Adventures in medical billing

A slight rant today. I received yet another bill from Commonwealth Health for date of service 9/25/15. I think that was for my thoracentesis. It's a sizable bill, around 13k submitted, maybe 4k allowed and paid and the hospital claiming I owe $1800.  I get one every month. Every month I call and tell them I have an EOB from my insurance company showing the claim has been paid and patient responsibility is ZERO (thank you ACA for out-of-pocket maximums). Every month I'm told something different by whoever answers when I call Commonwealth's billing office: the bill has been resubmitted (why?) and they are waiting to hear back from insurance, my account shows that it is marked for an insurance adjustment (and yet no one makes the adjustment),  just disregard the bill (why send it it if I can disregard it?). It's crazy.

The bill doesn't stress me at all - I have an EOB saying I owe nothing (and in fact it is a copy of the one sent to the hospital, not MY copy!). They can try all they want to get that $1800 from me...it ain't happening. Someone who might not be a pig-headed as me or who may not have the time to stay on top of something like this might just go ahead and pay the bill because the hospital says the patient owes it. Forget the fact that the patient doesn't. That really bugs me.

I guess next time I go to General for a test, I'll stop by the financial counselor's office with a copy of the EOB. If nothing else, we'll have a nice visit.