[BeyondtheRainbow]

I had ankle surgery last June. It was due to an older injury but I had re-injured it in March. At that time I had seen the podiatrist who had treated me throughout and he did absolutely nothing helpful. His attitude was pretty much "as long as you've got torn ligaments you've got torn ligaments". He didn't even notice that I'd torn tendons as well or that I'd damaged the joint lining. They did xrays and put a brace on that I already had several of and that was it.

When it was billed Medicare said that they wouldn't pay b/c it was a worker's comp claim. It absolutely wasn't. I hurt myself at my therapist's office. After some effort I got a letter saying the worker's comp claim I'd had years ago was on the other leg. And so I requested they re-bill with that. After my surgery the place I had PT prior to surgery and the hospital where my surgery was started having trouble with claims so I spent a long time trying to fight with Medicare over this. I finally got it worked out 3-4 months ago and the claims are gradually going through although some have had to be re-billed many times.

That dr's office started requiring me to make payments in September. Every month I pay $10, which doesn't sound like much but I'm on SSDI, that's a lot. I have requested they re-bill numerous times and they haven't. They did once back in the beginning but before I finally found out the box they needed to check.

I just called them to ask them personally to re-bill since letters and messages haven't worked. And they say they don't think they can re-bill after 6 months. It's not true, my hospital is still re-billing 12 months after surgery and my PT clinic just finally got their payments completed, some of which went back to last April. They are supposed to call back but I've had it.

They aren't really making much effort because in their head I can just keep paying $10/month for another year and several months and the bill is paid off. But by the time I do that I've paid them several hundred dollars that could go for very important things. And they aren't using Medicare billing costs so I'm paying much, much more than I would if Medicare were involved anyway. Medicare would have cost about $40 versus $200 or so. Now I want to smush my budget and just pay them off and never, ever go back which I'd pretty much determined with the missed torn tendons (torn since the first time he saw me).

I'm so angry at them because I've updated them repeatedly on what I've learned from Medicare. I know re-billing numerous times was a pain in the butt but it's not my fault and the truth is that since all they had to do was check a box saying it wasn't worker's comp it's kinda theirs for not knowing to do that once the worker's comp thing came up. And all my other providers have re-billed a bunch of times. This place just doesn't care and if they won't re-bill after 6 months I'm going to have a very hard time being civil. If for no other reason they could have bothered to contact me after the numerous letters and messages and tell me that it wasn't possible.

I'm so tired of this.......it used to be that $200 wasn't a big deal because I earned a decent salary. Now it is a huge deal and they don't care enough to help me.

I'm so frustrated and my mood has gone down about 10 notches since that phone call. (I ran out of gabapentin and didn't realize so I missed several days and my mood is kind of messy anyway).

I hate this whole mess. This should not be my problem. That's why insurance exists.

[cashart10]

I would be angry too and I would make sure they do the billing! That is ridiculous!

[jacky8807]

sorry you are going through this girl
they make it impossible sometimes just to have the right thing done
just crazy

[raspberrytorte]

That would be so annoying. I'd be angry and frustrated too. Actually, I'd be fed up and just wouldn't be paying anything.

[BeyondtheRainbow]

If I don't pay they will send it to collections since it is technically WAY past 90 days.

They didn't bother to call me back. They get until next Tuesday or Wednesday and I'm calling Medicare to find out about the re-billing "deadline" that I know doesn't exist and how I can file a claim or an appeal if that is even possible. I'll also be complaining to Medicare as I'm pretty sure that as a provider they've broken some kind of rules.

If the surgeon had asked at my last visit where I was working and followed my "I'm on disability now" reply with an incredulous "because of your ANKLE?" (in a "you hypochondriac" tone..even though he knew full well that I worked as an occupational therapist lifting people from the day after I blew out my ankle in my therapist's parking lot until the last time he'd seen me, needing only a sturdy brace to prevent me from falling with a patient and that I had bipolar disorder) or if he hadn't been so far off in diagnosing me I might not be so mad. But I got crappy care and now I'm stuck paying it off for what will take nearly 2 years unless I can get the claim through myself.

I am also hoping to be able to report them to the Better Business Bureau after I know what is going on. I do not like companies treating me like crap and I'm manic enough still to be happy to fight.

But I don't really WANT to fight........such a pain. And so unnecessary. Medicare has paid slowly but all my other providers for the same problem got paid and if they didn't either they didn't submit the claim right or they made a mistake in filling out the forms. Otherwise my home health, 6 months of PT (including PT right after I saw them), dr visits, 5 casts, a boot and a brace, anesthesia, surgery, etc. wouldn't be paid. All the hospital is left trying to get covered now I think is the surgeon's bill. It's taken 11 months but we're almost there. Except for these idiots.

I need to shut up. I can go on about this forever because it makes me so mad. I thought this was a good dr but as soon as he went into practice for himself (literally 2 weeks after I saw him last and this is billed through his new practice) it all got crappy.

And now I need to fill pill boxes which makes me grumpier. But then I get to try my sample nail wraps which will either be a horrible disaster or really fun.

[Capriciousness]

And this stuff can be so triggering. It gets me churned up. I'm so sorry. Sucks.

[BeyondtheRainbow]

Exactly. And it's very hard to take care of when manic. I usually try to delay things until I can think but this has gone on too long and they are just going to keep taking my $10. But now I can count on trouble sleeping and I will be grouchy with everyone, including the very nice shoe salesman.

Sorry it's hard to read all that on the phone but I skimmed it. Hugs for your plight.

[BeyondtheRainbow]

Thanks Supanova. Mad and mixed and concise don't come together very well for me.