Caught In The Middle Once Again

I get so tired of being caught in the middle of the fights between Medicare/health insurance companies and Hospitals billing departments.

Jeremy and I have been fighting Since my car accident on Sept. 5, 2012 to get Medicare to pay what was left on my emergency room visit for my accident after my vehicle insurance covered 2,000 dollars of the bill. Which left Medicare with 598.00 to cover 80 percent and leave me to cover the remaining 20 percent.

After months of fighting with Medicare to pay their part, they finally did on Dec. 17, 2012 and electronically paid the 80 percent and left with with a balance of $100.98.  However, in december I didn't know this and received a bill from the hospital (which I'm always having troubles with their billing dept.) saying I owed 598.00 dollars and that Medicare has refused to pay on this bill.

So for 2 months I have been fighting between Medicare saying they paid their part, and the hospital billing department saying Medicare hasn't and demanding me pay the bill.

Well today it all came to a head when after being threatened to be turned over to collections by the billing dept. of the hospital if I didn't make a payment on the bill by today.

So here is what all went down.

9a.m. this morning I get up out of bed vomiting and having diarrhea and all while trying to get ready to go out to the hospital to their "billing dept." to talk to someone in person and bring them my papers showing that Medicare says I should only owe 110.98

After vomiting, taking anti nausea/vomiting medicine, having 4 hits of diarrhea, and severe stomach and intestinal pains in just an hour, Jeremy gets me in the car to go to the hospital to try and work all this out.   A place I should NOT be going because I'm going to be exposed to so many germs, and illness and could place me in the hospital if I catch something, due to the fact I'm on Humira and my immune system and suppressed and I can't fight off viruses and infections.

So we make it to the hospital and go to the Cashier dept. I tell the woman what is going on and she can't do anything. Luckily her manager had come in right then and help, a little.  While waiting and hearing them saying to each other they don't know what is going on with this bill and they can't find the payment from Medicare. I'm getting worried this is another waste of time, and the waiting area is beginning to fill up with people.

After talking to her Manager about my bill the woman comes out to the waiting area to talk to me in front of all the other people there.  She tells me that they don't know where the payment from Medicare has gone and all they can do is make a copy of my paper work and resend it to their Medicare billing department which is in another state, yes another state! I ask this woman why in the world they're billing dept. is in another state, and she says, "we've gotten too big" and I thought, "with as many people in our county out of work you mean to tell me you'd rather outsource the billing dept. instead of keeping people in jobs here locally?" is what I wanted to say.

I broke down and cried I was so sick and frustrated that after all these months and coming all the way out to the hospital this still isn't fixed.  I tell the woman through my tears that I am fighting with their billing dept. nearly every month over a bill because they keep messing up and then I'm the one who's caught in the middle and threatened with being turned over to collections because they can't get it together. I also tell her about my disease and how it is very dangerous for me to have to come out here to the hospital and be exposed to all the germs and viruses going around with the medication I'm on.

Jeremy told the woman too that he spends some days up to 4 hours on the phone trying to get these bills fixed  nearly every month.

And everyone in that waiting room heard it all, one man told me "you get them girl" another elderly man who was a Navy Veteran told Jeremy "that's the way to handle it."

The cashier lady told me, that I shouldn't have to keep fighting like this and that it was wrong that the billing dept. threatened to turn me over to collections if I didn't come in here today and make a payment.  A payment she says I don't need to pay until they get this bill fixed.

She also said I shouldn't have to come in here and be exposed to all the germs and viruses with the disease I have and as sick as I am. So she gave me her name and number there at the hospital and told me to call her from now on if I couldn't get anywhere with the billing dept. and she would take care of it, so that I wouldn't have to try and come back out to the hospital again.

After giving me her number and all my paper work back after she made a copy, I asked her "now, can you promise me that I'm not going to get a phone call or a letter in the mail from the billing dept. saying I've been turned over to collections because I'm not making a payment today?" She said "you shouldn't" and with that we left with all the people in the waiting room staring at us and we feeling completely exhausted and apprehensive that they will find the Medicare payment and they won't turn me over to collections.

So now we wait for this hospital to contact us and tell us whether or not they have this bill fixed.

You have to realize we have been fighting with this hospital for 6 years now over their billing dept. we have 3 bills we are paying, and one that is nearly 10,000 dollars and so we will be dealing with this hospitals billing dept. for a long time and this is what we have to look forward too. We will have to keep fighting them every month until we can get these bills paid off and I've told Jeremy if I have a choice in where to go, do not take me to that hospital for anything other than to do blood work.  I didn't have a choice with the car accident and other than that my last time being out there was 4 years ago.

I go to another hospital in Columbus for all my other testing and hospital stays just so I don't have to deal with this hospitals billing dept. and getting harassed and placed in the middle.

It isn't enough that I have to fight the diseases that attack my body but I also have to fight for the rest of my life Insurance companies and hospitals over my care and bills.  It isn't fair and I wish someone could make it all stop.