The ER Overcharged Me, So I Gave Them A Taste Of Their Own Medicine

[Jilly_in_VA]

I’m through with the days when a giant company can make a mistake, and then I have to call their corporate support center and wait on hold for hours or escalate the call through countless customer service representatives who argue with me and say there’s nothing that can be done over and over again. I refuse to waste any more of my time working with corporations to fix their mistakes ― or at least, I won’t be doing it for free.

From now on, I’m charging them for these hours, and I’m not cheap. My new rate for waiting on hold or talking to customer service representatives who don’t have the power to help me is $200 an hour. I ask that all corporations keep this in mind and make the “customer service call-line” process go as quickly as possible, for their own sakes, because, you know, there are “processing fees,” “service fees,” “convenience fees” and taxes that I’ll be adding to the total.

I live in America, so I know the routine of calling a customer service line. I know how the representatives like to say “unfortunately” because this little word takes the blame away from the company they represent. “Unfortunately, there’s nothing we can do” takes all responsibility for the problem out of the hands of the corporation and puts it into the hands of someone higher, a place of divination, into the realm of fortune. And what’s a little corporation supposed to do about that? How can a corporation be expected to change your fortune? So, unfortunately, it is not within your “fortune” that these charges be taken off your bill. Fate has decided it.

I went to the ER at a very large hospital chain in Los Angeles back in February 2019 for a thing that turned out to be fine. I spent four hours there waiting for doctors to spend five minutes with me before they could tell me it wasn’t anything to worry about, but that’s not even the point I’m trying to make. I didn’t know how much the ER visit was going to cost me, but I’ve heard horror stories, so I thought I would ask before they did any tests or scans.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/er-overcharged-me-billing-error_n_5d08f133e4b06ad4d2562f5a
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THIS is how to do it!

[Biophilic]

1. Not sure I have her patience and fortitude, but I loved reading this. She is my hero for today. nt

[aggiesal]

13. I thought it was a woman also, but it appears to be written by Joe Garber n/t

[Historic NY]

2. LOL my public employer used to call me on my off days....

And ask questions about what happened at work or other work related information. I used to voucher a minimum 2hrs as a call-in that we had in the contract. Sometimes they would call you in and once you arrived, they'd say you weren't needed, that was another voucher. They had their game, I had mine.

[LuckyLib]

17. When I was on maternity leave, a colleague kept up a steady stream of phone calls

to me at home to ask inane questions. I kept track of every one, adding up the time spent. I added two extra weeks to my maternity leave. Fight fire with fire.

[KT2000]

3. A thing of beauty!

and effective too.

[left-of-center2012]

4. I have been to the ER about six times over the past few years

My insurance says my copay is $90,
and that is what I ended up being charged.

That's with x-rays and CAT scans etc ... $90.

[70sEraVet]

5. That's a great piece of writing. Very humorous.

[BigmanPigman]

6. I was just discussing this

issue with my sister this past week. Who hasn't been experiencing this BS behavior for most at least the past 30 years? Respect for a customer's/patient's time and personal finances is non existent.

Welcome to the machine

[Joinfortmill]

7. Love this

[Turbineguy]

8. The people I worked for at one point specialized in "hostile work environment".

If I had to call into "the office", that was one hour of overtime. If the clown yelled at me, that was two. And if he wanted to impress the secretaries by showing off how he could treat people by yelling and cursing at me, that was 4 hours. In my last year there, I picked up about $20,000 extra in overtime pay.

One of my co-workers told me once that people who seem to have no power can still get even.

[Scottie Mom]

9. When you sign in at an ER or Urgent care or to the Hospital itself:

Always have a bright colored pen with you. When they hand you the forms and indicate where to sign, sit down and read the document and where there is something to which you do not agree, line it out, date and initial. This is primarily directed at costs that are not covered by insurance. I have NEVER had an in-take person do anything but sign the form and give an NCR copy back to me.

Just because someone or an organization which offers services hands you their contract, it does not mean that you are required to agree to the terms of the contract in toto. Change it to your satisfaction and hand it back signed, dated, and initialed and dated to the terms to which you do not agree.

The uncovered costs of medical care in this nation are OBSCENE. I have had them bill me for something which was not insurance covered and I have sent back a copy of our modified contract. The usual response is telephone call to me from their collection person stating that the clerk had no authority to allow changes in the contract. The response to that is simple: Tell them to ask their legal department to explain to the term "ostensible authority."

[Orrex]

15. It was my understanding that such hand-revisions need to be initialed by all parties

Is that not the case?

[Scottie Mom]

18. Under California law, prior to the signature of all parties, changes can be made by any party.

After the signatures of all involved, modifications must be initialed/agreed to by all parties. That is because before all signed, the document is merely an offer of terms, not a contract. After the signatures of all concerned, it is a contract. Therefore, once the terms of the offer are accepted, a contract is formed (assuming there is consideration) and thereafter, all parties must agree to any modification of terms. It does not matter that hand-written amendments are made of a printed contract. The issue is a "meeting of the minds." One who has ostensible authority to duly execute a contract binds both sides by the contract whether all terms are printed, hand-written and initialed or set out in some other manner such as attachments incorporated into the document.

The document handed to you by an admissions clerk is merely a proposal of terms -- an offer. One can agree or disagree with the terms offered. Contract law allows one to make a counter offer, to wit, the hand written terms interlined into the printed contract, and if signed by all, this is acceptance of the terms and along with consideration, a contract is then formed. The contract is not formed, at least in Cal law, upon one being given terms of an offer. A contract consists of an offer, an acceptance and consideration. There may be and can be counter offers that form the terms all have agreed to.

Again: THIS IS CALIFORNIA LAW. It may not hold in other jurisdictions outside of California.

[AllaN01Bear]

10. i read a while back where a lawyer in san deigo ca had sued a dr for keeping him

wait for 2 hours. the dr was yep, you guessed it , on the golf course. i understand medical emergencies take priority, but cmon now.

[Jilly_in_VA]

12. A female doc I used to work with

told us one time that she'd told the other docs in her group that she couldn't attend meetings at a certain time on Wednesdays because she had a "standing tee time at 2 pm" that day. She said, "Actually it's a standing hair appointment, but they don't understand that. Tee times, they understand!"

[rsdsharp]

11. That's terrific. The clock is always running.

Years ago, I was asked to represent an estate against which one of the beneficiaries had filed a will contest claiming she was entitled to the whole estate. MORE than the value of the whole estate, actually.

To make this simple, there were 11 beneficiaries, all siblings. Two of them supported the claimant, and the other 8 didn’t — including the executor. One day one of the sisters who supported the claimant called to try to convince me her sister deserved all the money.

Finally, after nearly an hour, she realized I wasn’t going to budge, and she asked “You’re not charging for your time on this call, are you?” I told her of course I was, and she’d just wasted about $300 of the estate’s money that wasn’t going to any of the beneficiaries, but to me, instead.

She was not a happy camper.

[Percy]

14. Exactly what we should all be doing.

And a consumer protections agency should enshrine it into law ...

I was just thinking about doing this very thing, sending THEM an invoice for MY time wasted fixing THEIR mistakes.

[Orrex]

16. Off the top of my head I have to guess that this will fail 999 out of 1,000 times

It seems impossible that hospitals--with very expensive legal departments--haven't anticipated this "my fingers were crossed" ploy and have written contracts--and purchased legislation--specifically to shield against such tactics.

[robbob]

19. I've said this before here, and I'll say it again...

As a Canadian, I (we) are absolutely astounded at the ridiculous and cruel health care system you Americans live under, and just accept as normal. I know, I know, many of you do not accept it and are working hard to change it, but still…

In Canada we are all paying for health care via our federal income taxes. We are all paying in, so we don’t even really think about it. How much am I paying a year for health care? I honestly have no idea, but as I’m retired now and pay very little in total taxes I can assure you it’s less then 100/year.

I had a health scare a couple years ago, showed up at Emerg with chest pains; they rushed me in, kept me overnight, ran a bunch of tests, and then scheduled me for THREE follow up appointments to do a complete cardio follow up, which all came back negative, thank God. Cost to me? ZERO. Which was totally not a surprise; it is, in fact, what we expect.

My mother passed away from cancer 12 years ago, at home. The entire health care system swung into action; daily visits from aides, doctor visits, nurses, the entire gamut of health care professionals helping us to aid my mother to a peaceful passing in her own home. Zero cost, of course.

How Americans tolerate a for profit health care system boggles our collective Canadian minds, quite frankly. But billions of dollars for rapacious third party insurance companies are at stake, so good luck changing that.