We’ve all done it at one point or another. You get the mail from your mailbox, glance through the white envelopes, thumb through the magazines, and dump the lot on the counter. The next day, go through the motions, commence with counter dumping.
Rinse, repeat.
We’ve been guilty of this as I’m sure many of you have. The white envelopes are not be ignored, though.
Recently, one of those lovely envelopes contained a bill for my husband. A bill that was incorrect, because hey medical insurance companies are never wrong! 
See, every December my husband’s job makes everyone re-register their medical insurance. Yes, it is all kinds of fun. People decide whether they want to use one particular insurance provider or another and all sorts of other boring minutiae that you have to fill out in tiny print.
Anyways, we changed part of our service which went into effect January 1st. But when my husband went to the doctor back in January, but definitely after the first, the insurance company billed from the wrong insurance. They billed from our old insurance, which did not cover the new medical provider.
Yeah, good times…
So luckily, we opened the white envelope with the billing discrepancy in a timely manner, and proceeded to have a heated conversation with some representative who needed things explained several times. 30 minutes later, the billing issue had been cleared up and we no longer were required to pay the incorrect bill.
Thank goodness. I shudder to think what would have happened had we not paid the envelope any mind…
This incident also brought to mind the bill we received after having my daughter. We had medical insurance but it’s the kind that required a $1500 co-payment. So we paid that, and thought the matter was settled.
Nope.
We then received in the mail a bill from a medical office in a city that I did not give birth in, for anesthesia that I did not receive from them. Good grief, I mean really? Do y’all just give out anesthesia like it’s candy and not know who you’re giving it to?
We went back and forth on the phone regarding this obviously a huge mistake bill. “I’m sorry ma’am, I need to talk to talk to a supervisor”. “I’m sorry ma’am, I’m new to this account. Can you give me all the information again?”
Jeez…
Finally the stars aligned and the moon was in the house of Mars, for at some point, they realized their error, and stopped trying to charge me for services I never received.
It pays to open the white envelopes people… Don’t let bills for random anesthesia happen to you or someone you love. ;)
Wow, thats crazy. Glad you were being diligent with the checking. That would have been a major headache later on
You’re right; it totally would have been a major headache! Ugh…
Medical bills are the worst! We have had lots of incorrect charges but I think that just comes with the territory if you have a baby. =/
Yeah, incorrect medical bills are starting to become a more common thing
crazy story! It also pays to automate the bills you do want to pay for and avoid having to open the envelope, write a check, stamp, send back every month..
Automating bills is definitely a time-saver. These random ones though, are just the worst!
I always open the white envelopes. You never know what you will find!
So true! Open the envelopes!!
We have a very bad habit of not checking mail since most of our bills are automated… I agree it pays to check it otherwise I would’ve missed jury duty. Hopefully they’ll figure out a way to automate medical bills in the future.
Good thing you caught the jury duty notice! Whew!
You make such a great point Mackenzie. I used to just blow that kind of stuff off or not pay close attention to things like that. I wonder how much extra I’ve paid for when I didn’t have to.
I totally used to not pay attention to those envelopes either, but I for sure do now!
Great point, Mackenzie! It’s easy to overlook bills we get in the mail or make the mistake to not closely examine them, especially medical bills. There always seems to be a mistake and I can imagine a lot of people miss them and pay more than they should. Good reminder!
Medical bills are a big one! I think many people don’t pay attention to those envelopes because they think it’s some sort of statement from the insurance provider…when in reality, it is a bill
Oh wow that’s scary! I’m also bad at skipping over those white envelopes :S….
I think everyone skips the white envelopes, but after these things happened, I definitely open them now!
Wow. I wish I could say I’m shocked, but I’m definitely not. When I had a minor surgery I got bills from what felt like 100 different people (the hospital, the md, the surgeon, the anesthesiologist, etc.). I had some insurance/billing issues (I was a grad student at the time) and thankfully the university’s health services office helped me navigate everything. If it hadn’t been for that kind lady, I might have paid hundreds of dollars bills that my insurance was supposed to cover.
Wow, good thing you had someone to help you with all of those bills and help you to know what to pay. It’s amazing how these insurance companies just bill out at random…
Wow, that’s crazy! There was a show on CNN the other night that was going over some of the costs if basic things you might get/use in a surgery and then they said that medical bills were some of the worst in terms of having billing errors. And they wonder why we have issues! Enough soapbox
…that’s part of the reason why we always try and open white envelopes, you never know what you’re in for.
Exactly what you said John: You never know what you are in for. Open the white envelopes before it’s too late! *Cue scary music*
Wow, that’s really quite ridiculous! It seems that there is no maximum amount of how many times they can get it wrong! Good thing you are all over it and making sure they retract these false bills.
I know, it is so ridiculous, especially the bill for the random anesthesia! That one still boggles my mind…