No “the Provider” is the doctor or the lab that ran the test; they’re the ones that provide the actual healthcare series and bill the patient.
Good point. The Dr. may bill it as a lab order, while the lab would bill a CBC or something like that.
When I had my cataract surgery, I got the usual statements for a few weeks, and everything was paid. Then, months later, I got a new statement, billing my insurance company for $8,000 . . . for use of the building where the surgery took place 
. It was marked paid in full.
Must be different for different insurance companies. My EOB’s say ‘Provider pays’ and lists the amount the insurance company pays the clinic/doctor/etc.
Except for minor standard treatments, I always insist on an itemized breakdown.
Couple years ago I had to be hospitalized for a few days. When I got the itemized bill later, it included medicines I had not taken and treatment I had not received. The hospital was very pleasant about correcting it. It didn’t change the amount I paid, but I figured Medicare and my insurance company should not have to pay for something billed in error either.
Semi-off topic: My new Blue Cross health plan allowed me to see an eye doctor for an exam for a mere $15 copay but I just got a bill from the doctor’s office for $45, since Blue Cross will not pay for the pupil dilation preceding the exam proper. And I gathered from a woman at the front office that this is not by any means solely a Blue Cross thing.
Is there ever an eye exam that does not include getting one’s peepers dilated?
I think the most insane EOB letter I ever got was from when my wife had a PIC line that started slipping out of her arm one day when she was playing piano.
The EOB had a number north of $40,000 for the total cost to reinsert that line :eek:
Insurance said “No, we will only pay 2,500”
Our part came to a few hundred after insurance.