So, shortly after I finished that blog post yesterday, Paul called to tell me that he was on his way home. Again. He got there and #1 said that #2 was still refusing to basically even work in the same shop as Paul but that #1 had hired a second painter (what?) and that the second painter was going to be in in a little while and Paul could meet him. So, Paul sits on his butt for a half hour and then the new painter, #3, shows up. #3 seems pretty nice and agrees that he will bring one assistant and keep Paul on as his other assistant. #3 says though that he can't actually start til Tuesday so Paul loses yet another day of pay and #2 is still there!
Paul comes home and we have a lovely afternoon. Then the phone rings and its #1 telling Paul that #2 and both of his sons just took a fit and left the shop. Quit. YAY! So, today Paul is at work hoping to just do his regular job at his regular pay and hoping that #3 and his assistant won't be giant, flying fuckwits.
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Thank God that my tests all came out okay, but OF COURSE even though I called and confirmed several times that all my tests were going to be free, yesterday we got a bill for them. Its only $200 (they did approve over $500) but it really pisses me off since I expected to pay originally and then they tell me its free and then they bill me anyway.
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The check that we sent along with my latest immigration packet cleared our bank account yesterday! This doesn't mean that we are approved yet or anything, but I'm really pleased because it means, at the least, that they received the packet and it is being looked at.
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I looked back on my posts of about 2 or 3 months ago to see where I was in the whole 'list of projects' thing. It sometimes seems as though nothing ever changes and nothing ever gets done, but looking at that list makes me feel good. 7 out of 10 things are totally done, one way or the other, and I haven't added a bunch of new projects to that list.
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Just before Paul lost/then got back his job, we finally got Blockbuster Total Access. Does it ever ROCK! In our two week free trial we went through 11 movies, and got a free Papa John's pizza, and now that the trial is over its still under $20 a month. We spend like NO money on entertainment per month; $20 on Blockbuster and $15 on World of Warcraft and then maybe one dinner out a month if we're lucky so we feel that unlimited movies is definitely a good option for us.
Fin
6 comments:
Something similar happened to me. I had surgery last summer (a cancer scare for me too), and even though I had insurance, I still got a sizable bill afterwards (which I'm still paying). JUST last week I got a note from a collections agency saying I never paid the doctor -- I thought the doctor's bill was part of the surgery bill -- WRONG!
I didn't know about this "extra" bill because 1) I thought I had taken care of them all before we left for New Zealand, 2) we were in NZ, and I never got a bill before we left, and 3) I thought I was already paying him via the surgery bill. So now I've got to deal with another huge bill and a collection agency to boot. Fucking great!
Health care here is confusing and painful, in more ways that one.
I think I put this on the wrong post. Fart.
Oh you poor thing. I SO understand. Just when you start to catch a breath and think 'gee, we may be able to live and pay our bills okay' then something catches up to you.
As someone who worked in the medical billing field for a few years, I should point out that if you have no insurance and somewhat poor, most hospitals have a (non-advertised) charity care program that will look at your income and write off all or some of your charges. In Michigan, I recall hearing that they had to offer such a program in order to accept some state Medicaid insurance patients. Anyways, something to look into - I know the radiologists and anesthesiologists I worked for would write off their bills as well if a patient qualified for it. Or even if a patient just called and negotiated a discount because they were poor. After all, the doctor will lose a chunk of cash if they have to have a collection agency get your money, so it's still to their benefit if they reduce your bill less than that loss and actually get the money from you.
Such good advice, thanks Dr. Sheep. It's probably past that point now with both the bills (one being in collections and the other on a payment plan since Sept 2006).
I'm assuming when you call up to make a payment plan because you are too poor (like I did) that they don't SUGGEST these programs to you, you have to ask? Cause nothing was said to me at the time.
Oh well, I guess Shop-n-Smile is serving its purpose - paying off shit like this.
Well, I learned about it because we had folks who would call in with problems paying their radiology bill, and we'd inform them about the charity care at the hospital (because, for example, the radiology was during an emergency room trip that racked up thousands in 'regular' hospital charges). Pretty much everyone was shocked that such programs even existed, so I don't think hospitals really let you know.
We'd also (at the doctor's or billing manager's discretion) write off or lower bills depending on how believable someone's story was. At the GP's office I worked at, he started charging cash patients the Medicare rate for office visits IF they paid for the visit up front, which meant a good 30-40% savings for the uninsured. Or if he knew you were hurting for money, he would just see you for free rather than have you not get treatment.
Once something is in collections, well, I'm not sure how much you can do then, since it's out of the original provider's hands. The trick, I feel, is to negotiate with the doctor or hospital before it gets to that point, armed with the knowledge that if you HAD insurance they would only be getting a fraction of what they really charge, and the same if they have to send you to collections.
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