Not sure about that, I've delt with some medical bill people that I'm fairly sure would dig me up if I died to check my pockets for payment.
I got SUPER lucky today. I got a bill for $6,000 for the injections I get into my spine. Apparently Aetna won’t cover them, so the hospital sent me the bill. I started to just pay it because I HATE talking on the phone. But the wife is the cheap one and she didnt want to pay it, so she kept going on and on wanting me to call and see they say, and why insurance didn’t pay it. They passed me around and finally the Billing Supervisor said that I don’t have to pay anything. I am not exactly sure how it works. But she said something about because Aetna classes those injections as “experimental”. And because of that, they can’t charge my insurance for them. Since they “can’t” charge my insurance, they can’t charge me. There is a different between insurance accepting and then denying a claim, and not being able to even accept a claim to begin with. Because of that technicality, I don’t have to pay anything. ….and they are actually sending me a refund for the $200 I paid the day of the injections. So I went from about to send a check for $6k, to getting a check for $200. All because of the wording of their clause. But I still think I would had been better off just paying the $6k, rather than having to listen to the wife go on about how she was right.
Holy shit, I thought you were dead. I was actually gonna start a thread about it thinking you legit MIA'd.
This goes for anybody wondering about insurance. When you receive Care at a participating (in Network) healthcare provider they have a contract with the insurance company stating that they will accept the reasonable and customary reimbursement for rendered services. There are many caveats, timely filing, pre-certification, and only rendering services which can be reimbursed. If the provider chooses to render a service that is considered experimental and investigational, they're obligated by their contract to submit the claim to the insurance company. The insurance company will issue a denial and the letter will include language stating that you are not responsible for the bill for such and such reasons. Too long didn't read version: if you ever get a bill from a healthcare provider. It is imperative that you have correspondence from your insurance company with an explanation of benefits and how your benefits are applied to that bill. If you only have a bill and no explanation of benefits, then it is likely that no claim has been filed. I've seen this a number of times with people with motorcycle related injuries and the issues that they can experience with health insurance. Healthcare providers who do not abide by their contracts face legal ramifications.