* I paid $20 K out of pocket for a surgery that my insurance would not cover.
* A few weeks after surgery, I developed a complication that left me in HORRIFIC pain several hours / day.
* Almost immediately after development of complication, I got ANOTHER $20 K bill from the hospital.
* I read the fine print on my contract, "HOLY SHIT. THEY CAN DO THIS????"
* Meanwhile, horrific pain persists, day after day.
* Wife says, "You need to go to ER."
* Me: "NO WAY. You wanna get hit with ANOTHER $20K bill because I developed a complication due to a procedure that the insurance refused to cover from the get-go? I'll ride this out."
* Horrific pain persists. I cancel a lot of my work.
* A few weeks later, I have a follow-up visit with surgical group.
* I tell surgical group, "I got this $20 K bill ON TOP of the $20K I already paid."
* Surgical group: "Oh. That's a billing error."
* I explain very s-l-o-w-l-y that I did not deal with my horrific pain for WEEKS as a direct result of receiving an erroneous bill and that there may be a lawsuit coming someone's way.
* 15 minutes after leaving my follow-up visit, I got 3 phone calls from hospital admins and surgeon expressing profound regret for the error and assurances that the bill was "gone."
If I could leave the US, I would for this simple reason.
I'm in the US.
* I paid $20 K out of pocket for a surgery that my insurance would not cover.
* A few weeks after surgery, I developed a complication that left me in HORRIFIC pain several hours / day.
* Almost immediately after development of complication, I got ANOTHER $20 K bill from the hospital.
* I read the fine print on my contract, "HOLY SHIT. THEY CAN DO THIS????"
* Meanwhile, horrific pain persists, day after day.
* Wife says, "You need to go to ER."
* Me: "NO WAY. You wanna get hit with ANOTHER $20K bill because I developed a complication due to a procedure that the insurance refused to cover from the get-go? I'll ride this out."
* Horrific pain persists. I cancel a lot of my work.
* A few weeks later, I have a follow-up visit with surgical group.
* I tell surgical group, "I got this $20 K bill ON TOP of the $20K I already paid."
* Surgical group: "Oh. That's a billing error."
* I explain very s-l-o-w-l-y that I did not deal with my horrific pain for WEEKS as a direct result of receiving an erroneous bill and that there may be a lawsuit coming someone's way.
* 15 minutes after leaving my follow-up visit, I got 3 phone calls from hospital admins and surgeon expressing profound regret for the error and assurances that the bill was "gone."
If I could leave the US, I would for this simple reason.