This past July, the weekend of my sister’s wedding, I sliced open the middle finger on my left hand during a cookout we hosted. I was trying to clean bottles off the deck. I had my fingers inside a few of the bottles, to make juggling a half dozen of them easier.
Clank! Two busted in my hand.
Off to the hospital I went to get stitched up. The finger took five stitches that sat implanted in my digit for about 10 days.
When the time came to get them removed, I called my doctor. According to the nurse, they don’t remove stitches. “Call the hospital where you had them put in,” she said. (When I was discharged from said hospital the night of the accident, the surgeon’s instructions were to follow up with my primary. Apparently that wasn’t the case.)
So I told the nurse at my doctor’s office that I was told to call them. Then I asked if the immediate care facilities removed stitches. She assumed so, and provided me with some phone numbers.
I called the WNY Immediate Medical Care on Niagara Falls Boulevard. They do remove stitches, but they don’t make appointments. I would have to come in and wait my turn.
After work one night I stopped by and waited my turn. I paid a $35 co-pay, which at the time, seemed high for a two minute procedure that everyone said I could do myself. They were right, I could have done it myself, but I wanted to have the cut looked at by a professional and make sure there was no infection and that the stitches did the job.
Today everything has healed just fine. I have slight nerve damage, but no visible scar. It’s what I got this week in the mail that leaves me more scared than the finger.
I received a bill from Immediate Care for $150. That, plus my $35 co-pay, is apparently what it costs these days to remove stitches. Again, a five minute procedure at best.
But it wasn’t the cost of the stitch removal that left me irked, it was the fact that I was apparently being billed for the whole procedure. No insurance coverage applied.
After receiving the bill on Monday, I remembered also getting what I thought was a letter we’ve all seen before from your insurance company: the “THIS IS NOT A BILL” bill. The explanation of benefits form that shows you how you were or weren’t covered for your recent medical procedure.
I pulled it out of the file cabinet (luckily it didn’t hit the shredder) and there it was, right on the “bill that’s not a bill” — NOT COVERED: $150.
So at this point I questioned why both Immediate Care and Independent Health figured I owe, since I have insurance. I have good insurance, which I’m thankful for, so I expected this would be covered.
At first glance, I was wrong.
But I called, which many people don’t take time to do. Universally, anyone opening these bills becomes annoyed. Some will call and complain about the cost, some will just pay it and some, like me, will call and question it.
I called Independent Health the same day I got the bill. I waited 30 minutes, but finally got a live body. The woman was nice and the conversation only lasted three minutes, but the gist was that it would be covered, I just had to call and confirm this wasn’t a workers’ compensation case.
Huh? I was dumbfounded.
I told her it wasn’t, that I injured myself at home. She said I “should” have gotten a letter asking if this was a workers’ comp case to determine coverage. I said we didn’t and how I’m very meticulous with the mail, bills, etc.
The next day I had to call the Coordination of Benefits arm of Independent Health and tell them it wasn’t a workers’ comp case. “I broke it on a beer bottle.” I answered, when the woman asked how I injured myself.
“OK, you’re covered. All set,” she said.
Wow.
So had I not called, I would have assumed I owed the $150 and just paid it. Many people probably have paid these unexplained bills. The grand total would have been $185 to have five stitches removed. (The cost is a whole other column).
Ah, health care reform...
Tim Marren is managing editor of the Lockport Union-Sun & Journal. Contact him at tim.marren@ lockportjournal.com, 439-9222 or @timmarren on Twitter.
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Tim Marren / Lockport Union-Sun & Journal Managing Editor
MARREN: Check those medical bills
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This past July, the weekend of my sister’s wedding, I sliced open the middle finger on my left hand during a cookout we hosted. I was trying to clean bottles off the deck. I had my fingers inside a few of the bottles, to make juggling a half dozen of them easier.
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