Why I Paid My Medical Bill With 40,000+ Pennies

PART ONE - REASONING AND LOGISTICS

$400.00 is a lot of pennies.  It is, actually, 40,000 pennies.  (For those of you not up on math, that's a lot of pennies.)

At approximately $1.81, or 181 pennies, to a pound (http://www.parkpennies.com/penny/penny.htm), that comes out to 223.75 lbs worth of pennies, not counting the weight of the boxes and rolls that they come in.

When you're obtaining them, they're inconvenient to acquire and transport (freakin' heavy!) and, subsequently, count, securely hold, transport, and turn-in if you are on the receiving end.  People stare at you, security guards stand around and repeat codes into their walkie-talkies, and the person at the cashier's desk calls their supervisor who then tries everything they possibly can to get you to leave without a waiver while still dragging your pennies back out the door with you.

So, why then, if it's really all that hassle, would a neurotic confrontation-phobic person like me, do such a thing?

In short? Because as an American citizen I have the right, and in this case, the duty of exercising peaceful protest.

The full story?

Back in October, I went for a medical procedure at an unnamed medical facility - we'll call them Kan't-Kount-ser.  While I have always had excellent service from the doctors, nurses, and other medical staff, I have in the past had abysmal service from their billing department.  As such, I called beforehand to get an estimate of the cost.  I received my estimate for $379, went in, and went to pay up front.  I was told that the service was apparently covered, and received a receipt for a $0.00 balance.  A few weeks later, after the procedure, I received a bill for $405.  I called in, wishing to file a grievance, was told to wait for the paperwork, and did so.  I was not sent the paperwork, instead, a generic grievance was filed for me, and I received notification that I would have to have paperwork turned in and received by a particular date (only a few days from receiving this notice in the mail) in order for it to be considered.

This is what I sent them.

"On August 31, 2011, I (my name) visited the South San Francisco (removed) Medical Center to see my neurologist, and was referred to have an EEG run.  Having had previous issues with the (removed) billing system and having received misinformation prior, I this time placed a call in to (removed) Member Services (1-800-464-4000) and was directed to speak with a deductible plan service representative to ascertain that I received the correct information for my personal medical coverage.  On September 7, 2011, at 6:25 PM, I spent several minutes on the phone and spoke to a gentleman who – given my name, birthdate, and medical record number –  informed me that with my coverage, my personally incurred cost for having an EEG run would come to a total of $379.00.

On the morning of October 18, 2011, I reported to the South San Francisco (removed) Medical Center facility, and was directed to the appropriate area for check in – the check in station near the actual EEG room was closed, and as such I was directed to the check in station to the left of the elevators (as you exit them).  When I checked in at this station, I told the lady at the desk that if possible, I would like to pay for the scan up front (given my past experience with billing).  She said that this would be fine, entered something into the computer, and then the lady told me that there would be no charge, and that the visit and scan would come to a $0.00 balance.  Indeed, when she printed up my and handed me my copy, the balance came to $0.00.  While I was much surprised, I said thank you, and proceeded to have my EEG run.

Today, November 5, 2011, I received a bill in the mail for $405.00.

I have now been given three completely different amounts, by three different (removed) employees (all of whom  would presumably have access to the amount owed), and the one that is on the billing statement that I received is higher than even the original amount that I was quoted by one of your own representatives working in the department.

This is the second consecutive time in which I have received significantly higher charges after a medical procedure than I was quoted beforehand, after I have gone above and beyond in practicing due diligence in attempting to ascertain the accurate cost of the procedure significantly prior to the date of said procedure.  In both cases, (removed) employees are the ones who have provided me with misinformation which has affected not only the services I elected to have, but also caused emotional distress, disturbance in my life by requiring that I spend time and energy to correct someone else’s mistake, and disrupted the timeframe and manner in which I pay for services rendered, which in turn affects the spending that I can do on a day to day basis to meet my basic needs, such as rent and groceries.

This is the second consecutive time that this has occurred, and due to the amount of time and effort that I have had to again put into this to get this resolved, I feel that the acceptable conclusion is for (removed) to absorb the cost of the procedure, and implement some sort of training or communication program to get things flat between their departments so that situations like this do not arise in the future."

No one confirmed that they had received my information - after multiple phone calls and voicemails which eventually culminated in me telling them that if they were unable to get back to me, the next call would be from legal representation, someone finally (a few weeks after this was to be sent in) confirmed that they had received it.

Shortly afterward, I received a claim denial notice.  Alright, frustrating, but really, what can you do?  That was, until I looked at the reason for denial. It was, "“The specific reason for this decision is that your request is not a covered benefit.”

Argggg!!!

...How does that address anything at all? Completely irrelevant.  I appealed it, with the following letter:

"To Whom It May Concern:

My name is (removed), Medical Record Number (removed). I recently received a denial of my claim, with the statement that, “The specific reason for this decision is that your request is not a covered benefit.” This reason does nothing to address the initial complaint based on the failings of the employees of (removed); I called  (removed)  Member Services to find out what the procedure would cost – I was told that the total would come to $379.00.  I went to pay this balance on the date of the procedure, was told that there would be no bill, and received a receipt for a $0.00 balance (I still have this receipt). I then later received a bill in the mail for $405.00, which is above even the originally stated cost of the procedure.

Not only is this the this is the second consecutive time in which I have received significantly higher charges after a medical procedure than I was quoted beforehand, after I have gone above and beyond in practicing due diligence in attempting to ascertain the accurate cost of the procedure significantly prior to the date of said procedure, but in both cases,  (removed)  employees are the ones who have provided me with such misinformation. 

In addition, it took me two weeks and in excess of seven phone calls and/or voicemails to receive confirmation that my fax (required within two days of receiving notice that a grievance had been filed) had been received.

I have included the original fax which I sent over, which includes dates, times, phone numbers, and the original cause of my filing a grievance, which is that the failings of (removed) employees have resulted in this billing.  I still have my receipt from when I went to pay that says I have a $0.00 balance.

This is the second consecutive time that this has occurred, and due to the amount of time and effort that I have had to again put into this to get this resolved, I feel that the acceptable conclusion is for (removed) to absorb the cost of the procedure, and implement some sort of training or communication program to get things flat between their departments so that situations like this do not arise in the future."

In addition, I placed a call in to fax them over my receipt for the $0.00 balance.  I spoke with a lady there, whose name I am withholding, who told me that (quote), "You can send the copy of the receipt over, and it's unlikely to make any difference in the final decision."

...What???  If I walked in to Walgreens, purchased an item for $1.99, got my receipt and left, they couldn't very well come knocking at my door a month later telling me they messed up and it's actually going to cost me another $8.01.

I sent the receipt over.  

My appeal was once again denied.

Double Argggg!!!

After speaking to a friend of mine in the legal field about possibly taking them to small claims court, I was told that while what they were doing was totally ridiculous, if they wanted to contest it, they would probably come up with some excuse and tell the court that I was 'billed in a timely manner', and that I would probably end up having to pay them any way.

TRIPLE ARGGGG!!!

I went online, attempting to soothe my frustrations by looking up the laws about paying with pennies, and, really, not having any intention of doing so.

What I found, basically, was that - so long as a company accepts payment in US currency, and does not have a specific policy stating that they do not take pennies as payment - you can pay with pennies.  For more information on the specifics, go here: http://www.snopes.com/business/money/pennies.asp

The more I thought about it, the more suitable this solution seemed to become.  Having exhausted every other avenue to have this matter resolved differently, I was tired of not being heard.  Worse than that, I was tired of being told that while they had made the mistake, I was going to have to deal with it, and without any form of apology.

Stepping on people simply because you can is, in my book, absolutely unacceptable.

I looked up the results of people paying their fines in pennies, and, for the most part, it had worked out in their favor.  The times it had not worked out, it was because it had been ruled disorderly conduct.

Disorderly conduct?

Alright, I'll keep it orderly.

First, I called my bank and found out how long it would take to get $400 in pennies.

While I was originally told that it would take them a few weeks because the couriers would not transport that much coinage at a time due to the bulk, the bank manager asked me what I wanted them for, and I explained.  When he told the couriers what was going on, they got everything shipped over within a week, and passed along the message to, "Give them hell!"

Then, I called to find out where I could take a cash payment that was local to me.  I double and triple checked, making sure that they would handle cash payments, and getting the names of the people that told me this, and the times that we had spoken.

Finally, I picked up my pennies, and took them over.