Doctors and Deductibles
About an year ago, I went for a physical. As always and as usual, I went on time and was made to wait for a while. As I was waiting, I picked up a magazine and started looking at the pictures.
When I got bored, I looked up and a sign caught my attention. It read, "If you can't pay your deductibles, please reschedule your appointment". That really caught my attention and I started thinking (something I do rarely :-)
Here is a doctor who invariably makes all his patients wait and charges anywhere between $100-300 or more per a patient's visit, is willing to forgo that for a mere deductible of $14! For a mere $14. I just could not understand!
If a patient (even for many years), were to loose a job and loose insurance and does not have $14 to pay, he is not going to see him, if even he has been patient for many many years.
I am a programmer/software engineer for many years .. You know I must say that we should be justifiably proud of our profession. Just look at the amount of free software that is available on the net. You can buy bare hardware and get just about any application that you can think of absolutely free. And many times the support is free too. Just ask and somebody will answer for free!
You know I think some of the software that is running in the doctor's office may be free software too!. In fact it is the free software that runs the internet! Some of the software that runs on many doctor's offices and hospitals are free too.
I wonder why can't the doctor's forego his deductible part, if the patient is not in a position to pay? I just cannot understand .. Especially he is getting many time over that via insurance. Fortunately for me I could afford to pay insurance and the deductible. I really feel sorry for the people who can't =afford to pay either.
Here are some other stories I remember about the doctors:
At a certain time, I went to see a doctor. His office will first collect the deductible (at that time it was $10), before they let you see the doctor. "No $10 payment, no see the doctor" :-)
Some 10 years ago I went to a pediatrician with my five year old. He was having a little fever. My wife and 10 year old tagged along. After the doctor finished examining the little one, my wife told the doctor that the older one was complaining about a pain in the hand and asked him whether he would take a look! The doctor squeezed my son's hand couple of times and said there was nothing wrong and then said, "That's another $10 deductible. Please pay it on your way out!".
On the way back home, I told my wife that she should not have asked the doctor to examine my older son (We knew there was certainly nothing wrong with his hand) and that she just wasted $10 for nothing. My son, who heard the conversation exclaimed, "$10 for squeezing the hand..that's a rip-off!" I did not tell him that that was the amount he was charging us. He would be charging much much more to the insurance company!.
On some Sunday, I took my son again .. to the same pediatrician. After the exam was over, he told that there will be an additional $5 surcharge as it was a weekend. I gave him $15 in cash. He took the money but told me that he does not have any idea where receipt book was and that he would have his secretary mail the receipt.
The receipt never came. The doctor apparently forgot, but he did remember that he had seen a patient and knew the name. I got billed for $15. I called to explain the situation (I paid the doctor cash and he seemed to have forgotten), and I was told that it will be corrected. But I got notice after notice and finally it went to some agency. I called the agency and told him my story and if the doctor was so desperate, I would mail the money. The agency told me that it must have been a mistake and that they would take care of it and to my surprize they did. I never got another notice!
I never knew the doctors would charge $5 for a call in prescritpion until I was told so. If I want to avoid that, then I had to go and visit the doctor, who will then not charge $5, but will charge $15 deductible and will charge the insurance.
It appears that this behavior is also found in many many desi doctors. At one time (many many many years ago), we went to visit (my wife's distant) relatives and stayed with them for a couple of days. My wife asked the doctor (a distant relative), to have a look at my son. The shrink asked a few questions, shook
her head many times and made some notes.
Meanwhile the doctor's hubby told me that he would be charging my insurance company. He told me that since I would not be paying anything, I dont need to worry. He said my deductibles are waived. To my surprize, they had charged fairly big amount. any days later, I got a bill from the doctor's office for my deductibles which at that time was 20% of the bill. My wife told me that must be a mistake and told me not to pay as she was told that we won't be billed.
But the doctor kept sending bills. After a while we got notices from the collection agency. I finally ended up paying my deductible. But the same doctor couple, sought lots of free advice and lots of free stuff from us at that time and many times over many years. I wish I had charged them for all those :-)
Tailpiece: At one time, the doctor gave a prescription that included medicines to cover 31 days. I took that to a drug store. The pharamscist told me that he would only fill the prescription for 30 days. If he were to fill it for 31 days, then he must charge twice my deductible as the prescription would cover more than a month. He asked me to tell the doctor about it as well that he could only write prescription for 30 days and not (even) one day over.
When I got bored, I looked up and a sign caught my attention. It read, "If you can't pay your deductibles, please reschedule your appointment". That really caught my attention and I started thinking (something I do rarely :-)
Here is a doctor who invariably makes all his patients wait and charges anywhere between $100-300 or more per a patient's visit, is willing to forgo that for a mere deductible of $14! For a mere $14. I just could not understand!
If a patient (even for many years), were to loose a job and loose insurance and does not have $14 to pay, he is not going to see him, if even he has been patient for many many years.
I am a programmer/software engineer for many years .. You know I must say that we should be justifiably proud of our profession. Just look at the amount of free software that is available on the net. You can buy bare hardware and get just about any application that you can think of absolutely free. And many times the support is free too. Just ask and somebody will answer for free!
You know I think some of the software that is running in the doctor's office may be free software too!. In fact it is the free software that runs the internet! Some of the software that runs on many doctor's offices and hospitals are free too.
I wonder why can't the doctor's forego his deductible part, if the patient is not in a position to pay? I just cannot understand .. Especially he is getting many time over that via insurance. Fortunately for me I could afford to pay insurance and the deductible. I really feel sorry for the people who can't =afford to pay either.
Here are some other stories I remember about the doctors:
At a certain time, I went to see a doctor. His office will first collect the deductible (at that time it was $10), before they let you see the doctor. "No $10 payment, no see the doctor" :-)
Some 10 years ago I went to a pediatrician with my five year old. He was having a little fever. My wife and 10 year old tagged along. After the doctor finished examining the little one, my wife told the doctor that the older one was complaining about a pain in the hand and asked him whether he would take a look! The doctor squeezed my son's hand couple of times and said there was nothing wrong and then said, "That's another $10 deductible. Please pay it on your way out!".
On the way back home, I told my wife that she should not have asked the doctor to examine my older son (We knew there was certainly nothing wrong with his hand) and that she just wasted $10 for nothing. My son, who heard the conversation exclaimed, "$10 for squeezing the hand..that's a rip-off!" I did not tell him that that was the amount he was charging us. He would be charging much much more to the insurance company!.
On some Sunday, I took my son again .. to the same pediatrician. After the exam was over, he told that there will be an additional $5 surcharge as it was a weekend. I gave him $15 in cash. He took the money but told me that he does not have any idea where receipt book was and that he would have his secretary mail the receipt.
The receipt never came. The doctor apparently forgot, but he did remember that he had seen a patient and knew the name. I got billed for $15. I called to explain the situation (I paid the doctor cash and he seemed to have forgotten), and I was told that it will be corrected. But I got notice after notice and finally it went to some agency. I called the agency and told him my story and if the doctor was so desperate, I would mail the money. The agency told me that it must have been a mistake and that they would take care of it and to my surprize they did. I never got another notice!
I never knew the doctors would charge $5 for a call in prescritpion until I was told so. If I want to avoid that, then I had to go and visit the doctor, who will then not charge $5, but will charge $15 deductible and will charge the insurance.
It appears that this behavior is also found in many many desi doctors. At one time (many many many years ago), we went to visit (my wife's distant) relatives and stayed with them for a couple of days. My wife asked the doctor (a distant relative), to have a look at my son. The shrink asked a few questions, shook
her head many times and made some notes.
Meanwhile the doctor's hubby told me that he would be charging my insurance company. He told me that since I would not be paying anything, I dont need to worry. He said my deductibles are waived. To my surprize, they had charged fairly big amount. any days later, I got a bill from the doctor's office for my deductibles which at that time was 20% of the bill. My wife told me that must be a mistake and told me not to pay as she was told that we won't be billed.
But the doctor kept sending bills. After a while we got notices from the collection agency. I finally ended up paying my deductible. But the same doctor couple, sought lots of free advice and lots of free stuff from us at that time and many times over many years. I wish I had charged them for all those :-)
Tailpiece: At one time, the doctor gave a prescription that included medicines to cover 31 days. I took that to a drug store. The pharamscist told me that he would only fill the prescription for 30 days. If he were to fill it for 31 days, then he must charge twice my deductible as the prescription would cover more than a month. He asked me to tell the doctor about it as well that he could only write prescription for 30 days and not (even) one day over.
posted by satish at 7:49 PM
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