Hubby and I are dealing with some infertility issues, and we’ve found out that the problem is that Hubby has low sperm. So he made an appointment with the urologist to find out why.
Hubby gets to the Doctor’s office and is put in a room. Dr. comes rushing in and apologizes, but he had some emergencies that morning and was running late. No big deal. So hubby drops his drawers and Dr. feels him up. Naughty bits look fine. Then he says he’s going to need some blood work anyway and he should come back in 2 weeks and they will talk more then.
We had to pay a $25 copay. Less than 3 minutes - no talking - just the inspection and reschedule. Do we really have to pay for this? C’mon - that’s our whole week’s spending allowance!
It didn’t bother us that the Dr. was busy. I wouldn’t have bothered us to just get the bloodwork papers and reschedule the exam. But I’m a little irritated that we had to pay $25 just for the Dr. to tell hubby that his balls are normal and we should come back later.
Can I get this back? Who would I talk to about this?
The factual answer to your questions are yes, you can ask for the copay to be waived and the person you would speak with would be whoever does the billing for the doctor. You can always ask, and they can always say no.
Now for the IMHO portion. Leaving aside for the moment the wisdom of planning to have a child when financially you’re in a position that $25 is your spending money for a week, is the doctor planning on charging another fee for the rescheduled appointment? If not then pay this copay. Chargin for both appoinments seems unreasonable.
Just to clarify, we’re on a very tight budget right now so we can pay off as much debt and save as much as we possibly can before we have a child. After that, our financial status will definitely change. We are not financially destitute. :rolleyes:
That aside, I’m not sure if we will be charged next time for a copay. It’s a pretty large clinic, and I thought we just had to pay a copay every time - no matter what. I will ask though.
Wow, that’s the part that jumped out at me too. I’m not all that familiar with the process, but I’ve heard the stories of people spending thousands out of pocket to get over fertility issues, how is that going to affect the $25 spending money?
And although it was 20 years ago, even then, $25 wouldn’t have gotten us through half a week of diapers alone, never mind all the other things a baby spends your money on.
It sounds to me as if one inspiration for your annoyance is that the doctor only spent 3 minutes with you, and you paid $25. Don’t think of it as an hourly rate. You’re also paying for all the time spent and knowledge accumulated during med school, plus the experience of knowing what to do during those 3 minutes and what it means.
No, I’m saying that the number of minutes may be irrelevant. It’s knowing what to do and what to look for in whatever number of minutes that’s important.
Anecdote: Years ago I went to a medical practice that was associated with a local hospital. The doctor I drew for diagnosis and treatment of a sinus infection must have been about 5 minutes out of medical school. It took him an inordinate amount of time to determine what the problem was. He kept having to leave the room, to “consult with his colleagues.” Seemed to me as if he were looking things up or asking someone “Now, what do I do?” In comparison, my current doctor is more thorough but takes less time. No way was the first doctor worth more even though he spent more time.
Obviously it’s possible for a doctor to take too little time, or to be too rushed to do a good job, to have poor interpersonal skills, not explain things thorughly, and/or to generally feel like you’re nothing more than a widget on an assembly line. In the case of the OP, I wasn’t there and have no idea whether any or all of these things may be true.
All kinds of trades and professions charge a flat rate just to walk in the door, or to have them walk into yours.
If I have a humidifier problem, and the HVAC guy comes in, finds a switch I didn’t throw and walks back out, I still expect to have to pay him a certain amount.
It’s the cost of their doing business. When you made the appt. with the doctor may not have been able to anticipate if only needed to give hubby a quick feel, or do more. They plan their appointments accordingly. You took a slot, you pay the rate for that slot. I’ve had 5 minute visits with my physician and 45 minute visits - what I pay for the office visit is the same each time.
They may be under a contractual obligation with your insurer to collect or attempt to collect the co-pay. I’ve actually been told that my provider was prohibited from charging the “covered” rate when it turned out that my wife’s doctor’s visit was for a CONSULATION with her GP regarding a non-covered surgery to be performed by a specialist.
Normally I dig my heels in and make myself a nuisance until I get this kind of issue waived… perhaps escalating to the head doctor in charge or sending a settlement letter followed two weeks later by a check with a restrictive endorsement on it, but the difference was $13.75, so I coughed it up.