Today I got an unexpected bill in the mail. A medical bill for $1200. I had no idea who the lab was that was sending the bill, it didn't sound familiar. It was not either of the two labs that I have had blood work done at (one lab for my ob/pcp, one for my endo). I saw that the referring physician was my OB but couldn't for the life of me think of any thing she had done to this point that would be costing me $1200. I found the phone number and called the billing department for this particular lab.
I first asked the lady if she could tell me exactly what "Laboratory Diagnostic Testing" I was being billed for since that was pretty vague. I just about choked when she said it was for my Cystic Fibrosis Carrier Screening, this IS a bill I was expecting, but about $1000 more than I was expecting it to be for. I said to her "oh, yikes! I wasn't expecting the bill to be that high" and her response was "Well, then it's a good thing you called. Since you called to ask about it I can enroll you in our Patient Assistance Program. I can reduce your bill to $25 if you pay via credit card right now with me." I made sure I heard her correctly. By making a simple phone call to clarify that the bill was accurate all of a sudden I get to save $1175? For real? I was excited since I was told by my doctor that this test should cost me around $200. She took my card info and ran it through, then emailed me the receipt that shows that my account balance is $0.
I'm super grateful for this. This was a test that I couldn't pass, regardless of the price. Knowing that one of my siblings (at least one, maybe more?) is a carrier of CF my OB and I both felt like it was important to get me tested. Now that we know that I am not I won't have to take this test again, which is a relief because it's sort of an unpleasant test. I had to take a cotton swab and attack the inside of my cheek for a full minute, on both sides... and cotton swabs taste gross for a full minute, especially when you already are dealing with morning sickness.
My question is this... how many people get this bill and just automatically pay it without questioning it? Is that why I was able to only pay $25, because they make a ton of money off the patients who don't pay attention? My next question is how much have I been over paying on other bills by just paying them when they come? I will definitely be making more phone calls and scrutinizing my upcoming medical bills before paying them just on the chance that I can reduce the amount.
4 comments:
Very, very interesting. Okay, I'm surprised:
(A) that this isn't a test they automatically run routine with any pregnancy;
(B) that it was a cheek-swab and not bloodwork; and
(C) that it cost you anything at all let alone $25 or potentially $1200.
My OB performed the FULL Cystic Fibrosis diagnostic on me (there are several different *grades* they can test for) which is apparently a "standard" pregnancy (or in my case, pre-pregnancy) test; was bloodwork, not a cheek swab; and didn't cost me a penny...
(Sorry, seriously not bragging - just very curious about several points on that topic).
And - I would assume a lot of us pay a lot more than we should for a lot of our bills. How's that for "a lot" of a response to your post? :)
I looked it up later and noticed that the lab they sent the sample to was out-of-network so my insurance paid next to nothing. But that's ok, I'll pay $25 for the peace of mind to know that I'm not a carrier!
You can do the same thing with your hospital bill too. When we got ours in the mail, Terry called and asked if they would give us a discount if we paid right then over the phone with a credit card and they did. For both boys. I think it ended up being several hundred dollars off - so remember that in May!
That's insane! While we were pregnant with Carmen, we got a letter from the hospital saying we probably qualified for a discount, so we filled out an application and they said it would be 75% lower than it normally would. At the time, I thought we made a pretty decent living, so I was surprised.
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