Doctor wants my credit card on file and auth to automatically charge a minimum of up to $100

[Anonymous]

I once went to a dentist who made me pay my portion of the fee at the time of service - except they never got the amount that I owed right. Insurance always seemed to pay an amount different than what they thought. When I was due a credit, they would say they put it back on my "account", with me thinking that it was my credit card account. It wasn't, it was my "account" with their office. They never specified the difference and I only found when I asked about the charges. I stopped going to this dentist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's nothing personal to you, it's a policy the office is undertaking for a variety of reasons. As others have mentioned, a medical office is a small business and they need to pay the bills to keep the office open and keep taking care of patients. With the state of healthcare being what it is, insurances are shifting more costs to the patients. This can be in form of higher deductibles, co-pays, or co-insurance. Insurance companies are putting the onus of collecting whatever contracted reimbursement rates on the medical office.

In an ideal world, insurances will process claims and send an EOB in a timely manner and people would pay their bills in full and on time. Unfortunately, what happens is that it can take weeks (sometimes months) for the insurance to process and by the time a bill gets sent out to the patient, its 4-6 weeks later. Patients hopefully will pay on time but can take weeks to months to pay. In a minority (but not insignificant) number of cases, people just won't pay. Also what can happen is that insurances deny claims based on whatever reason they want to come up with and the the office has to appeal, or patients dispute a claim which can delay bills/payments even more.

All in all - the credit card on file policy is there to streamline collection efforts, just like any other business. People don't give any second thoughts to having their card on file for things like Amazon Prime, Netflix, gym memberships, utilities, cell phone bills, etc etc. But have issues when it comes to their health? It's not a new concept, but it's being utilized in a market where it is hard to break traditional norms and thinking.

Your physician just wants to take care of you and keep you healthy. They do not want to be a bank or lender holding debts which is what the insurance companies are making them do. Unfortunately, with the way the US healthcare system is, patients are becoming "consumers" and are acting and being treated as such. As with any other business, if you do not like the policy you can vote with your feet. This does not make the physician any worse of a healthcare provider. They are just adapting to healthcare economics.

But it’s their business, not mine. Businesses shouldn’t shift risk on to customers. I have no problem paying bills I owe; I do have a problem with getting charged with forced convent.

I think it's absolutely okay to vote on this with your feet, as it were. Switch to a different providing practice.

[Anonymous]

I would give them a card I don’t use often and then close the Accra or get a new card so the old one won’t run. But then again I write my SSN as 123 45 6789 on any medical form.

I am a rebel just looking for a cause!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would give them a card I don’t use often and then close the Accra or get a new card so the old one won’t run. But then again I write my SSN as 123 45 6789 on any medical form.

I am a rebel just looking for a cause!

OP here. The thing is, I’m not opposed to them being able to charge relatively small dollar amounts. I think it would be convenient to pay my copays this way, but I don’t trust when it comes to higher amounts, because I have excellent insurance and the need to charge more than a copay would be exceptional, and potentially a mistake.

[Anonymous]

I left 2 doctors over this recently. Seems many of our family docs switched to Privia, which requires it. Even the doc we go to that has NO copay, NO bill for us ever, in over 6 years (allergy doc, 2 kids go every couple of weeks for shots, plus the yearly serum - all 100% covered!).

We won't go to any doc who signs with Privia.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The following notice was sent out in late Dec; the small-ish group practice (in D.C.) is not private and also participates w our family's insurance. I was shocked and super upset by the expectation, and sincerely did not have a spare $100, and since the fee was not optional was deleted from the practice. Thus, now I don't have a provider and will have to pay a la carte to get my records copied or digitally forwarded.

Thank you for being a part of the __________ family!

As we look forward to 2018 and our continued efforts to provide the highest level of personalized care, we will be implementing an annual Administrative Fee of $100 for all patients of the practice. This fee will include the enhanced services detailed below and is effective as of January 1, 2018.

For your convenience, you may submit a credit card payment here:

PAY HERE

Administrative Services are those services that ______________ performs that are not paid by insurance companies. Typically, these services require considerable time in addition to your routine office visit. For example:

24/7 access to physicians at Bloom OB/GYN
Access to HIPAA compliant patient portal for test results and messaging
Access to on-site blood draws and ultrasound
Calls to insurance companies and HR departments regarding insurance eligibility and billing questions
Resubmitting and appealing denied claims to insurance companies
Coordination of care with specialists/ER doctors, pharmacies, laboratories or radiology departments
Completing medication refill requests without an office visit
Letters to referring providers and for patients
Completing forms for work: disability, immunizations, etc.
Miscellaneous extra time spent on a case by case basis
Excludes FMLA forms and prior authorization

Wow- if I were paying a fee for all of those admin things the offices are so bad at I would expect much better service!

It took me 2 years to get $800 back from a local hospital for my son’s circumcision because they sent in the insurance claim with the wrong gender. My nsuramce reimburswd within 3 months. The hospital billing group would not call me back until I threatened to start joining the maternity ward tours. And then suddenly they found my money.

[Anonymous]

And the whole tour burst into applause.