Question by tired doc: Insurance company sent my patient a cheque instead of me and now he won’t pay. How can I collect it?
I am a physician. A patient was grateful and told others how I saved his life. His insurance company however sent him the check which he has cashed and is not paying me. Sending collection notices is not helping and the amount is not huge , it is about $ 300.00. How can I get him to pay ?
Best answer:
Answer by S S
bluff him tell him the insurance co. is investigating him act like ur warning him and tell him insurance fraud is serious he’ll do 25 years.
What do you think? Answer below!
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You send it through your medical collections office, and let them worry about it.
Surely, he can’t be the first patient that stiffed you for your fee??
All doctors offices have a medical collections outfit that they work with.
Granted the $ 300 is not a lot, but you have to earn a living.
Sending to collections, you will pay again and no guarantee they will collect.
I have never heard of an insurance company sending a check to the patient vs the provider, unless this is auto insurance paid under their medical payment coverage and/or PIP. If so, and the costs of the treatment exceed their coverage, the adjuster will just issue the check to the policyholder and let them pay all of their bills out of that payment since the coverage was max and then let the patient decide how they want to use on any outstanding bills. But many times, they take the money and run and think they get lucky that the insurance screwed up. I know many adjusters that do this, but I always would pay the provider and then send letters stating the coverage was exhausted, just for that reason.
If on the other hand this was health insurance, I would call the company and complain, since I have never seen this happen.
The only other option would be to notify your receptionist/employees if that patient calls back for another appointment, that you will not see till he makes arrangement to clear his bill, so then he would have to see another doctor who would have to deal with any unpaid bills he might accumulate.
Sometimes its not the amount, but the principle. At this point if this guy would agree to $ 5 a month, might make you feel better.
good luck