S. O. S. – SPEAKING OF SENIORS NO HELP WITH OXYGEN BILL

S. O. S. – SPEAKING OF SENIORS

NO HELP WITH OXYGEN BILL

By Woodrow Wilcox

            Medicare did not help pay for the portable oxygen bill of a couple from Saint John, Indiana.  The couple visited me twice to get my help.

            On the first visit, the clients showed me what paperwork they had.  Medicare had sent to them forms to be completed because no medical service provider had filed a claim with Medicare for them.  During that visit, they just wanted me to look over the papers to make sure that they had followed the instructions and had not misunderstood something.  So, I helped them as they requested.

            On the second visit, they showed me both Medicare’s response and all the paperwork.  I thought that it was strange that the response letter from Medicare instructed the couple to get a doctor’s signature, and some other strange things, in order for Medicare to consider reimbursing the couple for a Federal Express bill.

            So, with the couple, I phoned Medicare to get to the heart of their medical bill problem and get an answer as quickly as possible.  We did get answers, but not the answers that the couple had hoped to get.

            Here are the facts.  The elderly couple flew to Colorado to visit some grandchildren and other family.  While in Colorado, they became very ill and were admitted to a hospital.  They were released from the hospital when they were well enough to fly home.  But, they needed oxygen while they flew back to Chicago.

            The couple rented portable oxygen equipment for the flight and paid to have the rented equipment returned to the equipment provider.   The total bill for the equipment and the return shipping was almost $900.

            In the phone call to Medicare, the couple learned what I suspected.  Medicare does help pay for oxygen in certain circumstances, but not a temporary rental for air travel.

            As I have said in the past, I have a good record of helping senior citizens with Medicare related medical bill problems when the problems are caused by mistakes.  But, I can’t help a client if the problem is caused by a government policy.  It was a government policy that caused this couple’s medical bill problem.

Note: Woodrow Wilcox is the senior medical bill case worker at Senior Care Insurance Services in Merrillville, Indiana.  He has helped clients of that insurance agency save over one million dollars by correcting medical bill errors that were caused by mistakes in the Medicare system.  His new book SOLVING MEDICARE PROBLEM$ (www.solvingmedicareproblems.com) explains how to help senior citizens with such medical bill problems.

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Written on March 13, 2013 by

Woodrow Wilcox

Wilcox News Service

P. O. Box 744

Griffith, IN 46319

S. O. S. – SPEAKING OF SENIORS HELPED SCHERERVILLE WOMAN

S. O. S. – SPEAKING OF SENIORS

HELPED SCHERERVILLE WOMAN

By Woodrow Wilcox

            Clients from what was Yugoslavia visited my office on March 7, 2013.  They brought papers about an unpaid bill for therapy for the woman after she had surgery.  They wanted to know why they were getting bills to pay despite the fact that the woman had both Medicare and a Medicare supplement insurance policy to cover these bills.

            I reviewed the papers with the woman and phoned her insurance company to learn what it knew of the unpaid bills.  The answer did not surprise me.

            Of the 23 dates of service on the bill for almost two thousand dollars, Medicare had sent claims for only three dates of service.  In other words, Medicare never sent the claims on 20 dates of service to the insurance company.  You can’t blame an insurance company for not paying on a claim that it never got.

            To help our client, I sent a letter that explained the problem to the physical therapy provider.  I requested that the physical therapy provider send certain essential claim information directly to our client’s insurance company.  When that is done, I am confident that the insurance company will pay its portion of the medical claims according to the terms of the insurance policy that our client bought.

            The help that I gave to this client was at NO CHARGE.  The owners, managers and staff of this insurance agency really do care about our senior citizen clients.  We go an extra distance to help them with such problems.  We give this help as a “value added” service to our senior citizen clients.  Does your insurance agency give the same high level of service to its senior citizen clients?  If not, why not?

Note: Woodrow Wilcox is the senior medical bill case worker at Senior Care Insurance Services in Merrillville, Indiana.  Wilcox has saved clients of that insurance agency over one million dollars by correcting medical bill errors that were caused by mistakes in the Medicare system.  Also, Wilcox wrote the book SOLVING MEDICARE PROBLEM$ (www.solvingmedicareproblems.com).

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Written on March 7, 2013 by Woodrow Wilcox

Wilcox News Service

P. O. Box 744, Griffith, IN 46319