The Martha's Vineyard Times

Beyond frustrated

July 3, 2012

To the Editor:

I am lucky enough to have good health insurance, including Medicare and Blue Cross/Blue Shield. There shouldn't be any problems.

However, every single time I get a bill from the Martha's Vineyard Hospital, there is a problem reconciling the Medicare and Blue Cross payments, and I am always billed for money I do not owe. I spend hours on the phone with Medicare, Blue Cross and the hospital trying to straighten it out.

I called again last week and asked if I could find out what bills are still owing and what is being done with them, only to be told not to worry about it, they were still pending. Yesterday, I got a bill from a collection agency, the first in my life. For a January 2011 bill. To say that I am angry would be to put quite mildly.

Why is it that the M.V. Hospital cannot get this right, after at least two years of this. I wonder how many other people get bills saying Medicare paid, and your insurance paid, and you owe this much, and just assume it is right and pay it. I might add that I have had no problems whatsoever with bills from any other doctor, group of doctors, or hospitals. Why only this one?

I am beyond frustration.

Barbara Peckham

Oak Bluffs