Posted on behalf of my colleague, Lora Pabst:
Over the past year, hundreds of you have asked Whistleblower for help. While we can't investigate each tip, we want to share more of what you tell us. In 2009, we started publishing a few tips each week to stimulate online discussion and create ways for our readers to help each other. Unlike our news stories, we have not verified this information, so we do not include the names of the parties involved. If you have a tip, send it to whistleblower@startribune.com.
A Maplewood man wanted his child to see a doctor for her broken pinky, but he wasn't expecting a charge of $600 for the scheduled office visit. During the 5- to 10-minute visit, he said the doctor looked at X-rays and then referred him to a hand specialist.
"Not setting the break — only touching it to see where it hurts," he wrote to Whistleblower. "When I called to get an explanation on the billing, they simply said that it was standard charge for a fracture care. Even though no care was given. Even worse, this shows up on the claim as 'surgery.'"
He thinks the charge is excessive, but he doesn't know what he can do other than pay the bill.
Do you have advice for how to contest inexplicable doctor bills?
