What? You only got charged for one hour. Not that it took me an hour, but I scheduled your response for an hour in case it actually took an hour. I may have left the computer for a few minutes... or thirty, but still, you had that whole hour to yourself.
Nope, just blood pressure twice. Once right away, and once a few minutes later to make sure I was calming down (I was).
That's why I mentioned that they only took my blood pressure. They weren't keeping track of my vitals. (They might've for the woman who ran into me, since she was on a gurney in the same vehicle.)
Well, your blood pressure is one of he readings they take when they are taking your vitals. They could also do your respiratory rate, and you may not have noticed them taking it.
Yeah, they did threaten my credit, but I threatened to hang up if they so much as brought up me paying again, and it seemed to work. The guy on the phone did tell me that me paying for it was the best way to deal with the situation for everyone involved, though. That didn't make me happy, either.
My girlfriend works for an insurance company for the elderly. You would be amazed, or probably not, how often balance billing happens. Doctor offices are constantly doing it. Dentists are notoriously bad with that stuff down here. The companies also figure that the elderly won't put up a fight and will be intimidated easily. The collections people always say the best thing is for you to just pay it off. It's he best thing for them. My girlfriend told me of a doctor's office that had done that to a lot of the members at her company. The last complaint was for a decent amount of money. They kept trying to charge the member, even after the insurance company had cleared things up. The complaint escalated, and the doctor was kicked out of the insurance. This is a Human company, and the are huge. That doctor lost a crapton of money. The member didn't have to pay anything, and the doctor got screwed with other stuff. Balance billing being illegal and all, there are other consequences for doctors when it is proven that they have done it on purpose.
Next time they call you, if they call you, tell them that as of 2008,
balance billing is illegal in the state of California and you're going to put their ass in a sling.
By the way, that'll be another $150. I know what you're thinking, but I don't accept insurance. It's all private pay.