RE: Digest Number 818 message 15 |Insurance Billing Question

[Guest guest]

> Not only is that incorrect, it is illegal. It would mean that, without a

> contract with the insurance company which requires reduced fees, you have

> what is called a " dual fee schedule " in which one class of patients is

> billed one amount, and another class of patients is billed a second

> amount.

 

What's the problem with 'dual fee schedule'?

 

I work in the UK and am free to decide the fee according to how much I feel

my patients can afford, giving concessions to those on low income or require

long term treatment and charging full fees to those covered by insurance or

who can afford it.

 

Most UK business's work in the same way.

 

Barbara Scott-Alexander

 

_____________________

[Guest guest]

Hi Barbara,

 

Here is the States, much of our medical fees are paid by private insurance that,

until recent time, paid at a fairly high rate. Regulators found that many

doctors were inflating their charges for insurance beyond what might be

reasonable for any particular service and then charging much less for those

without insurance who paid in cash. This was seen as using insurance

reimbursement to essentially subsidize those who paid cash putting an unfair

burden on the insurance system. Regulations were thus passed making it illegal

to charge more for insurance and less for cash; a " dual " fee schedule. Of

course, these problems were originally created by medical doctors and the like,

not TCM practitioners. If everyone here had to pay cash for medical services,

TCM practitioners would be among the few who could survive within that

system.Matt Bauer

-

BARBARA

Chinese Medicine

Saturday, January 01, 2005 9:24 AM

RE: Digest Number 818 message 15 |Insurance Billing Question

 

 

 

> Not only is that incorrect, it is illegal. It would mean that, without a

> contract with the insurance company which requires reduced fees, you have

> what is called a " dual fee schedule " in which one class of patients is

> billed one amount, and another class of patients is billed a second

> amount.

 

What's the problem with 'dual fee schedule'?

 

I work in the UK and am free to decide the fee according to how much I feel

my patients can afford, giving concessions to those on low income or require

long term treatment and charging full fees to those covered by insurance or

who can afford it.

 

Most UK business's work in the same way.

 

Barbara Scott-Alexander

 

_____________________

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://babel.altavista.com/

 

and adjust

accordingly.

 

 

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