Doctor Office Bullshit.. You Make the Call
 

Went to the dermatologist 3 weeks ago, had a wart removed. Without health insurance, I paid a very modest and resonable $135 for the burning of my skin. She said she'd like to see me back in 2-3 weeks to check out the results.

So come yesterday, I go in at noon for a checkup. Everything looks good, except one spot there appears to be a grayish area. She says it might be infected, pokes it for a second, and figures out it is just dead skin, and I'm good to go.

So... I go to checkout, the clerk sends me on my way.

I get a voicemail about an hour later, from the Dermatologist's Office, essentially saying the clerk didn't notice I was non-insured, and I owed $56. If I came back today, as a courtesy, they'd take off $10 and I could pay $46 but only if I came back that day.

Um, am I in the wrong by thinking that is a load of shit? She literally didn't do anything but look at my elbow and poked it once with a little pin. For one, it's not my fault they forgot so if I do go back in there I'm demanding I only pay the $46. But in actuality, I don't want to pay them anything.

Am I just being a stingy tight wad, or does this seem a little unreasonable?

If there was a misdiagnosis on the second visit would you sue? Would you sue even if you didn't pay anything? While it might seem like an unreasonable cost there was still a service provided. The bs thing to me is the $10 discount for that day only.

A doctor saw you for 10 minutes and only wants $56? I'd jump before she comes to her senses and realizes most doctors think it's $75 for the privilege of being allowed into their waiting room...

FWIW, my guess is the $10 discount is for making you come back to pay.

The discount is their normal courtesy for someone uninsured. I got the same deal for my first visit.

So I'm just being a dick then, and I should go pay it?

135 is a great bargain for a dermatology procedure...

Their time is worth money. Even if something is not wrong. That's also not a bad deal. I think a lot of doctors will charge near $100 just for stepping in the office.

Maybe you could ask for a second poke while you're there, on the house?

Honestly, that's so far under what many want for their time it's probably not unreasonable. I mean, just had work done on my son's car & those guys are getting between $2 - $3 a minute (with 30 minutes being the labor minimum around here). I've been charged $50 for the time it took someone to screw on a replacement gas cap.

The "only if you make another trip & pay today" discount is kinda bullshit though.

If you go back, make sure you wear sleeves.

Pay it and find a way to get health insurance before you destroy your future financial well being.

Seems pretty fair to me.

:)

#obamacare

Thanks guys

I would have figured the second visit was going to cost something. I probably wouldn't have gone, but I also know a lot of nurses who could provide insight into whether it looked good enough to go not go back for.

I would have been charged some type of fee if I missed the appointment, I think like $35.

I went to the er because of a rash on my arm last year. It was the hospital where all the pours go, so naturally the wait time was abysmal. I checked in at the window, and waited for about 30 minutes. At that point I decided to leave and for the best (I was fine). Sure enough, a week later I get a bill for 15 bucks. I mean, it was only 15, so I paid it no problem, but I couldn't help but get a feeling of dread that one day I'll seriously need hospital care, and even with insurance I'll be fubar

$56 for the dermatologist? She's one step above working at a Clinique counter. I call her Pimple Popper MD!

I had to have knee surgery while uninsured and I paid my surgeon about $800 for the initial visit (with X-rays), the surgery and three follow-up visits. Seems like the follow-up should have been part of the original procedure.

That said, I would have countered and offered to give them a credit card over the phone or drop them a check in the mail for $46. No reason to charge you for their mistake and make you go out of your way to fix their mistake.

Now that I don't quite get...even that small of amount, the only thing you did was sign in, then not get seen by a doc. What is the charge for? The time it took them to put your name on the list? That seems quite silly...

I was billed $115 for a nurse to give me a flu shot last year.

Most nurses I run into would probably do a lot more for $115.

:)

I'm pretty sure I would end up paying this anyway, but I would at least question it. Why were you sent home without paying when they thought you had insurance? Is it because to most insurance companies this specific followup visit isn't something they deem billable so they wouldn't be allowed to try to get any extra money out of you, but they're allowed to attempt to fuck over the uninsured?

I have insurance, I see a couple different specialists these days, last year I saw a dermatologist for something minor, and I had a followup visit to the initial thing. I also have more than my share of "we won't refill your prescription until you come in" visits, and man I fucking hate those. But my point is, they charge me my copay for all of these things up front. Doctor's offices have a horrible time with collections once a patient has left, they are NOT going to miss the chance to collect what they are due up front. So I am probably going to pay in your shoes but I am definitely going to raise the question and get a feel for what would have happened if I had insurance.

+1

Here is my understanding from talking to a doc friend.

Yes insurance would pay the follow up visit but probably only around $50 and require a fuck ton of paperwork and take about 180 days to pay.

Instead the initial procedure would have likely been billed to the insurance company at something like $800 then a standard form filed and a negotiated settlement of $375 paid which would cover the visit and the follow up and keep them from filing a second time.

They get in the habit of not billing the follow up because they get it on the front end. Sounds like you got an honest doc that gave you a legit price round one and a fair price round 2. The $210 discount today only...would piss me off.

So just out of curiosity I looked up a claim I had last year where my dermatologist removed a mole and drained the abscess. Cost $216 billed to insurance and they didn't charge for my follow up where they removed the stiches.

They also billed $190 for the initial visit.

I recently had a consultation with a Rheumatologist, in order to get tested for a congenital joint defect and possibly a referral to a physical therapist. Before I had finished my first sentence he told me he "didn't believe" in the condition I wanted tested (not that he didn't believe me in particular, he just chose to not diagnose or treat a whole family of disorders that happened to fall under his specialty), then when we got to the subject of physical therapy he decided that I couldn't afford it, and said "I'm not going to charge you $250 to refer you to someone you can't afford"....so instead he charged me $250 to NOT test me and NOT refer me to a PT. Thanks for lookin' out, doc!

Just got an invoice from a lab my physician sent from the poking of me to see if there was anything going on with that infected area. I owe $291 for that. Now I'm pretty pissed off, if I knew it was going to cost that much I wouldn't have let them touch me. Damn.

Seriously dude, you need to get some insurance.

You are an appendectomy away from never getting a mortgage, car loan, etc...

I'm not trying to sound preachy, but you are really playing with fire.

Seriously.

One thing my parents impressed on me in my life - you never go 1 day without health insurance.

You can probably set up a payment plan with them or even call them and negotiate it to a lower amount.

Ask them if they will take a goat as payment.