Unexpected medical bill

[surprisesudden]

Jurisdiction

Washington

I went to a pulmonary doctor to consult for possible sleep apnea. i paid the insurance copay for the visit

the doctor referred me to a sleep clinic to get a sleep test, and after that i paid the sleep clinic for the test

today i received an unexpected bill from the pulmonary doctor for a significant sum of money for the sleep test

apparently this was a cost for him to look at the sleep test results and have his assistant call me but i was not warned about this cost in advance.

aren't medical providers required to disclose which services i will have to pay for before they provide them? in other words shouldn't i have been told that their would be a cost for the doctor to review the test results which would be beyond the cost i paid for the initial visit?

 

[army judge]

The burden is on the patient to ask about costs at every stage of the process.

 

[txls]

You should check to make sure the additional charges were submitted to insurance. It could be something that was applied to your annual deductible, but it doesn't sound like something that would be. And no, they are not obligated to tell you what something will cost. Usually they will but there is nothing that says they have to.

 

[cynthiag]

In my experience, it's pretty standard for there to be an additional bill from the doctor for reading & interpreting test results. There have been several times when I've gotten a bill from a doctor who didn't even see me, because he was the one who read a test result.

Yes, it seems like maybe they should warn you about things like that, but the reality is that they are not obligated to.