Appeals court reinstates discrimination case against Ace Parking
Don Bauder 7:49 p.m., May 22
Don Bauder 7:49 p.m., May 22
John T. Griffith 5:14 p.m., May 22
Don Bauder 5:03 p.m., May 22
Liz Swain 12:53 p.m., May 22
© 2013 San Diego Reader. All rights reserved. No part of this site may be reproduced without our written permission.
That's ok, sir, I am authorized to offer a 50% discount
My duaghters ER bill was finally resolved by our consistently and firmly reiterating the AB774 rules and pointing out the difference between Charity Care and Discount. We were re-directed to Administration, who finally directed us (after much prompting from us) back to billing. I don't know if it's ignorance of the law, or whether they are under pressure from their bosses, but they finally responded to us by accepting our first offer (less than 1/3 of the original bill, and about Medicare plus 20%) some 8 months after we made the offer. You have to be very firm, and you can always threaten to report them to Health and Human Services if they insist on not obeying the law. There are form letters for just such complaints on the HHS website. That usually does the trick because their licensing depends on it!! It definitely worked for us! China Cat— September 25, 2010 10:16 a.m.
That's ok, sir, I am authorized to offer a 50% discount
Re AB774: There is a ton of information on the Internet. The bill in the original article was not negotiated in terms of AB774, but was based on a slew of double and incorrect billings, for services that were not provided. We are however currently negotiating another ER bill based on AB774 which clearly states the difference between Discount and Charity. For a Fair Price Discount all that is needed is a statement and proof of income to determine whether a)your income is below the Federal Poverty Level(FPL) or b) your medical out-of-pocket is more than 10% of your income. The hospital we are dealing with also requested savings and bank account statements, something they are basically not allowed to do for a fair price discount. Since we told them this some months ago, we have not heard back. As you say, the hospitals good care is ruined by the predators in the billing departments. And why do doctors all belong to these national organizations that then rent them out to the hospitals adding another layer of expense and complexity, but contributing nothing to your care? As Churchill said "Never, never, never, never give up". Non illegitimes carborundum!(Don't let the b*****ds wear you down)— August 6, 2010 7:08 a.m.
That's ok, sir, I am authorized to offer a 50% discount
To mrsannoymous; Re cover story by Chad Deal; your remarks were so general and vague, it seems you missed the whole point of the story, which is Mary was offered a 50% discount up front the first time she called the hospital billing department. AFTER gross irregularities in the bill had been presented the hospital offered to settle for 6.8% of the original bill. Duh! I wonder why? Also I can assure you, the numbers in the article are real and the fact that hospital billing departments don't seem to, or want to understand California law AB774 is also real. They are only too happy to pretend it doesn't exist or "doesn't apply in this particular case". They do not go out of their way to help "financially strapped" patients. The patients have to find the way, even though AB774 requires the hospital to state what charity care and discounts (2 very separate things) are available. I am still trying to get a copy of a certain hospital's written discount policy after months of first seeing the bill. AB774 requires that the hosital has such a written policy and presents it on request, but it doesn't happen that easily. I'd be glad to answer mrsannoymous if he/she could be more specific.— July 17, 2010 7:15 a.m.