Frustrated!!!! and need to VENT

Well let me say that I was approved for RNY.  That's great.... Until I get the call from the Surgeons office.  They called to schedule my surgery and I missed the call, so I returned the call.  I asked to speak with the woman who had called me. 

Well this is where it goes from great to WTH.  She gets on the phone and says I'm sorry, but we can't schedule your surgery because I have a bill that needs to be taken care of first.  She goes on to say that she can connect me to the finance lady to get this taken care of.  This lady said I have to pay 252.00 for a bill from 2004.  My heart sank and felt like I was dying inside.  I have done all this to hit a road block at this point.  I told my DH what was said, and he said that he would pay it next thursday.  When I take the payment to them, the finance lady said I would then talk to the scheduler to set my appointment to meet the surgeon and get my surgery date.  I already started my liquid diet hoping that I get my date soon after meeting with the surgeon.  Thanks for letting me vent, I feel a little better. Please pray for me...  
 

Wow that really sucks

Just an OT related piece of advice b/c my mom just got screwed - sometimes when there are bills outstanding for long periods of time, they usually get sent to collections, but the creditor still tries to collect from you (and your subsequent payment would be pretty useless). My mom just paid a random fee to the bank just to find out it was in collections and killing her credit. Sorry for the unsolicited advice, but I would have thought you would have been told about a 2004 bill long before trying to schedule surgery...

With my insurance, I pay a percentage of whatever the approved amount is rather than a straight co-pay... so there is no way to know when I go IN to an office visit how much my portion fo it wwill be since it depends on how much time the doctor spends with me.... so I just have to wait for the EOB from insurance and then send them a payment.  I had a period of time where i went in every couple of weeks to have my surgeon check some incision issues.  The office my surgeon was with when I had my surgery would call you a day or two before your upcoming appointment and even if you had an outstanding amount of less than $5 -- yes, seriously -- the person on the phone would (rudely... as if you were the biggest deadbeat on the planet!) ask when you planned to take care of it, and when you said "when i come in on Thursday for my next appointment" she would tell you that you had to pay the FULL amount due ({sarcasm on} gee, ALL $4.72 at one time?!?!?! {sarcasm off}) or you would not be allowed to see the doctor!  Seriously?!?  For a bill for less than $5 that I just got from the insurance company a week ago?!? {grr..}  It would be one thing If I owed $500, but... oh.... it STILL ****** me off, LOL!

Lora

Just curious why you owed $252 from 2004?  Was it a bill for treatment you in 2004 and you hadn't paid it? 

It is when I had my gallbladder removed,  but I never recieved any other bill from them saying I that I owe them.

I can relate to that.. When I was getting scheduled for surgery they told me I had to pay a certain amount due to my deductible. Now keep in mind I had two insurance so I know that I didn't but I wanted my date. Well paid that had the surgery then they said that I had a refund coming. Never got that and I was the one who helped them get the bill paid. It took them almost  a year and a half to get this bill paid. Since I do physician billing I knew exactly what the insurance was looking for .. But never got my money back. SOB... But hey at least I lost the weight and seemed to be able to keep it off... so all was not lost in love n war...lol