As you know my wife passed a couple months ago

AZ Jim

AZ Jim

R.I.P. With Us In Spirit Only
Location
SURPRISE, ARIZONA
I am getting all the bills now. Hospital, Ambulance, and Hospice. Today I got one reflecting $1,000 that Medicare won't pay because one of the hospice Drs wasn't her "attending physician"....WTF?
 

Like I stated in my introduction post I lost my husband recently as well as he was a Police Officer and he lost his life in the line of duty. My situation is quite different as all his bills were covered by his medical insurance, but the only thing I can suggest to you is to either yourself write an appeal or have someone you can give all the information to and they can write it for you. Someone with a lawyer background would be good to write the appeal.
 
I didn’t have to pay one cent for anything from Hospice...that’s weird, but I think by the time he was on hospice, he only had the dr from there.
 

Jim,

Do your homework before you pay the bills.

In some states, the bills will need to be paid out of your wife's estate in a specific order up to the value of the estate. Some states exempt portions of funds from life insurance, retirement accounts, etc...

Good luck with this difficult task.
 
These vultures will send out insane bills, hoping people automatically pay any bill they receive - whether it's legitimate or not. I got all kinds of bills after my mother died - most of them were already covered by insurance. The ones that weren't were overcharges. In this economy, they'll try anything. I didn't pay any of them & (of course) they gave up after a few months.

My dad had a pension from Boeing. After he died, Boeing sent me a letter, demanding that I repay them $3,500.00 for "overpayments they claimed I received after my father's death, that I wasn't supposed to receive." I started out being nice to them; I phoned them & explained that I only received 5 checks for $16.00 each that I returned to them after he died. I stopped being nice to them when they kept asking me to repay it. I wrote them one final letter & they never contacted me again.

Remember, just because you get a bill, doesn't mean you have to pay it.
 
Aunt Bea said:
Jim,

Do your homework before you pay the bills.

In some states, the bills will need to be paid out of your wife's estate in a specific order up to the value of the estate. Some states exempt portions of funds from life insurance, retirement accounts, etc...

Good luck with this difficult task.
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My wife had no estate. Every little asset is in a trust for our Grandkids.
 
win231 said:
These vultures will send out insane bills, hoping people automatically pay any bill they receive - whether it's legitimate or not. I got all kinds of bills after my mother died - most of them were already covered by insurance. The ones that weren't were overcharges. In this economy, they'll try anything. I didn't pay any of them & (of course) they gave up after a few months.


Remember, just because you get a bill, doesn't mean you have to pay it.
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Same thing happened to me when my mother died many years back ... medical/hospital/ambulance bills for thousands. I just threw them away, and after a few tries they gave up.
 
RadishRose said:
Often the billing dept is using the wrong codes. Call the Dr. Billing Dept and tell them to resubmit the bill because it was denied.
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I Did that and they are looking into it. The gal I spoke with seemed like she felt the charges were bogus...We'll see...
 
I have been talking with my brother about all the financial things I will soon be dealing with. Hospital, and the rehab center. He wants me to contact him when the bills start coming in. He thinks that for me, here in NY, I may not have to pay, as bills were in his name, and I did not sign off as a guarantor (or whatever). He said they may just write them off and take just what his Medicare paid.
I talked with the funeral director, and will be paying that bill later this week, when my SS check comes. I moved a small amount from my investments into my checking so I will have enough.
Good luck Jim.
 
My (then) mil drank herself to death, leaving her daughter with about $25K in hospital bills. A plan was set up by the hospital for payment, but after she made two payments, and checked out itemized bills, and saw charges like $10 for one Tylenol, my (then) wife stopped all payments. A few months went by and she received a statement with a zero balance. As others have said, these institutions are like so many vultures: They swoop in, at death, and see what the pickings may be. After a short while, if the vultures find that those who are sent bills don't quickly pay them off, no questions asked, they give up and close the case. Stay the course, Jim, and don't pay the many bills you'll soon be receiving, without investigating the same. You really can do that yourself, by contacting each billing entity, and explaining your financial situation to the proper agents. You'll be amazed how most bills will vanish, once the billers find you're not a sucker.
 
As others have said,don't be to quick to pay the bills and question every one of them. This happened when my Mom and Dad passed and I ended up paying little or nothing. Also keep those paid bills for a good long time. A rental company came looking for a wheelchair I had rented through Medicare 3 years after my Moms passing. I still had the bill marked returned and dated a week after she passed.
 
Don't pay rental for wheelchairs, walkers etc. You can buy them relativity inexpensively and donate them when no longer needed cheaper than renting.
 
That is terrible Jim, according to the insurance company
the attending Physician has to wok 24/7 or you have to
wait till he/she comes back on duty.

This is a totally unreasonable attitude.

Mike.
 
AZ Jim said:
I am getting all the bills now. Hospital, Ambulance, and Hospice. Today I got one reflecting $1,000 that Medicare won't pay because one of the hospice Drs wasn't her "attending physician"....WTF?
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My sister had this problem after one of her hospitalizations a few years ago. We fought the charge and won. Did you have a supplement or an Advantage Plan?

Here in NM there are now "rules" about surprise bills because a doctor in a hospital wasn't on your plan.

AND you may want to check with a local law center or other advisor about whether YOU are even on the hook for those bills. And depending on your age, income and general financial situation, the hospital or whoever may not even pursue you or if they do it might not go anywhere. Check your AZ debtor/creditor rules.
 
AZ Jim said:
I got a call this morning from the hospital stating I was all paid up and in the clear. Thank you Jesus....
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I lucked out as I had a walker from when I had my hip replaced 10 years ago. My insurance paid for it in full. I kept it and my husband took over using it last year. Plus we both had canes which were relatively inexpensive. I think my co-pay for mine was $5 and he had a couple from several years ago when he hurt his leg. He bought himself a quad cane for less than $30.

 
AZ Jim said:
I got a call this morning from the hospital stating I was all paid up and in the clear. Thank you Jesus....
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So glad to hear this, Jim! What an awful time to have to deal with straightening out an issue like that. So glad the woman you spoke with sensed something was wrong and acted on it!
 
AnnieA said:
So glad to hear this, Jim! What an awful time to have to deal with straightening out an issue like that. So glad the woman you spoke with sensed something was wrong and acted on it!
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She was very sweet. Sounded like an older gal. Having only SS and a small pension really makes these things important. Just before Detta passed we drained our savings to pay our mortgage so my Granddaughter would have a asset instead of a mortgage payment.
 
Seeker said:
Good News......glad to hear it.
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Yeah. It's tough enough dealing with grief, learning to cook, becoming a housekeeper, on and on is tough enough without these kinds of things....Thank you...
 

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