[QUOTE=Carol@TV;2119552]I do not recommend Premiere Medical Associates! I was charged two co-payments to see Dr. Luis Alvarado in Lady Lake (no exam - just a consultation and then a second one to go over lab work), and then he never followed through with sending in my prescriptions. I called three times to ask about my prescriptions and they never got back to me and now I can't get my co-payments refunded. I ended up having to see another doctor before my prescriptions expired. I've called Premiere Medical Associates asking about refunding the charges, but they insist they were for services rendered. The two 2 minute appointments (which gained me nothing) were an expensive learning experience! I should have had some warning when they required me to make a second appointment just to go over lab work (with all labs in the "normal" range). I've never had a doctor require me to make an appointment to go over normal results. They are in it for the money.[/QUOte
I think you will find that every doctor in this rather corrupt corner of the country maximizes profit by creating opportunities to charge you and your insurance, and whatever else they can get away with. I don't think we've had an appointment yet where I wasn't overcharged. They all seem to assume that PPO means I have to pay anything the insurance won't, regardless of their negotiated rates.
Just last month, I had a procedure at done at Advent hospital in Orlando. My copay was $250. A week later they sent me a bill for another $200. I called and complained that they were in-network and I didn't owe them another dime, and I'd already verified it with Humana. They backed down and said it must have been an "accounting error".
My wife just had a procedure on her eyelids at 'Eyes", which was also covered in-network. They made her come in 3 times for pre-op appointments -- the first just to diagnose the problem, the 2nd for an eye exam (which they filed incorrectly), and then for a $20 "before" picture, taken with an ordinary 35mm-style digital camera. We got hit with the copay for the 1st one, but stuck with the full bill on the other two. Humana told me I only owed them for the $35 copay, regardless of how many times they made her come in for the pre-op stuff. When I called to complain, I got a rash of BS about how the lady had been doing this for 30 years and I didn't know what I was talking about. She wouldn't back down. If they'd done it all in one trip my total would have been $35. Her response was that's what I get for buying crappy insurance like Humana.
You don't even want to get me started on our travails at The Villages Health and United, before we switched to PMA and Humana.
|