John Dempsey Hospital

Review: I received a bill charged to my name from a visit I had on August 31, 2011. I found it strange that I would receive this two years after the date of my visit so I called the number posted to verify what exactly I was being charged for before I blindly paid it and I spoke with [redacted]. She told me the hold on the bill was because I had medicare, which is not true. I actually have [redacted] and prior to that I had [redacted]. I asked my dad to speak with her instead because I was certain we did not have medicaid. She was very rude to my dad when he was asking her questions over the matter. He was trying to voice his confusion over the matter and she just kept cutting him off saying "listen I already told you" , "are you going to listen?" and things of that sort. When he repeated that he has not had medicaid she answered "Well you still have a balance". All I wanted was to figure out if we were rightfully being charged. She did nothing to help us and showed she clearly just did not care enough to even try to find out. I am very frustrated because that is the only number posted on the bill and she was the only person assigned to patients starting with the letter D so I do not have the option of speaking to anyone else over the matter.

Desired Settlement: I have never been sent any bills over hospital or doctor visits so I find it strange that this is the first one and its dated two years ago. I would like to receive more information on the bill I received.

Business

Response:

Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2013/06/21) */

I am responding to this complaint filed by the patient with regards to a balance her Insurtance Carrier paid. The reason for the delay in billing the patient was due to Insurance Carrier paying this claim on 09/20/11 with no patient balance. On 06/11/13 the Insurance Carrier recouped the funds paid on 09/20/11, and repaid this claim with a balance to the patient this time of $36.97 for which we promptly billed the patient. As per the call patient made to the office the Employee tried to explain to the patient what had happned and tried to explain to the father what had happened but employee advised the father was upset on the telephone and would not let her explain the issues. Employee advised father hunged up the telephone before she could explain. I apologize for the confusion, and I have submitted to the patient and itemized bill along with the Explanation of Benefits from Insurance Carrier for her records.

Consumer Response /* (3000, 7, 2013/06/25) */

(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT ACCEPT the response from the business.)

On 8/31/11 I had blood work done. On 9/5/11 [redacted] was billed for $458.15. On 9/20/11 an insurance adjustment was made which deducted $189.35 on that same day [redacted] made a payment of $268.80. $268.80+ $189.35= $458.15. This would mean that I had a balance of $0 as of 9/2011. How is it that an insurance carrier could just recoup money over a year later. It states that there was an insurance adjustment on 6/11/2013 for $14.27 which added that to the balance of $0. On that same day there is an additional $22.70 added to the bill which totals $36.97. I am confused on how this is possible. The bill was squared away in 2011 and I can't imagine insurance can just come back and charge money after this much time. In addition to this dilema I was 17 years old at the time of my visit. My father originally questioned why they were trying to bill me and not him considering I was a minor when this visit occured. It just seemed sketchy. As for the phone call, I completely disagree. I originally spoke with her and she told me the dilema was over me having medicaid, which I knew was not true so I had her on speakerphone to speak with my father because she was insisting that was the problem. My father is not rude to anyone he speaks with, he is actually very understanding. He was genuinely confused and she kept insisting we had medicaid, which as it has been proven, is not true. At any point did she even attempt to investigate the problem she just insisted that we had medicaid and after my dad told her for the third time we did not she ended with "Well, you still have a balance". That is when I, myself, interrupted, told her I did not like her attitude and told her I would be talking to someone about the issue. My father never hung up on her. She had no desire what so ever to fix the issue at all. Most places have those phone calls recorded for this very reason.