Who Pays: Me or My Health Insurance?

One thing that I will never understand is medical billing. Being that I have leukemia and was poisoned by Cipro, you can only imagine the number of time that I visit a doctor of one sort or another. Of course, I get statements from my insurance company and I often see many, many different codes and explanations of the services rendered. Sometimes it states that there was a fee, but my insurance did not cover the fee, and yet I am not responsible to pay the fee. My question is, then who DOES pay the fee, or is the physician just simply forced to write off his service.

I imagine that this is where medical billing consulting comes into play. I would guess that they would either advise medical professionals of fees that are not legitimate or guide them into billing such fees, so that the insurance companies will cover them. I often think that our medical benefits and services are so confusing and often, unreliable due to the lack of clarity between the physicians, the patients and the insurance companies. It seems that as the patient, we are often left out in the cold due to the lack of clarity between our medical professionals and our insurance companies. The last thing that any of us needs when we are sick or injured is to have to work through tons of red tape with our insurance company in order to be treated. Maybe medical billing consulting should be available to patients, not just doctors. I don’t know, just food for thought!