Could this Dr. Bill me when he offered to treat me for free?

Show all answers

Post your answer

arubishka	oh he might not bill for a certain one thing, but he will bill for his time as a consultation, or some other underlying or resulting condition. There is no such thing as treating a patient for free unless he's your father or some other relative. Don't be naive, you'll get billed for something alright.... Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

justhavingfaith	always get it in writing...always Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

crazymomma	I never had a doctor do anything for nothing but I did have one lower his service cost and that was what he charged. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

holocene epoch	Unless you have written proof he gave you that he would not charge you, he can apply a bill to you for compensation. If you refuse to pay , he can inform the three credit companies at large in the USA of the outstanding bill, and it will go against your credit. Make sure you write to the companies ( all available online ) IN WRITING in a letter they must sign for , that you dod not agree to any such charges and they will keep the information with your file. If you made the appointment and kept it..you seemingly agreed to the charges. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

Jim	Actually, many doctors quite often provide some services to their patients without billing them. In your case, your primary care referred you for a treatment that your insurance carrier doesn't cover, and in order to maintain a good relationship with your primary care physician and continue to get referrals from him (many of which will be billed through other providers) he is providing your treatment at no charge to you. He will write off this time and service pro-bono work on his taxes, maintain a good working relationship with the primary care physician and you get treated ... everyone wins. Now if there were some high expense elements to the treatment such as MRIs or Dialysis or other expensive treatment then he would find a way that your carrier would be able to be billed. He will do some pro-bono work for tax purposes and professional relationships, but won't pay for things out of his pocket. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

wendy c	CLARIFY THIS before you do anything. My off the top interpretation is that he is saying he WON'T BILL YOUR INSURANCE. That is not the same at all, as saying he is not charging you anything. Talk to the receptionist or him, and explain that you have to be sure you understood. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

I'm Back	Did u signed a contract. If not you can sue him for attempt extortion and fraud. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

paul	Yes he could. I also would feel funny asking for it in writing. But it wouldn't be so funny if he sent you a bill. I would type out a simple statement saying he will not bill you for X treatment date and sign and ask him to sign. Explain that you need some reassurance because it is not something you could afford. If he wanted to do his own statement it okay as long as it says what he is doing and that it is free of charge. He is generous enough to do the treatment for free he should be generous enough to sign a statement saying so. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

Big E	Get it in writing with a third party witness signing the waver. Must have Doctor's signature on paper. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

aaron b	I would get it in writing, otherwise no court in the land would believe your story. Nobody does anything anymore without getting something in return. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

"Kh a a a a a n n" ! !	Sadly, Pilgrim is right: "If it ain't in writing, it didn't happen." Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

yomama	The way I understand it, the doctor will not bill the insurance company. Confirm with the receptionist that the office meant there will be no charges billed to you. If she says yes, try to get it in writing so you don't get burnt later on. In the dentist's office I worked in, the DDS would do free or discounted work for orphans and widows. It doesn't happen often, but he doc might see you're in financial straights and give you a break. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

Ashley	get it in writing from the doctor and make copies. dont assume! Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

AZ2CO	What did your superbill say as to what you owed? It isn't common, but it does happen. I know a Dr. who treats at least three patients a year pro bono, because of Matthew 25:40 "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'" Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

I love my baby girl!	Get it in writing or over an email Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

FRAGINAL-NOYPI	No fees if the service is offered free of charges. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

edphillipdoles	Doctors can do this and some do. Since he said not to worry then don't, but I think you will worry. Not as much about paying the bill as getting treated for free. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

Gentle Giant	Send him a very polite note, or thank you card, thanking him for his generosity in treating you without charge. Tell him how grateful you are. Then, if he does bill you, you can show that you understood he would not do so and even sent him a thank you based on his promise. By sending a polite letter of gratitude you do not get him po'd or insult him. It does, if need be, serve as proof of your understanding of the relationship. It is more than likely that he is just a good guy and will not bill you. To demand that he put this in writing puts his word in question and may annoy him to the point where he either stops treating you or decides to bill you. Don;t do that. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

Eric H	The doctor is being nice - take advantage of it. He's not going to bill you. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

indeed	If you ask him to put it in writing he'll think you're an ingrate and feel offended and probably withdraw the offer. The way to handle it is with subtlety: Have an adult friend accompany you next time, and make sure your friend is present and within easy hearing range when you talk to the doctor. Go up to him and say sweetly, 'you know, it's so unusual and wonderful what you are doing for me that I wanted to make sure I didn't misunderstand you - you are offering to treat me a number of times without charging me anything, I won't have to pay anything for the treatment, correct?" He will either say 'Yes', or 'No, you misunderstood me'. If he says 'Yes, it's free' then you're good to go. You should probably follow his 'Yes' up with something like 'this is a great thing you're doing for me, I could never afford to have this done if I had to pay for it! You're an angel!' The reason for the adult friend is just for backup insurance. The problem with verbal agreements is not that they're unenforceable (depends on your state laws and the particular circumstances) but rather that it's hard to prove what the actual agreement was. That's why you want a witness. If you should get a surprise bill in the mail later on, you can sue him for something or other (talk to a lawyer at that point), and at that point your friend will be needed as a witness to testify as to his stated agreement with you. But most likely, if he re-affirms it's free, he'll honor it. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

Shafayat	"Trust" is the word for you Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

Melissa	It's up the doctor (assuming it's HIS practice) on what he's willing to charge for. If he's willing to give you certain treatments (that he feels are necessary for you) for free, then there is nothing wrong with that. I'd feel funny asking him to sign something to prove he won't bill you, so you'll just have to trust him. What he's probably going to do is just bill the insurance for what he can and not even mark what all he did for you. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

danny14551	Get it in writing before you see him. This sounds really fishy and even if he says he will not charge you, he still could send you a bill. Also check to make sure he is a licensed doctor,as I have never heard of a doctor doing this. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

John de Witt	You may have misunderstood. It is quite possible he's doing the initial consultation pro bono as a favor to the doctor who referred you. That's an entirely different thing from the treatment, and it may be time-limited, as well. It's still saving you a pretty good pile of change, so even though your caution is warranted, a full dental exam on the gift horse may not be what you want. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

ioerr	I'd never trust a guy called Dr. Bill that sounds fishy right off the bat Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

Jen	I've never heard of a doctor offering to treat a patient for free, but if that is the case, get it in writing! Make sure you get everything in writing, stating that he is not going to charge for specific services, so if he tries to bill you, you'll be able to have a written and signed agreement saying he wasn't supposed to. Good luck! Also, get a witness and both of you sign it and both keep a copy Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

Emily B	An eye doctor once told me this too. However, I received a bill any way because he didn't do the billing. Someone else handled all of the billing for the doctor. Watch yourself. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

e.m. - bibliophibian	I work for doctors and have for more than 20 years, and this is not uncommon at all. There might be several things at play here... The specialist might be friends with the referring doctor, and returning a favor - or DOING a favor - by treating one of the referring doctor's patients at no charge (happens quite a lot). The specialist might have some reason for providing a certain amount of "pro bono" care - maybe as a tax write off, maybe as a condition of membership on the local medical board, maybe his own personal religious beliefs, ethics, or principles. A dentist I used to work for was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer when he was in the military (which had paid for his schooling, before the cancer was discovered). It destroyed some of his facial bones and he required extensive reconstructive treatment, which the military paid for even though he was already slated for medical discharge. After his recovery, he made a personal vow that - because he had been so blessed as to get his dental education AND his cancer treatment paid for by the military - whenever he encountered someone with that form of cancer, he would provide any services he could to them, free of charge. I learned of this when I questioned why we were no-billing several thousand dollars' worth of reconstructive dental care, including LOTS of lab costs, to a young female patient - I suspected the doctor of some hanky-panky. (Usually when dentists "no-bill," it means that the patient only pays for lab costs - that is, what the dentist has to pay to the lab that makes the crown/denture/retainer/whatever. In this case, she got everything for free and I was puzzled as to why. Turns out she had this form of cancer; the dentist had notified the local medical board that he would provide services on anyone with this type of problem, so we received referrals from all over the place.) Another possibility - although I think it's not legal (IIRC from my days of doing insurance billing) and it doesn't sound like what's going on in your situation - is that he's going to treat you on an "insurance only" basis, meaning he'll send the bill to the insurance company and accept whatever they pay, but will not bill you for the difference (deductible, copay, percentage, etc). Since he's not in their "preferred provider" directory they probably won't pay him anything but they might pay a small fraction of the fee. You are wise to be cautious, but - at the same time - don't look a gift horse in the mouth TOO closely. If it's possible, speak to the doctor and ask him why he's treating you free of charge. Ask him if this is a formal agreement, if it covers ALL your care - and if so, would he mind just jotting something down, "in case there's ever any confusion with the receptionist or anything; I hate to keep asking but I want to make sure I'm not misunderstanding anything." Whatever. Try not to be offensive or seem to be throwing his generosity in his face when you do this; maybe you can make up a story about a doctor who promised to bill at a reduced rate but forgot about the promise, and it was unpleasant for everyone, so if he wouldn't mind... If you're polite and delicate about it, he probably won't mind - if he's doing it out of the goodness of his heart, in fact, it will probably amuse him to have to convince you, as long as you're not offensive or belligerent about it. If you're not comfortable asking the doctor, ask the receptionist. She will probably be able to tell you why he's doing it, and how reliable he is. Also, she will probably be the one doing the billing, or sending the accounts out to their billing company so she needs to be front-and-center on this anyway. Remember: The receptionist is the one who has to face you when you come into the office angry - she is not likely to mislead you because she knows that she is "first in the line of fire" if anything goes wrong. Ask her to put it in writing - with the notation that it's "per Dr. So-and-so" so that there won't be any question that it's at his behest. You can also ask him (or her) to mark the superbills (the sheets of paper they give you when you check out of the office) as "no charge" (or "gratis" or "pro bono" or "do not bill" or whatever). Make sure you keep those so that if it does come up later, you can produce them to support your case. As a last, and much more indirect, resort, you can ask your own doctor, the one who referred you to him. "Hey, Dr. Specialist said he was going to treat me for free - is that usual for him?" Although your doctor probably won't out-and-out badmouth Dr. Specialist, he should be able to discreetly let you know if the situation is one you need to be wary of. Overall, though, it really is commoner than a lot of people would have you believe. It is REMOTELY possible that he's doing some sort of top-secret, unapproved, "experimental treatment" - although I laughed right out loud when I read that. Also it is REMOTELY possible that he's trying to make you feel indebted to him in some way. It is also remotely possible that I'm going to get hit by lightning, or find true love on a dating site. Pfffft. Doctors are humans too, and many of them are kind and generous - that's why most of them got into the business, because they want to help people. (The ones who go to med school so they can make a fortune seldom make it through.) Specialists tend to receive much higher reimbursement than GPs do, so - even in this economy - a specialist is more likely to offer free or discounted (non-vanity) services than a GP, who is probably living by the skin of his/her teeth. Cover yourself, by all means, but ... there are good, helpful, generous people out there -- and it's been my experience that they tend to be the BEST doctors. Cross your fingers that you've found one. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

Pyar	There are some caring doctors out there ... who will actually treat a few people for free on occasion. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

Pilgrim	I've never heard of it happening. But I got stung once on a verbal agreement and I learned a very painful lesson. Here, I'll give it to you . . . "If it ain't in writing, it didn't happen." . . Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

arejokerswild	He is not going to bill you for treatments he agreed not to charge you for. He might try to work something out with the insurance company, but it will not involve you paying. It is not common, but it does happen. Once when I was very young, in college, and poor a surgeon charged me $56 for major surgery. He had the hospital bill me at a discount. I still feel grateful when I think of him. Pay it forward. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No