hand, helps me feel normal. Because for most of my life, that was how you made a phone call.
What you say resonates. First of all, it's disconcerting knowing that it doesn't matter how much "cognitive reserve" you have. I recently read a study that said that two groups of people were tested and those with more "cognitive reserve," meaning they had used their brains a LOT in their lives and had a lot of neural pathways, had less incidence of Alzheimer's than those who did not. But your mother was a very accomplished woman, and I think about movies like "Still Alice" and those anecdotal scenarios convince me that doing crossword puzzles or learning a language at 50 is a feel-good measure. It is a very good reminder that, as you say, those of us in striking range need to prepare now.
My mother died too early to tell if she would have had dementia, but my grandmother definitely did.
And I also relate to taking the path of least resistance when it comes to comfort with new things. I use my landline for the same reason you do. Last year when I went to Ocean Grove, I couldn't take my landline with me to do interviews and I really worried about it, because typically I have to call teleconference numbers, use passcodes, call out to people and join them in, etc and it doesn't come naturally to me on my cell phone. Thankfully I was able to navigate it but I picture myself like that typical old lady taking forever to punch in the numbers, versus my kids who would be "beep-beep-beep, hello!" in 5 seconds.
frugal-one
11-1-20, 4:38am
What about setting up a trust and having someone pay your bills for you as you get older? I was just reading Suze Orman Retirement after 50 (or whatever it is called) and she talked about one reason for setting up a fixed income annuity is to protect oneself as one develops dementia and other cognitive impairment. What if you went one step further and put money in a trust and outsourced all the bills, etc.
My mom has had dementia for TWENTY YEARS, I realized yesterday. I think about this--what if I only have ten dependable years left with my brain--I would need to set up something now. Or at least have a gameplan for how to have a simpler retirement, and how to handle bills etc.
While she was a very early adopter of technology, had the first Apple computer of anyone I know, she lost the ability to use the computer, to remember or find passwords, etc. So all "modern" bill paying etc. became beyond her.
You know things are just going to get more and more complicated, or at least different, and that is a problem for people as they age, the ability to adapt to a new technology.
I can already see in myself, as if I have a difficult phone call to make to family, I try to use my landline and not my cell phone, as muscle memory with the phone under my ear, in my hand, helps me feel normal. Because for most of my life, that was how you made a phone call.
A trust is not a must for everyone. It depends on the situation. YLMV
rosarugosa
11-1-20, 7:08am
IL: I think you need to at least plan for the possibility that DH declines or goes first. I have always hoped I would go first, but I realize the universe is seldom as orderly or obliging as we would like it to be.
Catherine: That was one of the main reasons I finally got a smart phone. I could see that was the way of the future and figured I was too young to allow myself to become technologically illiterate.
iris lilies
11-1-20, 9:29am
If DH dies of becomes incapacitated, I would for sure organize our finances differently, setting up everything for auto payment, consolidating financial accounts. Etc.
If DH dies of becomes incapacitated, I would for sure organize our finances differently, setting up everything for auto payment, consolidating financial accounts. Etc.
If you were still capable of doing that. That's what happened to my mom--her cognition went first, and she was the one who was in charge financially, and took such good care of everything.
I have always been the one in charge of admin matters and finances in our house. I know that DH would struggle if I moved on but he has never shown any interest. I am reading a book right now with advice from the very old to younger folks about all sorts of topics. Number one - worrying about things is a huge waste of life. Plan as best you can right now and things will work themselves out one way or the other in the end. I think simplifying however we can right now is the best way for us. I have all passwords and instruction written down, only two credit cards, most bills on auto-pay, one investment company etc...We humans have this thought that we can control everything in our lives and it just doesn't work that way.
iris lilies
11-1-20, 11:50am
I have always been the one in charge of admin matters and finances in our house. I know that DH would struggle if I moved on but he has never shown any interest. I am reading a book right now with advice from the very old to younger folks about all sorts of topics. Number one - worrying about things is a huge waste of life. Plan as best you can right now and things will work themselves out one way or the other in the end. I think simplifying however we can right now is the best way for us. I have all passwords and instruction written down, only two credit cards, most bills on auto-pay, one investment company etc...We humans have this thought that we can control everything in our lives and it just doesn't work that way.
yes, this. To circle back to the topic of this thread, I think about simplifying medical bills and what if I don’t pay them? As dado suggests, just let them ripen. Don’t pay them. Let the hospitals and the insurance companies figure it out and message each other and send me bills that I can ignore until they apply all their credits fir things that they mis-charged me for. And so what if the bills go to collections? I guess my credit rating would be hurt?
And do I really care about that? I’m not sure that I do care.
I'm not sure what happens to you if you don't pay your bills, anymore.
I thought you were trying to get the bills paid and simplify your life at the same time. I don't think that is a particularly high level of functioning, but maybe it will be beyond all of us some day. I know it is for Mom and Dad now. So usually, if you can't take care of your finances, someone else moves in and does it for you.
But that would seem a very long way away for you. Probably never, as you have lots of money, and they will just wait.
If your credit rating goes down it can affect whether you can get and how much you pay for auto and homeowners insurance, cable, internet, and any phone service that is not prepaid.
iris lilies
11-1-20, 1:32pm
If your credit rating goes down it can affect whether you can get and how much you pay for auto and homeowners insurance, cable, internet, and any phone service that is not prepaid.
I will have to say that as 30 year customers of the same insurance company WiTH NO CLAIMS EVER—our insurance co. can fk right off if they suddenly pay attention to my falling credit score. Which isn’t even 800 and I have never been able to figure out why. It hovers a hair below 800. DH’s is always around 810.
We are unusual, apparently in this day and age to go for 3+ decades with no claims. Also, there are no court cases against us in the Missouri Casenet file.
Teacher Terry
11-1-20, 1:33pm
I think it’s good to have a plan. My mom paid her own bills until she died. However, my sister did her bills for about 6 months when she had surgery, spent weeks in the hospital and didn’t feel good for months. She had us kids on her accounts from age 65 as a precaution.
Teacher Terry
11-1-20, 1:34pm
We have never had a homeowner’s claim but have had auto claims.
I will have to say that as 30 year customers of the same insurance company WiTH NO CLAIMS EVER—our insurance co. can fk right off if they suddenly pay attention to my falling credit score.
Yes, but if you decide to tell them to fk right off, any other insurance company you go to will look at your credit score and price accordingly. Just sayin'.
frugal-one
11-1-20, 5:07pm
I have always been the one in charge of admin matters and finances in our house. I know that DH would struggle if I moved on but he has never shown any interest. I am reading a book right now with advice from the very old to younger folks about all sorts of topics. Number one - worrying about things is a huge waste of life. Plan as best you can right now and things will work themselves out one way or the other in the end. I think simplifying however we can right now is the best way for us. I have all passwords and instruction written down, only two credit cards, most bills on auto-pay, one investment company etc...We humans have this thought that we can control everything in our lives and it just doesn't work that way.
Made one large binder with copies of bills and all pertinent information (other than passwords on accounts). If DH and I should both die, all one has to do is go to the binder to see statements/bills and how to contact creditors, credit cards, etc. The crematorium is the first page in the book. Have yet to type up obituaries but all the info is there to complete. Everything is POD or TOD and house is set up for direct transfer so no probate should be necessary. Wills are included to cover what cannot be by POD or TOD. Went to an estate attorney to verify all is as it should be since I did it all. She only charged $100 because she said everything was in order. Every new year I check to be sure everything is current.
Made one large binder with copies of bills and all pertinent information (other than passwords on accounts). If DH and I should both die, all one has to do is go to the binder to see statements/bills and how to contact creditors, credit cards, etc. The crematorium is the first page in the book. Have yet to type up obituaries but all the info is there to complete. Everything is POD or TOD and house is set up for direct transfer so no probate should be necessary. Wills are included to cover what cannot be by POD or TOD. Went to an estate attorney to verify all is as it should be since I did it all. She only charged $100 because she said everything was in order. Every new year I check to be sure everything is current.
Well done, you! How do you set up the house for direct transfer? We have started our book, too, but we're not there yet.
frugal-one
11-1-20, 6:15pm
Well done, you! How do you set up the house for direct transfer? We have started our book, too, but we're not there yet.
Need to check with your state. It is different by each state. Are you in IL? You need to check further. Here it cost $30 ($200 if done by attorney at the time I did it) and that was the only fee.
The Illinois Real Estate Transfer Tax Law imposes a tax on the privilege of transferring a title to real estate or a beneficial interest in real property located within Illinois. By state statute, the Recorder of Deeds is required to collect the tax at the time of recording.
So you can transfer title to your heirs and it will not go through probate?? Hmm. We are in Michigan but planning a move to a new state, will have to check into this.
frugal-one
11-1-20, 10:03pm
So you can transfer title to your heirs and it will not go through probate?? Hmm. We are in Michigan but planning a move to a new state, will have to check into this.
Here is it only one person as beneficiary. Not sure how it works in other places.
I recently learned that Colorado offers a TOD beneficiary deed of trust. I am going to look into that.
Powered by vBulletin® Version 4.2.5 Copyright © 2025 vBulletin Solutions Inc. All rights reserved.