I heard this advice on the Clark Howard show last night. He recommends
contacting the hospital's staff Social Worker. They generally have more
empathy and interest in helping you solve the problem, and that person
can be effective in getting the hospital administration to contact the
right person.
rrengineer@dslextreme.com wrote:
> Speaking of insurance problems... I had a bad accident on the 10th of
>August of last year which resulted in a trip to the emergency room
>for some staples in my head and a bandage on my left hand. The 3
>hour visit totaled $15200! They asked if I had insurance when I
>entered the hospital. When I showed them my Blue Cross card it was
>like the "I can't believe it's not butter" commercial. Doors opened,
>all the testing machines in emergency were warmed up, nurses and
>doctors came out of nowhere and I got the royal treatment. One look
>in the emergency room and you know why. Almost NO English spoken out
>there. Almost no insurance out there either.
> This brings me to the problem. Blue Cross was billed and they
>forwarded the bill to Coalition of America, an organization that
>negotiates what and how much will be paid for the charges. Obviously
>the hospital did not like what they were offered, so they filed again
>with Blue Cross of California. Both times they filed they neglected to
>include the account number assigned to my bill by the hospital. This
>went on for months. The hospital finally turned it over to a county
>collection agency which is after me for the $15,200! The collection
>agency won't call Blue Cross and the hospital says it out of their
>hands. My insurance company says I am the only one that has called
>them about this account. The Hospital never called them to talk about
>it! Do I need a lawyer for this?
>Mike MacLean
>60 Sprite
>56 BN2
>P.S. It was not a Healey that got totaled. (a Miata)
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