Little Guy vs Shady Hospital

Hi guys,

I went to the ER. Like most Americans this is a terrifying practice. Have a high deductible of $3.5k.

Anyways I talked to the ladies and they offered me a cash payment option. Where if I paid $607 for the time of the visit , self pay and not include my insurance , then that will be it. She mentioned I would still need to pay the doctors separately, which I later did.

Fast forward months later. My insurance is billed ~$14 k and I owe the hospital that I already paid ~2k.

Called the hospital billing department multiple times. They couldn’t explain where my $607 payment went to. Under investigation. I submitted an inquiry with them.

After months of waiting they are now calling the $607 an entry advance payment/ deposit to self pay. But then again they also billed my insurance and gave me a surprise bill, which I know is illegal in California.

All in all , I wasted way to many time on this. I was talking to my Cigna representative and she said I could file an appeal with Cigna against this hospital.

The hospital billing department was trying to make me scared and told me I would be on the hook for ~$14K if I elected to self pay. All and all it kinda worked, but I feel used and lied to.

I want to fight back. The hospital billing department is super disorganized. When I was on call with them with my Cigna representative, the billing department was just talking in circles. They couldn’t answer any of my questions.

It was super creepy. We were having a three way call, and we explained to the hospital billing guy to get off the line but he stayed on the online to listen to our phone call. Idk how the heck, but I used to be on medical , and somehow they are billing that insurance aswell. When we asked the billing department how they got that insurance they couldn’t answer the question.

Should I file a Cigna appeal against this hospital?

Is there any downside if I file the appeal with Cigna?

Or should I just pay the bill, they are now treating my $607 as a credit towards the ~$2k , so the total I would pay would be around ~1,639 . I have that money , I can do it, but I don’t want to roll over , when they specifically told me at the time of service my total was $607.

What would you do?

submitted by /u/Ameliorating1
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