The medical fields that is.
Twice now, been to ER for basic stuff; once because I had a cut-off wheel break apart and flipped around slashing the backside of my left hand.
Second time was due to an oral infection from a cavity that blew up overnight causing me to have an early morning visit to the ER.
Both events paid in full with reciepts and or canceled checks.
BOTH visits now reside on my credit report as unpaid and in collections and not for the amounts paid OR for the places visited but some outside group thay can’t be tracked down. In the first case, the bill was sent to collections the day AFTER the canceled check was cleared. In neither instance was a bill received. EVER. Just sent straight to collections.
I’ve disputed both. In the first case, I was making headway, when suddenly the agent I was dealing with was no longer available, and ‘you have to pay this, or else’ was the only repsonse I could get. This second one is being disputed straight through trans-union and I won’t waste my time with scam collection agencies that are buying fraudulent billing for pennies on the dollar.
Mine is not an isolated event around here. A neighbor recieved a bill for services rendered after a routine visit. The billing was for MRI services and anesthesia. His visit was for a CDL physical. The only point different, he did get billed where I have never seen a bill, and the first one was obviously never billed, since it was sent in the day after the cancellation date on the check paying it.
This post isn’t a bitching post, just a PSA to watch whats going on with your expenses and services, especially with medical stuff involved. There is a shit ton of money revolving around in that area, and with all the insurances and whatnot, people like me, that pay cash, no insurance, it can bite. I am sure the reason insurance is so out of whack is because of fraudulent billing like this. Most people don’t pay attention to the bills sent out because “the insurance will pay it” and I would not be at all surprised if there are fake additions to pad billing. (In darker terms, its called ‘laundering’)
To twist this post a touch, I find it interesting that most all the people I meet, flesh and blood, would never ever consider such an act, BUT, when its at corporate levels, it’s seemingly commonplace, excused, and apparently, accepted as par for the course. Even my car insurance agent has told me that every policy he sells has a “pad” to cover for fraudulent claims across the board. He told me this after I asked about why there was such a huge difference in rates between Ohio and Kentucky. (Full coverage in Ohio was running me $600/yr. In Ky, it was going to run me $600/quarter, same vehicle, same driver same record. ) Granted, there is a problem with Car Insurance claims here, where someone will buy a car, get a month of insurance so they can get the tags and title, then drop coverage for the year. And they tend to be the worst drivers and so uninsured costs for the rest are higher. There is another aspect I know about, and have seen first hand: using the scrap yards to ‘delete’ a vehicle and claim it as stolen to collect on the insurance. (You know its happening when a near new and NICE Escalade drives on the scales, then out to the yard, and before the driver has made it back to the scale house, the wreckers are rapidly and crudely disassembling and scattering the truck.)
Its stuff like this, that makes me believe the Farce of Government we are currently infested with IS representative of the controlling interests of the country. NOT the population mind you. The Farce is that the population is given the illusion of choice. Only that illusion has been pretty much blown these last couple of cycles, hasn’t it?
