Major insurer may leave ObamaCare

[kimba1]

My mom got the ambulance bill three years later and it artive months after she passed. I had to pay it or it'll effect the sale of my house. The real issue for me is thier at fault for not even billing me. They actually just wait and let it go to collecttions. I know because all my ambulance bills come from collections. Never straight from the service .

[Xavier_Onassis]

They prefer to use the collection agency as their billing dept. Tenet Healthcare in Miami does the same thing.

[kimba1]

But these delays can go up to several years and makes it harder to get insurance to pay for it.

[Xavier_Onassis]

I agree. But a lot of healthcare companies are hideously incompetent.
I got some sort of creepy crawly thing called 'larval migrans" under the shin of my legs  when working in my yard.
The insurance company that my cllege inflicted on us told me to go to a Tenet Healthcare operated hospital in Hialeah. I went to the ER and after five houras they finally attended to me. There were only three people there that night.

The doctor gave me a shot and a prescription that ended to horrible itching. On the way out, I went to the hospital business office with my checkbook and tried to pay them. They refused payment, saying, "We will bill you". The bill arrived seven months later from some nasty threatening collection agency.

I got the name of the head administrator and sent him a check for the amount ($125, as I recall) in an envelope labeled PERSONAL and URGENT and sent it by registered mail, receipt required. I told him I did not owe any collection agency anything. I sent a copy to the Miami-Dade Co.Consumer Complaint Dept.

And that was the last I heard of it.

[kimba1]

Isnt it more costly for them to use collections instead of just trying to simply bill first. The fact i never got a bill not from collections says they tried.

[Christians4LessGvt]

Kimba...my credit score took a small hit several years ago because I refused to pay for an ambulance ride. I was at a surgery center having a procedure done and the doctor screwed up and had to call an ambulance to take me to the hospital. Then they tried to bill me $350 for the 1 mile ambulance ride. The doctor did admit it was his mistake that caused the ambulance ride, but he refused to pay the ambulance bill, plus he still charged me for the failed procedure. Go figure? Out of principle I never paid the ambulance bill. Looking back a bit older and wiser, I probably should have reluctantly paid the ambulance company because it wasn't their fault the doctor refused to do the right thing and they did provide me a service I needed at the time.

[Xavier_Onassis]

$350 for an ambulance ride that you did not agree in advance to pay for?

They can eat that, and should.

[Christians4LessGvt]

$350 for an ambulance ride that you did not agree in advance to pay for? They can eat that, and should.

How could I have "agreed to in advance" to what turned out to be an unexpected
possible emergency situation when the procedure went wrong? The doctor that screwed
up should have paid for it....it's not the ambulance company's fault. They were
called and did their job.

[Xavier_Onassis]

You actually believe that a one mile ride to a hospital is worth $350?

You have more wrong with you that physical illness.

I agree that the doctor should have paid. The ambulance company could have made him pay. If they didn't, that is THEIR problem.

It would be interesting to delve into the books of that ambulance company and see how many people also refused to pay their outrageous fees.

[kimba1]

Actually thats extremely cheap compare to my area. Mine average $1,200

[Christians4LessGvt]

You actually believe that a one mile ride to a hospital is worth $350?

You so often expose how little you understand about business.
You have a very shallow short-sighted naive logic about business.
You see a $350 ambulance fee and think outrage...
You have no idea how much 24/7 staffing of emergency professional medical personnel costs.
I am sure you at the same time think these emergency medical technicians deserve a "decent wage".
But they may sit around half of a day "on-call ready to roll" but the company still has to pay them.
You also have no idea what it costs to buy and operate a 24/7 medical emergency room on wheels.
Can you imagine the liability if the ambulance won't start? Or if the heart paddles short circuit? etc...etc...
Have you priced emergency life saving medical equipment and the costs to maintain it in perfect order?
Not to mention the costs of liability and litigation in the medical emergency industry.

[kimba1]

I believe its a straight amount since my bill has been a fairly same amount no matter the distant. After my experience i will take a cab if possible.

[Xavier_Onassis]

Well, you are the one that stiffed the Ambulance company, CU4, not me.

I fell off my roof when a ladder slipped about 16 years ago. My wife called the EMT and they told me what they would charge to take me to a hospital, so I got my wife to drive me. I was seriously bruised, but up and around again after two days, nothing broken.

[Christians4LessGvt]

After my experience i will take a cab if possible.

i was unconscious, with a possible perforated esophagus so that wouldn't have worked.

[Christians4LessGvt]

Well, you are the one that stiffed the Ambulance company, CU4, not me.

Yes exactly and looking back I admit that I believe it was a mistake.