Sorry to hear, that can’t feel good.
What happened?
I play high level competitive pickleball (yea thats a thing lol). It’s basically my entire life, much of my social circle, and just all around my favorite thing. Was playing in a tournament in June, second time playing Open/Pro (really just top level amateur but some pro adjacent competitors and prize money) since returning from the previous surgeries. Was finally getting back to the level of play I was at in 2019.
I lunged wide to the right chasing a shot, my left leg went out to the side and my hip gave out slightly. I felt the immediate pain of the tear, same exact pain I had before. It’s taken 6 months to get the MRI approved, but I knew in that moment what the result of it was going to be. Followup with the surgeon next week so I’m trying to not get too bummed out until then, but really dreading more surgery and another year of not being able to play/compete. Hoping there is another treatment route or something since there shouldn’t be a bone impingement issue this time, just the labral damage.
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The report criticized Erickson for another faulty hip replacement six months after the first. The surgery had taken place on a Friday, and by Monday the same patient was back on the operating table with a broken hip. Erickson performed a second surgery but something was wrong. An X-ray showed the problem.
Erickson had put the hip in backwards.
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Kasemsap has settled five malpractice cases for a total of $3 million, according to the Florida malpractice payment database. That includes $1 million paid to the Murphy family. In one of the cases Kasemsap settled, a patient said the doctor negligently stapled and stitched her rectum to her vagina. Kasemsap denied doing that, and in legal filings in all five cases, the doctor denied that he was negligent.
Damn
I heard he was also fired from the Human Centipede Project.
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The vagina/rectum thing is easier to do than you might think per the surgeons I’ve worked with. Still bad to do it though.
The backwards hip guy is notorious on Twitter
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It’s actually being denied by ai now if you read the story.
But it’s all about r&d.
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Anybody have any advice for me?
I got a surprise bill for $421 from Penn Medicine on Jan 1st for a visit that happened mid Nov of last year
Basically, my specialist dr allowed me to see them without a referral. They never let me do that for past visits, but for some reason, this time they did. I see a lot of drs unfortunately and always forget to get referrals in ahead of time. I had no idea I didn’t have a referral that specific visit
I spent countless hours over the next two months trying to get this resolved. Today I find out a referral can’t even be backdated now bc it’s been 90 days. Throughout all this time, I have dealt with a lot of what feels like dragging of feet and bad information and also outright lies. I’m infuriated. I’ve been on hold for as long as THREE HOURS just to speak with a supervisor, for example…
I was also told that the specialist office screwed up bc they never should have let me see them without a referral. I have called the office several times for help and info and they neither answer me, nor return any of my voicemails
I have been told a couple of times that the visit itself is not covered by my insurance, but when I call insurance and ask if this type visit (and services provided) is covered and in-network, they do confirm that it IS covered
Penn tells me to call IBX. IBX tells me to call Penn. Specialist won’t even talk to me. I’m just so sick of all this bullshit
It’s only $421. I don’t even care about the money. It’s the principle. It’s supposed to be covered. Every party is effectively telling me I’m screwed and “responsible” for the bill now
Obviously there is no point in paying a lawyer to advise me over a tiny bill or seek legal action? I dunno. I’m just wondering who is legally responsible for the bill in light of what I just revealed and if there’s something I can do about it
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It sounds like your specialist’s office screwed up with the referral and was then was too lazy or incompetent to fix the problem. If the visit/procedure was supposed to be a covered service, then I would tell the specialist that I’d be happy to pay whatever my copay should’ve been, but that’s all I’m paying.
Remind them that it’s against their contract with the insurer to charge you full price for what should’ve been a covered service. If they continue to harass you after that remind them as well about the Federal “No Surprises Act.”
Of course, if you don’t pay them you’ll presumably need to find another specialist group.
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Best system in the world, right? This shit is so, so infuriating. Probably by design to get people to just pay. It’s a full time job being sick in America, spending hours on end trying to get stuff like this resolved.
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I call member services to file an appeal and they tell me the right department is consumer billing. I call consumer billing and they tell me the right department is member services
Honestly what the fuck?
Obviously I spoke with a supervisor to initiate the process. I’m just astounded by this. I can’t tell if these reps really are this dumb or just deliberately making it difficult to resolve an issue, which is literally their job to make easier…
That’s the biggest thing. Even the bill can’t go on your credit report any longer.
Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding!
Super standard for any issue like this. Can’t tell you how many times I’ve played the circular calling game of dr > insurance > billing > dr > insurance etc. Round and round we go. Sometimes it’s helpful to get one of them to conference in the other. If you get them both on the phone at the same time it’s harder for them to pass the buck.
Eta: this may sound super standard but it’s helpful: even though this is rightfully infuriating, try your best to not get angry or aggressive in tone with them. Put them in anposition to help you. “I’ve been trying to get this issue resolved and I’m hoping you are the person that can finally help me wirh that”. These people get yelled at all day long. Be the one person who treats them like a human instead of a cog in the awful machine that is American healthcare, and they will be wayyyy more likely to go out of their way to pull whatever strings they have access to.
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This morning I get a voicemail from someone saying they can help me if I have certain information I have already given them like 100 times regarding the appeal I initiated…
This person does not leave me any number to call back. The number listed that called me is the IBX switchboard
I call the number, tell them what happened, get transferred to member services. I tell member services what happened, get transferred over to consumer billing
The operator of the switchboard, rep at member services, and rep at consumer billing all tell me they don’t have a way to know who called me, nor a number I can call to find out who called me. They also don’t know of any department that would be able to find a record of a phone call made to me this morning. Nobody knows anything. No supervisor is available and I have to wait for a call back. It’s already been over an hour
There is no way this is all not deliberate. Because I couldn’t answer a phone call, I now have to sit here with a thumb up my ass and…Do what, exactly? Wait for another phone call I may not even be able to answer? Will I even receive another call? How am I supposed to give this information requested from the person on the voicemail?
What the hell do people with 5 or 6 figure outstanding bills do? This is literal insanity
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They fight on resolving one issue, then start on the next. Or try to simultaneously. As I’ve said before, it’s a full time job and it sucks so much.
The whole system is garbage. Then we get tiny bandaids that fix nothing instead of a proper healthcare system.
A proper healthcare system doesn’t make big profits for corporations though. Checkmate, lib.
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