Date: Sat, 29 Sep 2001 17:48:00 -0400

When I went through my fourth round of numbness, I actually went to a doctor and after a physical, he tried to refer to me a neurologist. I asked how much my student health insurance would pay and was told it would pay for the office visit but none of the testing. I said that I wasn't in any pain and didn't seem like I was dying, and that I couldn't afford that.

Now I have real insurance (PPO) so when I lost feeling and control in my left hand I went to a doctor and took her referral to get an MRI at a radiology practice.

Eventually my insurance company sent me its usual little statement of benefits received. The radiology practice billed $3141. The insurance company paid $525.

When I read that, I started to gear up to have fits and dig in to spend a long time arguing with my insurance company, on the assumption that I would be stuck with a bill for the remaining $2616. As I read the statement more closely, however, I saw the part that said the amount I was expected to pay was estimated at $0.

Had I not had insurance, the practice that did that MRI would have billed for the full $3141, and I would have been liable for the debt in full.

I can almost, but not quite, find a way to state this so that it falls within the definition of racketeering, either form the point of view of the patient or that of the radiologist.

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