Is this a scam?

As you all probably know I’m sick to death of California. So I’m looking in a small paper in Washington and saw this ad:
[qoute]MEDICAL BILLING No exp nec, Will train, FT/PT, Computer Required, Up to $40-$50/hr DOE (888)-[snip], Dept 415
[/quote]

Scam? Sounds like it.

ANY ad that claims to pay 40-50$ per hour with no experience is a clear scam. Most likely, the pay scale refers to what you could be making if you enjoyed an unachievable level of success.

It’s the type of ad that’s not even worth reading to the end of.

“If it sounds to good to be true, it probably is.”

Old truths are still around for a good reason.

Old misspellings are still around for a reason, too.

too good to be true
too good to be true

Disclaimer: Not every “medical billing” or similar opportunity is a scam (however most of them probably are).

Two good pages on medical billing/transcription scams:

Friends In Business - Work At Home Scams

Crimes of Persuasion - Fraudulent Medical Billing Opportunities

These sites should give you an idea of how to tell if you’re looking at a scam.

I remember hearing 'bout this scam but don’t rmember the details. Probabally some $ is needed up front. Basically no medical company is going to hire an at home worker with no experence to work on such complex forms (considering insurance)

Sometimes it isn’t exactly a scam as such, but just a grabber for a school or training course where they will train you to do medical billing, for a fee of course, and when you’re done you might be able to pull down $40 an hour. But they’re not going to tell you all this in the ad.

My Mother ran a medical billing business for a number of years and you’re not going to make that kind of money no matter how good you are. She managed to turn a modest profit after the first few years but that was with a silent partner and several employees. It’s a tedious business and dealing with insurance companies caused my dear old mum to use untoward language on more than one occasion.

You might be able to eke out a living doing such work at home but you sure won’t get rich. And you probably will owe quite a bit to the person/people who “train” you.

There was just a big news show about this, I forgot where, CBS I think. They hook you up with an lease for expensive software, and a list of names of doctors in your area. Except none of them need billing services, and you can’t back out of the lease. Yep, there are major scammers in this field.

Here’s the FTC’s on medical billing “schemes”.

FWIW, I’ve actually made some spare cash in the past doing legitimate insurance paperwork from home- such busineses do exist legitimately. However, I was working for someone who I knew was an established professional - I’d never trust the claims of someone advertising across the page from the “nude housecleaning” ads. I also agree that the numbers you quote are way out of line, especially without the context of hours worked.

Chas.E that’s the part I couldn’t remember you have to get the expensive software.

Doctors get paid by filling in a universal form and sending it to the insurance companies. For about 10 years now you can also fill it in electronically.

A big clinic hires it’s own personel and trains them. A small doctor’s office may train it’s receptionist to do the billing when he/she is not answering the phone. Either way it’s a lot cheaper than hiring someone at $40/50 a hour to do it. Some companies that doing billing charge a percentage of the bill or a charge per bill, and that includes calling up and heckling the insurance company to pay up.

It’s like mowing your lawn. You can hire someone at $40/50 to cut your grass but at that price you’re a lot better off doing it yourself.

Those course to study to be a medical transcriptionist and billing etc, they only make money for the school.