Emergency Room Bill Part 2

Well, I got the copies of my medical records from my dermatologist and called up my insurance company to ask them how I needed to go about asking for reconsideration. The person i talked to, Ko, was awesome! He was very very nice, and gave me the mailing address to the appeals department. Told me to do basically what Patsy said in her comment to my previous post. i wrote a letter, told my story, gave a copy of the medical records from my doc (which clearly stated IV antibiotics on it) and copies of the hospital and physicians bills.

So after I got off the phone with Ko, I called up the number on the hospital bill. The woman I talked to was a witch from the get go. She was EXACTLY what Dave commonly describes when he talks about collectors. She wouldnt listen to reasoning, you could practically hear her foaming at the mouth....and all I did was called to give them a courtesy "Hey, i cant pay this bill, but my insurance is going to take anther look at it, and I'll keep you posted." She said that my insurance had ALREADY looked at it and denied it, and I had to pay. This is where it got fun. I old her "No, I don't HAVE to pay, and I'm not GOING to pay. My insurance didn't have all the records they needed. I'm sending those to them, and they will review. I'm working on getting you paid, but I am not going to pay you." So she said "Fine, I'm going to notate your account as refusal to pay and we'll send it on to collections." "Well, do what you have to do, I don't care, you go right on ahead. I don't borrow money, and I couldn't care less what you do to my credit. Threatening me is NOT going to get you paid."

And I hung up. MAN did that feel good!

So then I thought that the physicians office was going to react the same way....but I called them anyway. I explained the same story - my insurance would be re-evaluating it. Their response? "Thank you Mrs Hicks. I'll notate your account. Just give us a call when you have more info for us." Do huh? Stark different responses. Amazing.

Anyway, I got the letter written, and the records copied. I mailed it off this afternoon, along with copies to my doctor and both the hospital and the physicians. At least they can't say they weren't informed.