OP probably wanted to stiff inova and is upset they prevented it. |
I have been doing this for years at Children’s. |
Working from home may be good for current experienced employees but it is terrible for future or junior employees. I suppose if you don't care about the future of any company, firm, or agency, then you can oppose RTW. Same for hospitals. If you don't care about having a hospital and doctors in the coming years, then you can oppose paying them. |
I don't mind paying my co-payment up-front and do this regularly. However, Inova is on the aggressive side for payments.
Don't forget they're left holding the bag on people who show up for medical care and skip town without paying their hospital bills. This is especially true with migrants. Hospitals like Inova are nonprofit, but they do have to cover their expenses. I think this is why they're so aggressive about collecting bills. They've tried skipping the insurance and intimidating me into paying the full amount. I've spent time on the phone telling them I ain't paying nothing more than what the insurance tells me is my share of the bill. |
There are a lot of things that are outrageous about our healthcare system. Paying what you owe at the time you get service/treatment is not one of them IMO. |
But a lot of the times it's not what you owe it's an estimate of what you owe because they haven't processed the claim. And then you're overpaying for a service they're making money off of it and you're out money for 30 to 60 days while the claim gets processed and don't get me started on how long it takes for them to write you a check to refund the amount owed. |
I was with you until you assumed someone who can’t pay a medical bill is a deadbeat. Medical expenses are the number 1 reason for bankruptcy. And it’s the not very poor (at least at Inova) getting screwed bc the very poor (no matter legal status) can have their bills written off. But the MC who “makes too much money” but can’t shell out thousands and thousands for a bill? Sucks to be them. |
Then you clearly need to find somewhere else to go. I was refunded money in 2 weeks after a claim was processed. I don't care one bit that they had $500 of my money for however long it took to process. That's the cost of doing business with them. And let's be honest, you we're going to invest that money you had to pay upfront anyway. Don't like it? Find a different facility that bills differently. You have choices. Make a different one. |
Huh. Maybe they ought to talk to Congress - because the health insurers ARE making a killing. |
You are not good at math. |
Both husband and I were at Inova for two separate MRIs a couple of months ago. Both of us received an estimated prepayment amount which we ignored and told them to bill insurance. No one forced us to prepay, and insurance covered everything. No copay was necessary at the end. |
I recently had surgery at inova. I was similarly shocked to receive a phone call asking if I wanted to pay ahead of time. They definitely made it sound like if I didn’t do it, they *could* charge a lot of extras down the line, but if I prepaid, I was guaranteed a price. I declined bc I wasn’t paying until I knew the operation was happening; also, their *estimate* was incorrect bc I had unprocessed claims that went toward my deductible, so I actually owed $1k less. Would not recommend. That said, will foto ink a Fairfax any day over other local hospitals |
This is normal for plans with deductibles |
That said, I have Tricare prime and they have never asked for money from me because it's $0 always for Tricare. |
I’ve prepaid several times for surgeries and to have a baby. I thought it was strange each time, but I guess it’s no skin off my nose, ultimately. |