Medicaid Fraud!!

Me | 5-07-2021 | Me

[sit-rep]

I never thought it would happen to me!

April 16th, Kiteboarding at Desoto Beach Florida, I fell and when I stood up Bam!! Stingray Barb right in the bottom of my foot!! The bastard got me good because the water turned Crimson around me almost immediately! I made my way back into the beach, wrapped my foot the best I could, stowed my gear in the van and headed to Palm Medical Center near Treasure Island.

Long story short, I got 2 X-rays on my foot to check for pieces of the Barb, a little saline flush syringe, and the Doc glued the loose skin and filled the hole. Told me no water for 2 weeks... I came home!

Last week I got 2 calls from their billing department. the first was mild, but the second one today, was pushy, trying to get me to sign up for Medicaid to pay for the bill. The first call wouldnt tell me the amount. but told me they would send the bill in the mail. Today's call, told me the amount was $8000 and change... I said are you Bleeping kidding my?? 2 xrays, a plastic syringe douche and glue is 8K???? Her response!?? Well if you sign up for Medicaid, they will pay it no problem!!!

I lost it and told her that I think I'm getting ripped off, and i'll be damned if I'm gonna allow you to rip of the Tax payers!!

Now granted, 8K isnt jack in the medical field. but its just the friggin point... How determined the girls were to get me to sign up to pay the bill... friggin Crazt!!

so, I think its a clear case of fraud... who do I lay this on for the best results??

[sit-rep]

lol... what a dork. like that analogy is anywhere remotely close to what I just said to you. If you cant answer the question, just sit down and stfu... quit wasting both our times.

[JohnBrowdie]

nice try, but you needn’t be a lawyer to know that someone who acquired goods or services with the intention of not paying for those good or services is committing theft.

[JohnBrowdie]

it is PRECISELY the same thing.

and the guy who wasted his time was the poor ER doctor that put your foot back together.

I answered your retarded question a half a dozen times. you just didn’t like the answer.

[Rebelbase]

A friend sliced his finger a couple of years ago and went to the emergency room. An Xray and nine stitches later his bill was $2000.

[familyop]

Hey, if he’s judgement proof (in re. bankruptcy law), that’s part of the system, too. ;D

[Little humor there.]

So President Trump did sign the order that I mentioned and did so in 2017.

President Trump Signs Executive Order That Will Allow Sale of Health Insurance Across State Lines
Order will ‘create a truly competitive national marketplace, bring costs down’
https://freebeacon.com/issues/president-trump-signs-executive-order-will-allow-sale-health-insurance-across-state-lines/

But it’s probably bogged down in at least three departments of the Biden Administration now. And this in 2020...

Trump unveils health care plan, signs order protecting pre-existing conditions
https://nypost.com/2020/09/24/trump-unveils-health-care-plan-signs-order-protecting-preexisting-conditions/

Is any of that information helpful, yet? I don’t know, but we need to keep on trying.

[sit-rep]

had I known moron, those goods and services would have been 8K. I WOULD HAVE NOT acquired said services... but youre too stupid to understand such a thing. youre good with one entity deliberately screwing someone.

I'll leave it at that...

[sit-rep]

yep... it has happened with me as well. paid them on the spot. but not times like this one though.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

OK, first if you sign up for Medicare they will not cover this bill. So the girls were probably trying to help you not harm you. But they were not being accurate.

Second the medical price is set in a way that is very complicated. There is one price technically but they do various discounts depending on your insurance. That is because the insurance companies pay the participating hospital a set rate every month no matter if you get treated or not.

In some ways insurance is spreading out the costs by doing this. It is not actually a bad idea. It gives a small but steady income to the medical facility and when they do treat you your bill is lowered.

You should have told the hospital that you are a cash patient. They could have charged you then and there. You would have gotten a major price cut on your bill because you are reducing the billing work load. Mostly a bill is coded, submitted, denied, corrected, resubmitted, disputed, reworked, resubmitted.... you get the picture. A year later they get paid. Cash does away with that so they are willing usually to cut your bill by about 2/3 if not more. So next time tell them you are a cash patient and will be paying then and there.

But that is for future reference.

Now what you need to do is contact the hospital and tell them you are a cash patient and you want to negotiate your bill.

The bill will probably be cut in half if you can pay right now.

Not your best price but much less hassle and headache all around.

[Just mythoughts]

Ah...obviously since I am not trained in the means and methods of the law, I read something totally different in the initial post... the poster was contacted apparently by the billing department of the facility where services were rendered.. two times... seems there is a complete disregard of what the billing department was attempting...

[mdmathis6]

Key negotiating point”They’re ok with me signing up for medicaid and letting the Hospital recieve... as someone above stated, about $400 for the 8K bill.”

So when you speak to them again, if you do, bring up the point about the office folks asking you to sign up for medicaid. Ask them how much of the 8000 dollars medicaid would actually pay. If they give you a figure...say 900 dollars, tell them you’ll certainly agree to pay that amount and much faster than medicaid will write the same check for. It will keep your credit rating intact.

My daughter had to do the same sort of deal with a local hospital(she had no insurance at the time) where the bill was way beyond what she could afford. They offered her a bill at the amount that state medicaid would remit had she had medicaid in the first place...1400 dollars of a “53000 dollar” treatment bill. 1400 dollars! She went on a payment plan and paid it off.

[JohnBrowdie]

your foot was rotting off. you didn’t give a snit what it was going to cost, because you knew you weren’t going to pay it in the first place. you have said in this thread that you have intentionally defaulted on your medical bills for years — despite the fact that you could apparently afford to pay them, and EASILY afford health insurance. that it is standard procedure for you. you’ve apparently been running this scam in multiple states for years.

these were your words, not mine.

[gas_dr]

It’s ok. You are happy to shaft someone while skeins sure you have 10k in toys and plenty of vacation. But you don’t want to pay for your essentials. You are a child. And how dare yoh ask if I am real doctor. Yes. I frequently get shafted by people like you who think you are entitled to my work.

See my original post explaining why it is. You are the problem. Next time you see bleeding go find someone else to take care of you. Instead of demanding the best case and bragging about stiffing people.

You are disgusting.

[mdmathis6]

Yeah I ran into situation once where my insurance co pay for my son for a procedure was going to be 1000 dollars for a 20000 dollar bill that would be submitted to Insurance but they would accept 500 dollars from me cash and write off the rest.(Insurance would have only given them about 3500 anyway as they would have to write off per contract much of the rest of it. The 1000 dollars I would have to pay was because I hadn’t met the full insurance deductible yet) It also tells me something about the true cost for certain procedures since there is no way hospitals can charge less than break even costs and still remain afloat.

[Svartalfiar]

You were not overcharged. That is the market value exactly because assholes like you stick the system with unpaid bills. You are the reason that number exists.

Hm, well according to this guy (and several other quick sites), an average foot xray should cost <$200. A bag of saline costs ~$1, but for someone to administer it, bump that to $100, if it's a cheap hospital ($600-700 for an even worse one!). Stitches? Maybe another $100. Local anesthetic? Perhaps $2-300.

Overall a total actual cost of less than a thousand. Double that for "reasonable" doctor/nurse labor of 10-30 minutes, and there's a still-overcharged total of maybe $2000. That he was then billed $8000 for.

[JohnBrowdie]

He got his foot opened up by a sting ray badly enough that it turned the water “crimson” around him. I don’t have any more confidence in the accuracy of his rendition of the actual medical services that were administered than I do in his business ethics.

[alexander_busek]

Sit-rep needed emergency service and found himself locked into a rigged market. His response is perfectly legitimate. When you're forced to play in a crooked game there ain't no such thing as cheating.

Forced?!

Who forced sit-rep to purchase $10,000 worth of sporting equipment, fly to Florida, and engage in a risky activity?

Who forced him to not get insured?

Regards,

[an amused spectator]

your foot was rotting off.

No, it wasn't, Drama Queen.

[SeeSharp]

Its because you do not understand the law. There can only be a single charge, which is subject to complete care of everyone — so this is the market at work under onerous regulations. Get educated before commenting. Had this person actually spent a little money on insurance, there would not be this problem. But I bet his sport of choice has expensive boards and things in order to play — but he wants to pass his costs on to everyone else.

You clearly have no idea what a market is, let alone how markets work. He is not trying to pass his cost on to everyone else. The government and the hospital are trying to pass the cost of non-payers on to him. Or do you actually think an x-ray and a band-aid cost eight grand?

[zeestephen]

Re: Wrong state

I thought the Supreme Court overturned Obamacare?

More specifically, I thought the federal government was no longer obligated to pay a share of the Medicaid premiums for able-bodied adults.

Anyway, roughly 40% of the people in the 18-64 age bracket are not employed, so that is one giant budget nut to crack in a state legislature each year.

[zeestephen]

Re: "Or, do you actually think an x-ray and a band-aid cost eight grand?"

Besides the cost of people who do not pay, ERs must be fully staffed and fully provisioned 24-7 for dozens of different medical emergencies.

Same story with EMTs.

Ambulance transport here in King County (Seattle) costs like $870 a ride!