I’m back to discuss this topic. It all comes down to “protect your money.” You need to pay attention to what you’re being billed for before you pay the bill. I’ll just throw out there that I think I had to make a call to correct an Explanation of Benefits (EOB) twice when I had Blue Cross, but it’s nearly every claim with our current insurance.

I had a minor outpatient surgical procedure in March 2025. The pre-op appointments started in January. That’s important because we have a deductible. I don’t trust this company’s calculation of our deductible, so I was paying very close attention to the EOBs for the first few months of the year.

The number of times that I have been sent to collections on a health balance due to their inability to process things correctly is pretty annoying. Every single time, it’s been because of their processes and the lack of insurance communication. Every single time, I’ve been on top of communicating with them to let them know what’s going on with insurance and received assurance that they had everything under control. Then I find out that I’ve been sent to collections.

In this instance, my insurance was really struggling for the first 2-3 months of the year. They had a data breach that screwed up so much of the processing and everything was delayed. I had multiple appointments in January and March (which was also surgery). There were so many insurance delays in processing that the doctors office sent me my statement dated June 16th. In their infinite wisdom, they counted the date of service as the time that I should have paid instead of the time that they received the EOB, and since the date of service was January, I got sent straight to collections. Wonderful.

I can’t stand that they tell me to check their website for help when I’ve already struggled to get their website to do the basic things it should do. But I spent hours calling these people (and the people they tell me to call because they think they can’t help). I finally got through to someone who could help me and understand what my situation was. It turns out I was in “pre-collections,” so not officially reported yet (on my credit; just that they were going to make an attempt to collect, even though I’d love to actually pay them on time). She let me pay the two EOBs worth of a balance and clear the collection record.

There’s no detailed point here. It’s just simply not to trust the doctor/hospital and insurance company to have your best interest in mind. Don’t assume that the paperwork is going to make its way to you. Pay attention to what’s out there and could be pending and a possible bill owed. But even once a bill gets to you, verify that it was paid by insurance correctly and that the amount you owe is accurate. I’ve seen the doctor’s office bill me for the amount unallowable by insurance. I’ve seen a doctor’s office not apply a payment I had made as a “coinsurance” at time of service, even though I had record. I’ve had doctor’s offices require payment up front of $50, but the actual payment owed ended up being $4.

Protect your money. Pay attention.