After I broke my finger a while ago I created a thread on how much I HATE doctors. Anyways, it turns out that clown billed my insurance for a surgery he never performed. This is ridiculous. You don't charge somebody for not executing any service! What kind of people are doctors???? However, there might be a problem on my side. I did sign all those surgery papers. But that was before this ass told me there was going to be a hospital charge and other hidden fees. The first thing I asked was how much would the surgery cost and he told me less than $1,500 and that my deductible would take care of everything. I said excellent and signed on. Then as I was leaving he started adding up all these bull**** charges and the total came out to over 4000. So I cursed him out and left. I paid the f***er my co-pay and left and told him we were through. Now this?!?! Is it even legal for him charge me like that?? I feel like going tomorrow morning and beating the living s*** out of him!!!! I would love to sue this guy but am not sure if I have a legitimite case having signed all those papers and what not. I wonder how many doctors go to Hell?
Doctors and hospitals always overcharge on services. I think they billed us something like 30000 dollars for a knee surgery I had, my insurance company paid around 13000 and just refused to pay the rest. Insurance companies always underpay substantially and doctors and hospitals cant really do anything
Doctors are crooks. No different than the guy at the car dealership who tries to confuse you with a bunch of industry mumbo-jumbo so he can overbill your insurance. As far as your legal case goes, would you rather deal with doctors and insurance companies or lawyers and courthouses? Six of one, half a dozen crooked bastards of the other.
You're absolutely right. I was in a accident and I was billed extra for things that the doctors did not do. They were just trying to squeeze a little extra from the insurance companies like they already didn't have enough. This is very common along with recommending unnecessary surgeries. To me doctors aren't any different then Gordon Gecko, only in a white outfit.
Many if not most doctors who come out of med. school these days are purely after the monetary aspects of the profession. I have many, many friends who are in med. school or residency in both domestic and foreign medical schools who always talk about their future earning capacities when they finish their residencies. The sad thing is that with all the insurance billing problems that doctors face today, their paycheck has never been smaller. My dad and older brother are both doctors. I have about 6-7 doctors in my extended family, mainly first cousins. My dad tells me of how the profession these days are dominated by unscrupulous doctors who refer patients to their friends in other specialties just so they can all drum up more business. Its a vicious cycle that goes on in the medical profession. The doctors who choose not to play this game, aren't as popular and are ironically derided by these cheating doctors. There is also the the prevalence of unnecessary tests and procedures that many of these doctors perform. As you can see, from my first hand experience, I don't hold physicians in the highest regard. They are just like anyone else- just trying to chase the elusive dollar. I'm in business, so I find nothing wrong with what they do- its just something I'm aware of these days though. I do admire their dedication to go to med. school and residency. It is the toughest type of grad. school to get into. And residency itself, I wouldn't wish upon my worst enemy. But I do feel for doctors as many people file malpractice lawsuits against them at the drop of the hat. Medical malpractice insurance is killing the salaries of many of these physicians. The problem is the legal system and those tv lawyers pushing their wares on television, reeling in "victims" and eventually giving them only a fraction of the settlement.
so are you saying that you actually have to pay these bills or your insurance company is stuck with the bill?
Have you called the doctor's office or disputed the charges with anyone other than clutchfans members?
Simply notify the insurance company that you (and they) are being billed for services that were not performed. They'll handle it. It happens. Somtimes intentionally, sometimes unintentionally. As long as you notify the insurance company and you aren't out any additional money, there is no need for legal action.
my favorite part of hospitalization is asking for an advil (JUST ONE), yet they charge me for a whole bottle. America, F*ck Yeah!
My insurance already paid whatever they had to. I was billed the rest, which is coming out to about 1,200. First off, my damn finger wasn't even broken. Dumb doctor didn't even know how to read x-rays. I find that hysterical. They make some dumb excuse for you to get surgery. That's why I came back to Houston right away to visit a Japanese doctor (Dr. T) and he told me it was nothing serious. He fixed me up in less than half an hour and charged me only 60$. God bless his honest soul. I never usually go to hospitals, ever. But I would expect people of that profession to be good human beings who knows what's right for their patients? I didn't talk to him yet because if I do I know I'll end up beating him up. So I'm trying to calm down first and then handle the situation properly. If I can get this guy out of business, there's nothing like it. If I can get all his patients to know what kind of guy he is, that's even better. We'll see what happens.
Tell your insurance carrier. Trust me, even if they paid already, they WILL go and get their money back.
Is there any way the insurance will know I'm not lying about not getting the surgery. Is there any way I can prove it? I am taking golf classes. I can ask those guys to write me a letter saying that I have been participating in golf every week since mid January. You can't play golf with a broken finger!
As physicians are individuals you will have both good and bad people. I know some physicians and dentists that are just completely unscrupulous. They refer patients back and forth and I even know a few that have had their licenses suspended or revoked for doing too many procedures. As insurance payments for procedures have dropped, many physicians make up for this by simply doing more unnecessary procedures. Then again many are so afraid of lawsuits that they do every test possible to attempt to insure that they've done all they can to diagnose the problem. But one must be weary as much of physicians compensation is based on work done, not on your health. The more work they do, the more they get paid, which opens the door to issues, just as a financial advisor that buys and sells stocks on commissions and $350 an hour lawyer that is asked "should we get a divorce"? Fortunately law and finance have shifted somewhat to percentage of assets/rewards that allows some parrallel's of interest, but medicine is totally void of that making it profitable to be unscrupulous.
Call the hospital and ask for a copy of the record of your surgery. Tell them why you need it. I still suggest contacting the insurance company first and letting them know what happened. They are always interested in hearing when you have been overcharged or charged for something that did not occur.
I would contact both the doctor's office and insurance. If you were billed and have a $1200 bill outstanding, then you should not sleep on the matter as it will be sent to a collections agency.
To rebut: 1) The notion that most docs are going into it for the money is, to my mind, garbage. Some are losers, sure - it is also the case with basketball players, cops and President of the United States. But I can't imagine, that with all the training they have to endure, the intellectual fortitutde needed to become licensed, and the fact that you can make much more money doing much easier stuff, that the notion is anything other than an outdated myth. Mr. Brightside's dad obviously has had his own experiences, but mine have been the opposite. I have experienced care providers to be far and away the least money-focused and most care-focused of any other group of professionals. That's my anecdotal experience. The incentive structure is not set up in a way to make "unscrupulous people being a doctor just for the money" a cost-effective use of your professional time. As Mr. Brightside also said, malpractice, frivolous lawsuits, liability, HMO reimbursement rates, etc. etc. etc. do not exist in other professions - ones that make more $. Doctors make money, but it is not like the old days. 2) If there is a billing problem, address it, but I don't typically side with the guy who is barely able to keep himself from punching someone out. Typically, people who go into an office with a contentious, angry vibe put any professional off of his or her game. I might guess that people who do things like start multiple threads on basketball message boards with six s, curse people out, suggest people are going to hell (really? that guy deserves to rot in hell? of all the people in the world, that guy deserves to go to hell?) and vent a desire to beat the s*** out of them - those people are set up perfectly for the self-fulfulling prophecy of getting poor treatment. That goes for any place of business - if you are AGG enough to write that ugly ugly post, I am guessing that you are AGG enough to freak out a medical team from the get go. Does it justify a mistake? No. But if you really want better care from doctors or from anyone, you might need to chill the hell out. Don't like your doc? Great, find a new one. And no, you don't have a case.
my favorite part about doctors is the sense of entitlement and their nature of thinking they are hot sh*t because they carry a title 'Dr.' in their name. I dont know about you but I certainly do not give a rats a$$ if they are a Dr or not..
I remember you posting the beginning of this story a few months back. I was thinking how happy it made me that you found a second opinion and stuck it to that doc. But now he has the last laugh. Anyways I wouldn't think you'd have to do anything more than make some calls to your insurance company. They will handle everything.
