I might get a blog entry online later, but I doubt it. I’m in the process of writing a letter to St. Charles Medical Center’s (SCMC) billing department, and it’s taking all the strength I have to not get angry.
Anybody who’s read this blog long knows I had back surgery in December. It was a very necessary surgery, but I wasn’t insured, so I have to pay out of pocket. Most of the folks involved cut me deals on the costs, but SCMC has been less than friendly. The lady that I’ve been dealing with there has been less than friendly, and didn’t even care to hear what I’ve been going through, that I have no extra money, blah, blah. I’ve already paid the bill down from $3100 down to $2100, but they’re requiring me (according to this lady) to pay it all off in six months. Right, like I have an extra $350/month to spend. I just got a letter today from them saying that if I don’t start making good payments, they’re going to send me to collections. Lovely…
I don’t expect them to wipe it all off, but generally when as many people reduce costs like they did (the anesthesiologist even did), the hospital should follow suit. Heck, since I’m paying cash, at the very least they could reduce it to what the insurance companies would reimburse them for (which is usually like 60-75%). I just don’t want to be billed like an insurance company, I want to be billed like a human who is struggling to pay his bills and feed his kids as it is. I just thank God that Michelle has finally outgrown her intolerance to anything but the horribly expensive baby formula, so I might have a few bucks to pay down the bill.
As always, donations are being accepted, and if anybody’s got a large chunk of cash burning a hole in their pocket, you’re welcome to send it to SCMC on my behalf ;-). I just want this bill to go away so I can not worry about it anymore. I hate being in debt more than anything — granted, I have student loans and a house payment, but otherwise, I have no debt other than this bill.
OK, I’m done now — just had to get that off my chest. Meanwhile at work, I have to build an offsite backup server since I’m just sick of dealing with my tape drives. So at least I get to buy computer parts, so that always makes my day when I get to spend other people’s money. Regular blogging to return tomorrow when I catch up with everything.
Update: BTW: Everybody’s pointed out that I haven’t really talked much about my surgery. You’re right, I haven’t, because I don’t like to drown people in my personal crap, but the surgery helped a ton, and I’m about 100 times more functional than before. I’m able to walk again, and even jogged a hundred yards (which felt really…well….funny). I still get pain down there now and again because the scar tissue occassionally still hits the nerve, but I’m still far better than before.
Comments
Dang, that stinks, Jake. I just sent ya a little something (and you KNOW how comfy I am with PayPal any more;-) Hope you find someone with a sense of decency. Tell them you have a reporter friend who’ll call their PR guy Todd Sprague to do a story and… nah, maybe that’d make things worse. But it’s tempting!;-)
I take it the OHP didn’t cover you. I may be wrong, but I think there is a rule of some sort in OR about them having to not screw with you if you are attempting to pay the bill even if only in $10 incriments. You may wish to invest some time on the phone with someone on the state level out of area as what they are doing sounds alot like harrassment. Good luck!
woah, that sucks. I hope you get that all sorted out.
How’s you’re back going btw. I haven’t heard much about it since the surgery.
The back is fine, and the surgery was a great success. I’m still getting pain down there now and again, but nothing like I did before. I can walk again, I even jogged about 100 yards the other day, which felt REALLY weird.
Barney, you’re a saint, you really are. 🙂
No, but I play one on TV;-)
I had back surgery in mid-2001 on the military’s dime. Because the surgery was too complex for the military to do, it was “outsourced” (to a hospital in Denver–my last assignment was in Colorado Spring). I got copies of all the bills and payments from the hospital, military, and its medical payment contractor. The typical reimbursement was between 1/4 and 1/3 what was billed (be it for physical therapy, anaesthesia, the surgery, pills, whatever), and the military’s contractor typically took about 4-6 months to pay the bill. The hospital would claim underpayment, the contractor might provide more, but probably not, etc., etc.
Months after the surgery when getting cleared to resume a somewhat normal life (surgery went well, but physically I still had to retire from the military), I asked the doctor, nurses, etc. about the military’s slow, low paying…why did they deal with a customer that paid like that. They uniformly responded that military tended to reimburse slightly higher than the typical HMO or insurer, and certainly much quicker with less hassle.
Thus, I get the feeling if you think paying 60-75 percent of your back surgery bill is fair compared to other customers, the hospital certainly won’t disagree with you.
Bear in mind that if they send your bill to a collector, besides the credit impact on you is the fact that the hospital knows it will only get a portion of what you might pay to a collector…if they think you’ll pay more to them directly (without too much hassle) than they’ll get from a collector, they’ll keep dealing with you.