I do not know who is to blame. I do not know whether or not it is the fault of the insurance companies or the hospitals or health care providers or billing departments or doctors or what. I only know one thing...
You people are dumb.
I have spent hours on the phone over the past three months attempting to correct tiny mistakes which have the potential to cost me thousands of dollars. This is not my responsibility. This is your responsibility. It is not my job to hold your hand while you ask for payment from my insurance company. It is not my job to be the only communication that goes on between the hospital and the billing department.
I have just received bills for the following:
1) Over $1000 in charges that the hospital billed the wrong insurance company for.
2) A $25 copay that I have paid already. In my hand is a receipt stating such.
3) Around $50 in copays from eight years ago.
4) A $32 copay for a free office visit.
(Just in case you missed that last one, let me hammer it in for you: I went in for a COMPLIMENTARY office visit, and just received a BILL for the FREE office visit. I was CHARGED MONEY for a FREE office visit!?!?!?!!)
I am not getting paid to be your secretary. I pay an enormous amount of money to make sure that I have health care coverage. That money should be going to pay for competent people to handle things like billing, or insurance claims, or record keeping. My money should be used to train office administrators, managers, and customer service representatives so that they can do their job's correctly and handle all the bureaucratic nonsense that goes into the medical profession.
After I go see the doctor WHO IS COVERED BY MY INSURANCE, then they should bill my insurance company and that should be the end of the story. I am not an employee of the hospital or insurance company and therefore should not be put to work making sure that money exchanges hands.
I refuse to be taken advantage of. I refuse to pay for services that I have already paid for. I refuse to pay for seeing a doctor when I pay an insurance company to pay for my seeing a doctor. Get your fucking act together, you fucking idiots. I am currently filled with rage and it is all your fault. This is not my fault. This is your fault.
But that isn't what upsets me the most.
Sure, you did this, and you are forcing me to fix it. Sure, I do not have the time to waste on this bullshit. Sure, you owe me time, and money, and peace of mind. But that is not what really bothers me.
What bothers me most of all is that you are doing this to thousands of other people who are way worse off than me. I do not have any children to take care of. I do not have elderly dependents. I am not two steps away from bankruptcy. Many are, and you are taking advantage of them.
If someone out there has a solution to this mass mistreatment, please let me know and you have my full support.
Yours,
Jarret
