In My Opinion

In My Opinion

Contributed by Paul Johnson

At the end of November –’23, I had to visit Mat-Su Regional’s ER. Without going into too much detail it was a rather minor issue compared to a car crash or a stabbing or shooting. The whole visit lasted 45 minutes at the most. The Dr. who saw me was rude, inexperienced, and a traveler from Mn. The State needs to flag his PFD applications. By definition a traveling Dr. does not plan to stay in Alaska, a requirement for collecting a PFD. At the end of it all we paid $1,190 Cash, were given a receipt stating “Thank You for Your Payment” and sent on our merry way. It seemed like a lot for such a short visit but at least I was mended and on my way to recovery. At least that’s what I thought. To this day I still have only limited use of the limb that was damaged.

But wait, there’s more. Nearly two months later we received a bill from Imaging Associates for reading the X-Rays & writing a report. There was no phone call saying all is well, we’ll be billing you. No report attached to the bill, just the bill for $140. We paid it out of course but then my lovely bride called and asked for a copy of this supposed report and was told that she did not have power of attorney for me therefore the report could not be released to her. The person on the other end of the line then proceeded to tell her, the person who has no power of attorney for me, exactly how I could access the report on line! Keep in mind the Hospital and the Dr.’s Billing Service (in Mn. BTW) were perfectly willing to talk to my lovely bride when they sprung the additional bills on us I’m about to discuss. They haven’t gotten their money yet. The moral of the story here is getting the report before you pay the bill, I suppose.

Almost exactly two months to the day from the visit we received not only an additional bill from Mat-Su Regional ($840) but the Dr.’s Billing Service as well ($2,070). This comes to over $4,200 with the Hospital claiming over $4,500 being “written off” on top of that. Neither was itemized in any way, just payable on receipt. Naturally phone calls were made and there was some empathy for our bad experience with the Dr. but ultimately we’re just the billing service so you have to start paying something on this or we’ll have to send you to a collection agency. The hospital was sorry we had not been informed that what we paid that night was “just an estimate” and the charges do seem excessive. I’ll check with my supervisor and see what we can do. Sorry, no soap. You’ll have to pay the full amount. I can send you some financial hardship papers though if that would help. What we want is an itemized bill of what we’ve already paid for and what you seem to think we still owe. They are willing to provide that so now it’s just waiting to see. In the meantime we have spoken with several people who have, to a person, had the same shady, deceptive billing practices befall them at Mat-Su Regional ER and Hospital in general. Being billed outrageous sums two, four or even as much as six months after the fact.

This is not right for any consumer. You wouldn’t go to the Hotel Captain Cook for an extravagant weekend and fine dining, pay your bill, go home and two months later receive a bill from the Hotel for $800 in additional charges they forgot to charge you at the time of service, as well as another bill from the Hostess & the Wait Staff for an additional $2,000 because you were such demanding P.I.T.A. It is not the consumer’s fault the hospital can’t keep up with their billing at the time of service and one should be given at least a general idea of what the services will likely cost. They’ve addressed all manners of emergency in the past they have a pretty good idea. There is absolutely no transparency and everyone seems to just pull numbers out of their arses.

If you have had a similar experience with Mat-Su Regional Hospital or their E.R. please contact the Alaska Attorney General’s Consumer Complaint Dept. as I have @ 1-888-576-2529 or on the Web. They will walk you through filing a complaint on line or by mail. It’s time to stop outside corporations from ripping Alaskans off. Please join the fight. The more support the better. There is no promise of compensation but let’s at least get Mat-Su Regional Hospital on Alaska’s Attorney General’s radar. Thank you all!