Medical Bills suck. I think they are worse if you have insurance.
Not the dollar amount but the bills. Last month I took my kids to the doctors when they were sick with cough and high mucus production that the weak OTC stuff was not helping. (Yeah, in the US stuff that you can buy from the pharmacy in many European nations requires you to go to the doctor and get permission, yet another reason our medical costs are so high)
A simple visit, paid the co-pay, got the script, got the drugs, got the kids better. Then the bills and "health insurance information" started rolling in.
More after the squiggle.
First came the bill from the doctors office, with a very high dollar amount on it and the "helpful" wording - "This dose not include any co-pay or insurance payments received or submitted."
The next day a second bill came from the office that did include the co-pay, but had the same wording.
Next the insurance company sent a three page letter, two pages of "information" (one page dedicated to just how ACA is going to effect my insurance, one on my privacy and how important it is to the company). The insurance part of the letter showed the total cost, the agreed on cost, what the company will pay, what the doc's can charge me, and the difference between all that which might be billable by the doc's. Except it was not for the doctors office visits, it was for the lab work done.
Over the next three days I got three more letters from the insurance company and four more from the doctors office.
I received a bill for the doctors office, lab work, the doctor and from the nursing provider company.
It would be like going to a hotel and getting a bill for the room, TV, housekeeping and utility bill.
Even though each bill from the doctors visit was from the same place, it had different account event numbers. They want each bill paid and sent back separately for each account number. Which means four checks and four stamps.
And in the end, i'm still not sure what i'm actually paying, what I may owe, or if i'm current.
I say that because I received a refund for over payment yesterday for this visit, and a bill for that visit for something that was not paid enough on. (in different envelope)
When I asked the doctors office, they explained that they have additional reporting requirements to comply with ACA rules. This means they can't "bundle" like they use to so that people would be able to know what they were being charged.
I'm willing to bet it is not caused by ACA, but rather by the CYA attitudes of doctors. It is not going to get better i'm sure.