$99,750 Bill For An Ear Wax Removal
Really? I am all for physician-owned surgical centers but ridiculous bills like this make me sick. Nothing but greed and they make us all look bad. That is not what competition and capitalism is all about. Now Aetna is going to court to fight over what constitutes fair health care bills. Why do we need to give these insurance companies more ammo? You idiots!
Harumph! I’ve removed hundreds of cerumen impactions, so I want my piece of this action! Heck….I’ll settle for 10% of 99,000!!
Cripes!
Yep, the epidemic of lust for power and money continues to infect many in the private sector, be they “physicians” or big insurance.
Sad, but true. The only surprise is how long it took for Aetna and the other insurance companies to recognize and challenge it. Even if it is “legal,” it certainly is not ethical.
Another article about the suit, mentions the money being thrown at the surgeons, too.
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_20770571/south-bay-surgery-clinics-overbilled-insurance-giant-claims?IADID=Search-www.mercurynews.com-www.mercurynews.com
We’re seeing more and more self-referral abuse especially among the so-called In-Office Ancillary Service Exceptions such as Pathology, Imaging, and Radiation Rx. These set-ups are giving honest endeavors a bad name and this practice hurting all of us in many ways.
cerumen labs are not cheap to run.
LOL
Husband had a sprained ankle a couple of years ago. Went to the ortho & he was generous with the pain meds (refused…since husband like to be functional mentally), but never looked at or manipulated the ankle. I asked him to take a look & he reluctantly bent over & touched the ankle with his index finger. We were billed >$900 for “in office surgery”. I disputed it, and the office response was “Your insurance company paid it. Why worry about it?”. Rising health care costs? They’ll continue, as long as this stuff continues and insurance companies pay without question. (BTW, I asked for a copy of MD notes & there were none.)
Why do I think that was a misprint?