Warning - this is a vent. You don't have to read it.

But it might make me feel a bit better.

So Iz was sick Friday night. Fever, she had been losing her voice all week, and generally was not herself - crying over everything, and compaining that her throat hurt.

So I decide that we have to head to the doctor's on Saturday morning. The doctor that I used to work for, who despite working for a crappy company (the reason I left), is one of the most wonderful doctors in existence.

I call the late night appointment line. I get through - miracle! I talk to the girl on the phone, who gives me an appointment time - wonderful! She puts me on hold for a minute - whatever, I can deal with being put on hold a minute. She comes back, and tells me that since I have a balance on my account (woah! this is news) that I can't have an appointment, so sorry, click. I'm hung up on.

So by this point I'm fuming. I've been denied an appointment for my sick daughter because of a balance I didn't know I had. I call the admin office for the doctors, and leave a rather shouty message concerning my feelings at being denied care and then hung up on. I spend the rest of the weekend feeling sort of sheepish at leaving the shouty message while not actually being sorry, because I did mean everything I said. I just didn't really want it to come out so shouty.

We get Iz to a patient first surgery, and get her treated (don't think I've ditched my daughter in all this saga). Turns out all is well, she doesn't have strep (which I was worried about, since it's already going around school).

So this morning, I get a phone call back from the Admin office - suprising, but disheartening. Apprently I'm an evil woman for not paying bills I didn't receive. Obviously I recieved them, they're all sent via an automated system. I point out that the only bill I had ever received (for myself, not even for Iz) was hand-written. Uncomfortable pause. Explanation of how they do hand write some bills.

I also point out, since I'm talking to someone in the billing department, I point out something my insurance company told me when I called. They had mentioned that one of the charges they turned down was for a urinalysis. Pretty interesting, since my daughter, who has been seeing these people since her birth, has never once peed in a cup for them. It seems they've been billing my insurance company for things that they haven't done. She promises to send me a copy of outstanding bills. I don't trust them one bit now so I'm going to have to go through them item by item. Chances are I'll still not catch everything, as they're pretty vague when it comes to explanations of codes.

Isn't charging insurance for something they didn't do illegal? If it's not illegal, I know it's immoral. It's certainly stealing. I can't help feeling that it's quite a big issue, even if the woman on the phone waved it away like it was nothing.

So there you have it. If you ever find yourself in the Baltimore area, don't ever, ever visit Potomac Physicians for anything. Incompetent isn't even the word for it.

What makes me really mad is that if they'd have told me I had a balance and still let me bring her in, I'd have happily bought a check in the morning of her appointment. I wouldn't have even asked these questions, and they'd certainly be better off.

Does anyone know how to create as much collections trouble for a company as possible, while still keeping it legal (not stooping to their level) and not messing up my credit history? My boss suggested sending them $1 a week - can you do that?