expensive medical consult

I'm unemployed with a couple hundred dollars in my bank account and no medical insurance. I have a skin growth that's recently grown so I went to the local federally-funded low-income medical clinic to see my doctor. He seemed very serious, and he's a man of very few words, but he said he couldn't remove it himself because of its location and referred me to a specialist at the local for-profit medical clinic. I thought it must be serious enough to merit outsourcing me, so I didn't question it. The appointment was set up by the fed clinic, and I went to the for-profit clinic's financial office to try to arrange a "compassionate care" for the procedure so I wouldn't have to pay for it. Later I went to the appointment and the doctor briefly examined the growth then asked if I had insurance. I said no and he said he wouldn't want to do it for free for an elective procedure, so we agreed I'd come back later when I get insurance or, as he stated, return to the fed clinic since it's a basic procedure my g.p. should be able to handle. The long and short of it is that I now owe $400 ($100 fed + $300 for-profit "consult") and the growth is still there, and I don't have money to pay it, and it should have been removed for $100.

I understand about this run around as have been through it myself recently with another procedure. I was able to set up a $10 a month payment plan to pay it off but considering you have no income, there may be other options. When you get their final bill contact them, explain the circumstances, and hopefully they will work with you, possibly even writing it off given the circumstances, depends on the office.

It sounds like the good news was that it is something that was considered elective and not of a nature that warranted immediate removal, which is good news. I would breathe a little easier knowing this in the meantime but a painful way to have found it out for the pocketbook. I'm sorry to hear someone else has gone through it too. Good luck talking to them, hopefully something will work out!!

The express purpose of the referral was for the ENT to remove the growth straightaway, rather than the "new patient consult" diagnosis which I was billed for. I was not there for standard ENT healthcare. The G.P. knows as much as, if not more than, an ENT whether it's benign by visual inspection alone, and should have saved me money by indicating so. The ENT would not be able to lend additional information without any biopsy, x-rays or so forth. Since none of this was done, there's a chance it's actually malignant.

A few hundred dollars is not a huge amount of money for anyone employed, I know, I've been there, but for an unemployed person not receiving government benefits, it can cover several months of bill payments while job hunting.

The clinic will not forgive the amount due without a medical claim denial letter from the state agency, and the state agency apparently lost my application which I placed in it's secure inbox, and told me to reapply and to have a nice day.

Koko2,
I am SO sorry for misreading your post and the situation, that it something that needed to be removed. I do understand this concern and I wish some docs were more considerate of our circumstances. I am sorry too for what you are having to go through in dealing with this. It might be worth a call back to the original GP to let them know what happened, perhaps they will do something to help. Again, I am very sorry for misreading initially and for what you are dealing with!! (((((((Koko2)))))))

Hello, Koko2. You might go back to the for-profit medical clinic and ask to see the patient representative or ombudsman to file a complaint. First off, the specialist did not spend hardly any time with you. Secondly, the first question the specialist should have asked is if you had insurance, especially since the referral came from a federally-funded low-income medical clinic. The specialist knew he/she would not do the procedure for free. He/she should have asked about insurance first to save you a bill.

File a complaint and see if you can at least get the fee reduced if not entirely forgiven. In my opinion, what the specialist did amounts to a scam.

I'm with TheByzantine and/or go back to the Federally funded place who insisted on making an appointment with the For Profit and, since that didn't work out, see if the Feds will get the bill adjusted or pay it.