Good Day,
My wife and I have no health insurance. We have had it, but after rising premiums and less coverage, and refusal to honor claims; I cancelled it. We got pregnant and attempted to see obgyns in our area of our state. They asked for thousands of dollars up front for a checkup and reasoned that their insurance premiums per patient case were so high they needed large upfront payment and would schedule all visits up to the birth which was included in the bill. I was unable to raise the money and was refused a visit for an ultrasound. I asked how we could have the child in the local hospital if I was refused service by the obgyn. The obgyn's secretary told me to use the emergency room when contractions began. We did so.
This is very complicated. I brought my wife to the emergency room, signed an admission form (it may be a standard form, but I can enter it contents later). My wife was taken to the maternity ward and I and our toddler parked the vehicle and were shown to the room. This question will deal only with the billing part of the fiasco, but as stated earlier this is very complicated. Our child was born almost without the on call obgyn within three hours of admission. She excreted meconium (first poop) within twelve hours. In my experience that is all the pediatrician needs to wait for to discharge the infant after hearing and blood tests (which had been performed). The nurses told me that we must wait forty eight hours after the birth regardless of the infant's health and excretion. This definitely added to the cost of the visit. Growing weary with staying at the hospital for apparently no reason, tolerating the rudeness of the staff, and being visited only when another iron pill or saline bag was scanned or an over the counter product not requested was administered to my wife, I questioned another nurse why we could not leave. She told me that we had to await results of my wife's hep B test result and the in house lab would not perform the test until the next day as they only did the test on certain days. I request that they perform the test and alow us to leave. I requested that we be allowed to await the results in our home a few miles out and if the infant needed a vaccination (if my wife were positive) we would bring her back. The hospital and the pediatrician refused to discharge us. I told the nurse I was willing to remove my family from the hospital as I could not afford the cost of the room and they threatened to call the police and DHS. I called the police myself and the officer on duty said I would not be breaking any laws to remove the infant unless she would be placed in immediate danger by my taking her from the hospital. I called the state police child abuse hotline, but they were unable to answer my question. My wife was so stressed out I decided to leave it alone. We stayed another night. The infant was discharged by the pediatrician the next afternoon as the hep b test results were of course negative. We left the hospital and I awaited the bill.
What a story. The bills started coming. The hospital charged over 9000 USD on two accounts - the mother and the child. They sent a general statement with two account numbers and one payment stub. I called and requested an itemized statement and asked if the seperate accounts were to be paid with one check or two. I was told two seperate checks would be needed for each account. I inquired as to why there was only one payment stub with the mother's account number and no answer was provided. I got the itemized statement later and was shocked at the pricing. I have known for years hospitals charge exorbitant prices for products, but this was shocking. Most puzzling was a 3000 plus USD "delivery charge" charge which represented half of the mother's account. I asked the billing representative what the charge included. She said that she did not know specifically, but that I should call the nurses' audititor as it generally was charges the nurses reported to the nurse auditor. She had placed the responsibility of getting the itemized statement directly on me. The billing department refused to provide the full itemization of charges. I wrote a ten dollar check for each account and mailed them to the hospital. They cashed both checks. After two accepted payments, I was sent a letter of threat to be placed into collections. I ignored it and continued to make the ten dollar per account per month payment, as I had not yet received an itemized statement as per the conditions of admission. I received a call from the billing representative and was told the hospital might not continue to accept my ten dollar payments and I would be labeled as "bad debt" in their system. I had been threatened this way in our first conversation, before the first check had ever been mailed. I explained to the billing representative that I had not yet received the itemized statement the hospital is contractually obligated to provide. She said I had gotten it and I explained to her that the billing department is responsible to provide me with the statements, not tell me to get them on my own from other departments of the hospital. She is of course aware that the admission form allows thirty days after a request for an itemized statement for said statement to be provided. It has been well over thirty days. They may be in breach of contract and they may know it. I do not know for sure and will continue to pay my ten dollar checks until I get the itemization and am sure that I have not been billed fraudulently outright. There is no question of price gouging, but I do not know if that can be fought with any success legally. This is a small part of the problem with this hospital, but I want to be specific and get a little advice before searching for a trustworthy lawyer in my area and pursuing action against this hospital on a full scale for fraudulent billing and the obgyn and nursing staff for medical malpractice. This is my second child and this time it was a fiasco.
I apologize if this was drawn out, but I would like to be even more specific later if I have even sufficiently explained the situation this post to answer two short questions. First, if the hospital is accepting my ten dollar per account per month payments, can they place me in collections or begin to refuse to accept the payments and then place me in collections. Second, since the admissions form (the only "contract" I signed which has been referred to by billing individuals when discussing payments) states that "I understand that I am entitled to request and itemized statement of all services, drugs and supplies to be billed to the patient, and upon request, such statement will be furnished no later than thirty (30) days after the request is made." and the hospital has not honored this condition - are they in breach of contract and is this breach of contract actionable. There is no mention of minimum payment and the only other financial conditions are that the legal representative is responsible in the patient's stead, and that the undersigned agrees to pay the hospital its agents or assigns, the amount due on the account, including costs and attorneys fees if the claim is placed with attorneys for collection, and that such liability shall be joint and several. Thank you for your time and consideration.
My wife and I have no health insurance. We have had it, but after rising premiums and less coverage, and refusal to honor claims; I cancelled it. We got pregnant and attempted to see obgyns in our area of our state. They asked for thousands of dollars up front for a checkup and reasoned that their insurance premiums per patient case were so high they needed large upfront payment and would schedule all visits up to the birth which was included in the bill. I was unable to raise the money and was refused a visit for an ultrasound. I asked how we could have the child in the local hospital if I was refused service by the obgyn. The obgyn's secretary told me to use the emergency room when contractions began. We did so.
This is very complicated. I brought my wife to the emergency room, signed an admission form (it may be a standard form, but I can enter it contents later). My wife was taken to the maternity ward and I and our toddler parked the vehicle and were shown to the room. This question will deal only with the billing part of the fiasco, but as stated earlier this is very complicated. Our child was born almost without the on call obgyn within three hours of admission. She excreted meconium (first poop) within twelve hours. In my experience that is all the pediatrician needs to wait for to discharge the infant after hearing and blood tests (which had been performed). The nurses told me that we must wait forty eight hours after the birth regardless of the infant's health and excretion. This definitely added to the cost of the visit. Growing weary with staying at the hospital for apparently no reason, tolerating the rudeness of the staff, and being visited only when another iron pill or saline bag was scanned or an over the counter product not requested was administered to my wife, I questioned another nurse why we could not leave. She told me that we had to await results of my wife's hep B test result and the in house lab would not perform the test until the next day as they only did the test on certain days. I request that they perform the test and alow us to leave. I requested that we be allowed to await the results in our home a few miles out and if the infant needed a vaccination (if my wife were positive) we would bring her back. The hospital and the pediatrician refused to discharge us. I told the nurse I was willing to remove my family from the hospital as I could not afford the cost of the room and they threatened to call the police and DHS. I called the police myself and the officer on duty said I would not be breaking any laws to remove the infant unless she would be placed in immediate danger by my taking her from the hospital. I called the state police child abuse hotline, but they were unable to answer my question. My wife was so stressed out I decided to leave it alone. We stayed another night. The infant was discharged by the pediatrician the next afternoon as the hep b test results were of course negative. We left the hospital and I awaited the bill.
What a story. The bills started coming. The hospital charged over 9000 USD on two accounts - the mother and the child. They sent a general statement with two account numbers and one payment stub. I called and requested an itemized statement and asked if the seperate accounts were to be paid with one check or two. I was told two seperate checks would be needed for each account. I inquired as to why there was only one payment stub with the mother's account number and no answer was provided. I got the itemized statement later and was shocked at the pricing. I have known for years hospitals charge exorbitant prices for products, but this was shocking. Most puzzling was a 3000 plus USD "delivery charge" charge which represented half of the mother's account. I asked the billing representative what the charge included. She said that she did not know specifically, but that I should call the nurses' audititor as it generally was charges the nurses reported to the nurse auditor. She had placed the responsibility of getting the itemized statement directly on me. The billing department refused to provide the full itemization of charges. I wrote a ten dollar check for each account and mailed them to the hospital. They cashed both checks. After two accepted payments, I was sent a letter of threat to be placed into collections. I ignored it and continued to make the ten dollar per account per month payment, as I had not yet received an itemized statement as per the conditions of admission. I received a call from the billing representative and was told the hospital might not continue to accept my ten dollar payments and I would be labeled as "bad debt" in their system. I had been threatened this way in our first conversation, before the first check had ever been mailed. I explained to the billing representative that I had not yet received the itemized statement the hospital is contractually obligated to provide. She said I had gotten it and I explained to her that the billing department is responsible to provide me with the statements, not tell me to get them on my own from other departments of the hospital. She is of course aware that the admission form allows thirty days after a request for an itemized statement for said statement to be provided. It has been well over thirty days. They may be in breach of contract and they may know it. I do not know for sure and will continue to pay my ten dollar checks until I get the itemization and am sure that I have not been billed fraudulently outright. There is no question of price gouging, but I do not know if that can be fought with any success legally. This is a small part of the problem with this hospital, but I want to be specific and get a little advice before searching for a trustworthy lawyer in my area and pursuing action against this hospital on a full scale for fraudulent billing and the obgyn and nursing staff for medical malpractice. This is my second child and this time it was a fiasco.
I apologize if this was drawn out, but I would like to be even more specific later if I have even sufficiently explained the situation this post to answer two short questions. First, if the hospital is accepting my ten dollar per account per month payments, can they place me in collections or begin to refuse to accept the payments and then place me in collections. Second, since the admissions form (the only "contract" I signed which has been referred to by billing individuals when discussing payments) states that "I understand that I am entitled to request and itemized statement of all services, drugs and supplies to be billed to the patient, and upon request, such statement will be furnished no later than thirty (30) days after the request is made." and the hospital has not honored this condition - are they in breach of contract and is this breach of contract actionable. There is no mention of minimum payment and the only other financial conditions are that the legal representative is responsible in the patient's stead, and that the undersigned agrees to pay the hospital its agents or assigns, the amount due on the account, including costs and attorneys fees if the claim is placed with attorneys for collection, and that such liability shall be joint and several. Thank you for your time and consideration.
- that your wife DID stay in the hospital for at least two nights and incurred those charges.