Double billing is an insanely common problem. How it’s gone for me in the past is like this: Provider wants to do procedure. You need it right away, or the pro

Double billing is an insanely common problem. How it’s gone for me in the past is like this: Provider wants to do procedure. You need it right away, or the procedure allows pre approval with the assumption insurance won’t haggle or deny payment insurance company denies payment provider bills you what i learned is, often, the provider will eventually be paid. do they tell you? not usually. oh woops. I haven’t very successfully fought these other than just hours of phone calls with both companies chasing down what actually got paid and when, and they on purpose make it difficult. If you find yourself in this situation do NOT pay the hospital until the last possible moment it will go to collections. often, you’ll find it mysteriously disappears. it also doesnt hurt your credit very much anyway if it does. There’s no real defense of these practices or of the industry in general as it exists in the USA. anything <$500 now by CA law cant show up on credit report so I basically stopped paying those. unethical? sure. will it affect the quality of my care? probably. sometimes though being a deliberate pain in the ass feels better than letting the system fuck you over and over.