One Thing Healthcare Providers Never Seem to Get Right

I’ll admit it up front – I don’t like to go to doctors. I avoid hospitals like the plague. I’m willing to live without fast food, smoking, salt and transfats, while also exercising every day  in order to stay well and prescription drug free.

(Photo courtesy of PhotoBucket)

But that doesn’t mean I can get away with not going to the dentist or the eye doctor. I used to consider those appointments not so bad. You’re in, you’re out, you flash your insurance card and you forget about everything for six months or a year.

Note I said ‘used to’.

Ever since the economy tanked, I’ve noticed that the billing departments for the eye doctor and dentist keep messing things up, and keep dinging me for stuff I haven’t ordered or procedures I’ve never had.

The first time it happened, I thought – no biggie. They just made a mistake.

The mistakes are beginning to be commonplace and have me wondering – do they not have enough help to do the job correctly – or do they think a few bucks here and there will help keep their practices solvent?

Just this morning, I received a threatening letter from my dentist’s billing department. It read: “Because you’ve ignored our billing for months and now your account is 60 days overdue, you are jeopardizing your credit and our being able to service your dental needs in the future.”

Uh-huh. To begin with, this is the first notice that I’ve received since my last visit. If I get a bill, I pay it – the same day. If I owe something, I pay it – always.

Second, my last visit was a ‘well’ visit. I had X-rays taken and my teeth cleaned – all paid for by my insurance. That means, I don’t owe anything.

The billing department says I owe $8.50. I decided to go over to the office and straighten it out. When I got there, the woman behind the desk looked as if she’d be happier if she was unemployed. Surly doesn’t begin to describe her attitude. When I explained about the billing error, she said that the billing person wouldn’t be in for a few days. Lovely. I then asked her to look up my chart so I could see what the supposed $8.50 charge was for.

Reluctantly (she sighed a lot), she went into her computer and said, “Well, you had a crown put in.”

For $8.50? Wow – what a deal.

Figuring I better not say that, I informed her the crown had been put in three years ago. Not 60 days ago.

She began sighing again and said I’d have to wait until the billing person came in; that she couldn’t help me.

Well duh. I figured that from the moment I came up to the desk and she frowned like she didn’t want to be bothered.

I figure three years from now the problem will probably be solved, but by then they’ll most likely ding me with something else I don’t owe.

Maybe it’s time for me to find another dentist…and eye doctor. They keep messing up my billing too.

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