Joe Finds a Billing Error # 1

So far, we've had very few problems with the bills and insurance. The doctor's offices know how to submit proper bills and Connecticare has been paying them promptly. That doesn't mean that mistakes don't happen, so it's important to review everything before you pay it. Here's one problem I recently uncovered.

Two weeks ago, the radiologist's office sent us a $279 bill for a July visit. This surprised me: why would I receive a bill 5 months after the service was rendered? I know Connecticare paid the bill--I reviewed it last year, around the time I did my first financial post.

Moreover, I couldn't understand the charges on the bill itself: the debits and credits netted out to zero, yet the bill showed a balance due. Where did the charges come from?

Connecticare's website provides a complete claim history, so I compared the bill I'd received to their transaction history. Tracing the history, it looks like Connecticare paid the claim and later denied it (perhaps on an audit review?); it was then resubmitted and paid by Connecticare. Somewhere in the process, the radiologist's office generated our bill for a "phantom" balance of portions of the charges.

I called radiologist's billing office and the clerk quickly reviewed the bill, told me it was an error and not to pay it. I'm glad I called! Had I paid the bill, I would have had a credit-balance with the radiologist until they eventually reconciled their books and refunded my money. Right now, I need the use of that $279a lot more than the radiologist does.

Always, always, review your bills and make sure you understand them before you pay!

Oh the Places You'll Go

I decided to count all of Sandy's medical visits before tomorrow's surgery. Her initial visit and tests were July 3. From then until now she's had the following medical visits:

Ob/Gyn: 2
Imaging/Tests/Lab: 7
Surgeons: 7
Oncologist: 1
Physicians: 2
Dentist: 2

Grand total: 21 visits in about 7 weeks, excluding pharmacies. There are also about 6 prescriptions as well. For about 3/4 of them, someone has been there to help us with the kids so I wouldn't have to miss work. It's humbling to be on the receiving end of so much love and knowing that there's so little you can do in return. Thanks everyone.

I'll try to update the blog throughout the surgery tomorrow, as long as I can find internet access.

Joe

It's Raining

Once we got a grip on the medical situation, I began trying to understand how we were going to handle our finances. What would insurance cover? How large will the bills be? For how long will we be incurring the additional cancer-related expenses? Do we have enough savings?

I found one blog where the woman outlined her expenses and I was relieved to find that it wasn't going to ruin us: her total was about $3500 for the first year. Our insurance coverage was no where near as good as her $1500 deductible--ours is $5000--so I'm sure our costs will be much higher, but it still shouldn't put us in so desperate a situation that the house is in jeopardy.

For our entire marriage we've handled our finances carefully (luckily for me, Sandra doesn't have expensive tastes!) and we've managed to save up a bit of a rainy-day fund to prepare for times like this. From time to time, I'm going to report on the financial impact cancer is having on us. Not because I'm looking for sympathy or charity, but because it was one question I found so difficult to have answered in the first few weeks. I was grateful to finally find someone who had posted that information and so I'm going to do the same, hoping that it can be just as helpful to someone else.

A few weeks ago I found that I needed to replace the 14 year-old Saturn, which we'd owned for eleven years because it needed about a thousand dollars worth of repairs. Then, yesterday Sandra called from the hospital and said they want $4000 of the deductible up front.

Wow, suddenly it's raining.