Quote Quoting Mr. Knowitall
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I hate hospital bills (and insurance policies), because they are so complex that it is hard to know what is or is not a covered service, what denials result from billing errors or wrongful action by the insurance company, and a lot of the time it seems like staff at a hospital don't even understand their bills or billing practices. If you literally ask, "Is service X covered completely with this single copayment," they may verify that to the best of their understanding and confirm, "Yes." But it may not even occur to them that anybody receiving "Service X" also will require "Service Y", let alone to check to see what the coverage or copayment issues will be with "Service Y".
I think this is what happened, but also I do not think the medical providers really think to inform patients of what is being charged to them because they are busy trying to get the patient well. Which is completely understandable.

The issue is that if you cannot afford the service and it can be treated another way then you get stuck with a bill, threats of collections, ruined credit (if you don't pay), lawsuits, etc.

I just don't think it is fair of a hospital to rack up unknown charges and then act as if a patient knew about it all along. It is not as if most people that use a hospital know how all this stuff works.

It would be like getting your car's transmission repaired and while they were at it they rebuilt the rear end, then charging you for both. We are protected in that case, but not in the case of medical care. Why?