Hey big spender, why don’t you keep the boards solvent and pay for a dope membership. 
Pretty much what corkboard said. Because of the extended time frame, I would call and ask about the bill, see what reason there might be for waiting so long to send it. If I got a reasonable answer, I would promptly pay.
- sends bill to the big spender for a Doper membership and a couple hundred bucks for me, too, since it’s such a minor amount for him *
Lone Cashew, what would you consider to be “a reasonable answer” for billing after such a long time?
I honestly have no idea what you are trying to convey here. Since I said I was planning on paying it, are you calling that decision “indulging myself”? That strikes me as a rather weird way to put it, but okay.
In any case, apparently they have a new accounting system. This bill is valid and open, but they had marked his file on the old system (I’m assuming they mean they had marked him deceased) and not in the new one. I sent a check this morning. It sounded as if they wouldn’t have continued to dun me, but he is a good doctor (he actually listens. Amazing) who deserves to be paid.
Good for you.
Regards,
Shodan
That is a good question, can’t imagine any good reason for delay this long (except after reading what jsgoddess’ said).
It would be irritating/annoying they waited so long before sending (for whatever reason). But don’t think the delay alone should relieve me from what I think is a moral obligation - if the bill was legit - even in this hurtful situation.
Sorry to hear about this js. Good for you for paying it, though.
Good for you. I hope I would have done the same. You weren’t under any legal obligation to pay. But you have the financial ability to pay the bill. You lived up to your moral code. You did the right thing. Yes, you exceeded your obligations, but the law (in my mind) is the minimum rule for good behavior.
Gee, I think I’ll stay out of this one…
/me lights strawman on fire and throws it at back at Cat.
I said I feel no moral obligation to pay bills. That doesn’t mean I don’t pay them, because there are other kinds of obligations that motivate me. Like legal ones. There is nothing in my personal moral… fabric, if you will… that states there is an obligation to pay a bill. If I’m legally obligated to pay a bill, I will. To exemplify, I wouldn’t have paid the bill that the OP received once learning the explanation for its receipt since the office wasn’t going to pursue it anyway. They had already written it off, actually. Pointless.
If you think it’s a legitimate argument tactic to criticize values people don’t have, I don’t really know what to say to you. Watch the strawmen.
Well, technically, I think Cat wasn’t criticizing values people don’t have. She was ciriticizing people for not having those values in the first place. Subtle but key distinction.
She was assuming that I don’t feel obligated to pay bills. That is a value I do not have.
This happened to me a few months ago (well, except I was the patient and I’m still alive). Got a bill for an appointment I had in 2008. I had to pull out my old desk calendar to remind myself what I went for. It was only about $70 but still.
I called the clinic and they immediately said it was their error, apologized, and told me to ignore it.
So the OP’s question is now moot, but I would have said to call the doctor’s office, which she did. So it’s all good.
To rachelellogram: If you take it at face value, Cat Whisperer simply asked you a question. And he/she didn’t ask you if you paid your bills or not, he/she was responding directly to your comment concerning bills/moral obligations. I don’t see any straw man here. Not only do you make no sense rachelellogram, but you’re out of line.
I would call, ask what happened to make this bill so late, and let them know the patient has been dead for nearly two years. If they then offer to write off the balance I would feel fine about not paying it. If they have a good reason why the invoice is so late and I knew the procedures were done and they didn’t offer to write it off, then I would pay it.
Medical stuff In the US is different than a business that gets x dollars for y good or service. Doctors get a range of compensation from 0 to the full fee for each procedure they do because of the nutty way we do health care here, and they are accustomed to that. As such, it’s ok to inquire about odd bills, and you can also ask for a discount without worrying about the ethics.
Seconded. Who sharted in your Rice Krispies?
I wouldn’t pay the bill. Once my doctor billed me for services after over a year they were performed. My insurance company wouldn’t pay the doctor because the charges were over a year old; otherwise they would have since they were legitimate fees that my insurance covered.
If the insurance company wouldn’t pay, my feeling is that I shouldn’t have to either. My doctor needed some serious reorganization of his billing dept. That’s his faulty, not mine.
I wasn’t criticizing anyone (or creating strawmen) - I was asking a question based on what rachellelogram volunteered about herself. If you say you don’t feel an ethical responsibility to pay (I assume) your bills, I’m curious about why you would feel that way, given that (again, I assume) you used the goods and services that someone is billing you for.
Getting a bill does not mean you owe it. There are errors . There are companies that send out bills hoping to get money for nothing. when Detroit privatized their parking tickets a few years ago, upstate people were getting parking tickets from Detroit. They would have had to take the time to drive to Detroit to fight it. The vast majority just paid them. Free money for the ticket company and a few bucks for the city.
If I was satisfied the bill was legit, I would pay it - not because of legal obligations, but because it would be a duty I owed to Mrs Piper - tidying up after her, just as she would for me.
To all those advocating flat out not paying, what’s going to happen when the OP needs the services of this doctor if she doesn’t pay?
IMHO if the bill is legitimate, then she should pay if she verifies it and she can.