grammiepamie

This is what is wrong with our healthcare system. it is called double billing. I would call the insurance company and ask them if this is a common practice and why? The doctor should have looked at the cord without being asked. This was a well baby checkup for pete sake. Please call your insurance office

mommafank

I am being told this is legal and when I checked on the internet it seems that billing coders are saying you can do this. Personally I do not feel it is very ethical. My insurance paid only 10 % of the second visit and indicated I am responsible for the rest of it. Yes, I will be changing physicians and certainly will be checking to see what the billing policies are before I pick a new one. I do realize that physicians are often poorly reimbursed, but do not feel this is fair to the patient. My daughter finally moved from Savannah and now has new doctors who do not bill this way. She got it removed from her bill but still had to pay a large amt for the doctor doing a procedure on the cord---which was only using a nitro stick on it. And I agree this should have been part of that visit----as a nurse I would think it would have been just a normal part of the recheck exam. I live in GA now and wonder if this is something that is specific to this states law. I could not find anything when I did a Google search.

denise d

This.

ptquilts

I went to the ER late one night and got billed for two visit, two days, as I was there from say 11:25PM to 12:15AM.

nativetexan

complain to the insurance company. he is not billing correctly unless she actually made two visits. he can charge more of course, but on one visit only. My doctor does that if i ask questions.

charity-crafter

I went to talk with my doctor about feelings of fatigue, inability to lose weight and various other symptoms, one of which was low labido...we talked about a lot of things. He puts down low labido for everything in my chart and the labs not mentioning anything else discussed and sends me for hormone check up-which I've had before to see if I'm hitting menopause. Insurance declined saying they don't pay for anything sexual....What?

Turns out low labido is not a covered problem and the doctors' office wouldn't change the code for the inurance company because the doctor didn't write anything else down.

That one visit would have cost me out of pocket over $600. I called, the lab agreed to charge me the uninsured rate-wich was way less, and the doctor tried to charge me $150 but I had a letter from the insurance company stating I did not owe the doctor anything because they gave service without pre-aproving.

So I lucked out and got it under $200. I changed back to an HMO after that.

You have got to really pay attention the bills and what your policy covers, down to the fine print. It's so very annoying.

mommafank

Here is what I have found out today. My insurance rep told me that if the doctor would code it differently they would pay. I have called the doctor and am waiting on a response. I go to a GP who does my Pap which I thought ended up saving money for all of us and that is called a Well Woman visit and that is not what my doctor coded it as. So the saga continues. I just wnated to try to let others know that this could happen and like someone said watch your bills carefully and ask a lot of questions.

emerald46

I've never heard of that! I'd be complaining all over the place.

buslady

I've not been charged for two visits, but a few years ago, when I had a PPO, I tried to ask some questions during a visit and was told I would need to make another appt. to discuss the additional issue.

hobo2000

My hubby and I are on Medicare with Ins. backup. I had an MRI 2 months ago for my back and no co-pay. He went yesterday for his MRI as prelim to an upcoming operation and had to pay $175.00 co-pay. Same insurance, different DR. What's up with this? I am waiting for a call back from the Ins. company, see if they can explain this one. However, both DR's. say "you have 15 minutes ask me anything you need to know" and we just pay one co-pay.