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Good News and Bad News

Well, the good news is that I've got two years to pay off my hospital bill. The bad news is that they're not giving me a single friggin' discount.

I sent them a letter a few weeks back, basically stating that while a complete wipe of the bill would certainly not be argued with, I'm not asking for that. I'm asking to be billed what an insurance company would pay, which is usually about 20-30% less than what's originally billed. Does anybody know anybody at any insurance companies that I could fax this to just to see what they'd pay, just for kicks? I'm not insured, otherwise I'd send it to mine.

So the good news is that I'll only have to pay $90/month for the next 24 months, which is a little bit more manageable. But it still annoys the hell out of me that I'm not getting a single discount while if an insurance company were to pay them 70% of what they were billed, they'd just write it off.

Posted by Jake on 05/17/04 @ 10:01 AM
Posted in Jake | 4 Comments | Permalink
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4 Comments

Jesse Thompson said on 05/18/04 @ 12:15 PM:
Well, among other things, the insurance company pays upfront in full. I have a medical bill I'm paying $100-$200/mo, but St Charles threw it through some loan company so that I'm paying an assload of interest as well :/

monkeyinabox said on 05/18/04 @ 03:09 PM:
St Charles billing pisses me off royally! I had a bill for my wife and chose to pay it in 6 installments. I checked the box on the bill and sent the payment in. The next month they send a letter saying payment in full is late and to call for payment options. So I call and speak with the lady and she says 'oh, okay'. After paying the next month the same thing happens. I called each month and it still went on like this for each month. The extreme irony was once I had a bill for myself. They sent me it with the estimated insurance amount and my portion. I paid it and then about a month later I get another bill (for the same stuff) from ST Charles for less due on my part after I had already paid it. I had to call in to ask for a refund on my overpayment after a month of thinking they'd do it automatically ( I should have demanded interest). They provide good medical care, but their billing department is more like the Mafia.

Jake said on 05/18/04 @ 03:14 PM:
Their human resources department is bad, too. I applied for a job there several times, and the problem is that all technical jobs go through HR first, which is crap because if they don't find certain keywords in a resume, they don't let it go to the IT department. The only time I got a response from them is when I e-mailed the IT department head who then went down to HR and yelled at them for tossing good resumes. I didn't get the job, but I was a finalist -- but I wouldn't have been had I not gotten my resume through HR (who tossed it).

Dan said on 05/18/04 @ 08:32 PM:
Just think, if you were an illegal immigrant, you wouldn't have to pay anything! Beat that, no taxes, no hospital bills... and all these hippies feeling sorry for you because you came here on your own, and you're so disadvantaged.... tell me, what kind of advantages do you have, by having to pay your bill in full?

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