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| Have You Ever Been Stuck with a Surprise Medical Bill? |
| Got a medical bill you don't actually owe? Angela Chao breaks down her experience fighting a surprise bill caused by a simple coding error. |
$43.80. I could have just paid for this surprise medical bill. But it wasn’t my bill to pay.
In fact, it was the result of a billing code error made by my primary care physician’s office—marking two blood tests from a preventive annual physical as “general illness.” Both my insurer and the lab told me, “Your doctor’s office used the wrong code, so they have to fix it.” Yet, despite repeated follow-ups, my doctor's office took no action for months.
I was so close to paying the bill just to make it go away. Then I realized: Why should patients bear the burden when they did nothing wrong and have zero control? And what if this bill had been much bigger than $43.80? So, I took action and disputed the bill, which the lab had already sent to debt collection after six months without a resolution.
Have you experienced something similar? How did you handle it? Please share your story by emailing me. |
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| Angela Chao |
| Head of Global News |
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| Until next time, |
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Take care of yourself, and we'll
see you again soon! |
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