<
https://www.thedailybeast.com/getting-an-itemized-hospital-bill-is-basically-impossible>
"There are two things I don’t recommend ever having to experience if you can
avoid them.
First, getting flung headfirst over the handlebars of a bicycle, landing face
first in some gravel. Second, trying to get the hospital that patched you up to
send you the itemized bill they are required by law to provide.
The pain from the first one went away after a week or so. The pain from the
second is still here many months later. It has involved many twists and
turns—including being told to send a form to an address that doesn’t exist, and
verbal authorizations that Dignity Health/CommonSpirit medical centers claim
don’t count.
I am now pretty sure the health system giant, which has multiple different
websites talking about its values and missions, which they say comes from God
and are supposedly about compassion, empathy, and trust, seems to actually be
focused on confabulating me until I throw thousands of dollars into their bank
account to just get them to leave me alone. I’m not sure what it is the
company’s chief mission officer, Thomas Kopfensteiner, actually does, but he
might want to look into his employer’s billing practices.
I know that I am not alone in this experience, and horror stories about medical
billing abound, but they’re reaching such new levels of absurdity that when I
described my ongoing experience to Anthony Wright, the Executive Director of
Health Access California, a healthcare consumer advocacy organization, he burst
out laughing, and said “this is a more extended and comical version of the
normal Kafka-esque version of our healthcare system, but it’s in line with what
happens.”"
Via Diane A.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
