Morgana
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- Joined
- Mar 18, 2021
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I just learned something that might also be useful to other people on Medicare. Maybe most of you know it already but I didn't.
I was looking at a big bill for routine lab work that Medicare refused to pay for. Apparently, there's a thing called an Advanced Beneficiary Notice (ABN) that, if you have not signed off on it, you don't have to pay. If the lab tries to bill you, you can say "show me the ABN that I signed" and if they can't, you're off the hook. I guess it's not unheard-of for the lab to send a bill when they shouldn't.
^^At least, according to the billing clerk at my local clinic.
I'm sure in real life it's complicated, but if you get a weird bill, it's definitely worth checking out all your options before paying it. Those little footnotes on your "Medicare summary notice" are not necessarily the final word. I found the Medicare help desk + the clinic billing clerk very helpful. The lab did not make it easy to find contact info. If the bill had been smaller, I might have just paid it to make it go away; I'm glad I didn't.
FWIW!
I was looking at a big bill for routine lab work that Medicare refused to pay for. Apparently, there's a thing called an Advanced Beneficiary Notice (ABN) that, if you have not signed off on it, you don't have to pay. If the lab tries to bill you, you can say "show me the ABN that I signed" and if they can't, you're off the hook. I guess it's not unheard-of for the lab to send a bill when they shouldn't.
^^At least, according to the billing clerk at my local clinic.
I'm sure in real life it's complicated, but if you get a weird bill, it's definitely worth checking out all your options before paying it. Those little footnotes on your "Medicare summary notice" are not necessarily the final word. I found the Medicare help desk + the clinic billing clerk very helpful. The lab did not make it easy to find contact info. If the bill had been smaller, I might have just paid it to make it go away; I'm glad I didn't.
FWIW!