Inflated bill from Medbase - Page 2

Village Idiot · #21 15.01.2023, 20:00

	Quote:	Village Idiot
	Ah, English Forum's favorite response: "You got screwed, but since you just got a little bit screwed, just accept that this is the norm in Switzerland."

Ah, English Forum's second-favorite response. A drive-by groan from st2lemans.

Landers · #22 15.01.2023, 20:19

	Quote:	thexeno
	Hi, I'm in Neuchatel area, using the Telmed system via Helsana. I needed to check my ankle to a doctor, so Telmed suggested a few, but all of them were unavailable to receving me, full. Why is this happening if are free from Helsana point of view could be another full topic - according to Helsana is not the insurer responsibility. So Telmed suggested to go to a Medbase center. I went, there was a reception for urgence and another for not urgent people. I queued, I was asked if was urgent, I said it was not and I just needed someone to check me. The (non urgent) receptionist took my data, then I waited 20 min. Then a nurse receives me for measuring the pressure (why I am not sure). Then I wait another 15 minutes in the room I've been told to go, a "general" doctor then arrives, looks and touch the ankle, all done, nothing to worry. All in 5 minutes or so, and all was done. I receive an invoice with the following: - Consultation basic, first 5 minutes - supplement for service of family doctor at the medical cabinet - Consultation additional, first 5 minutes - Consultation additional, last 5 minutes - Small exam from the primary care specialist - Treatment, followup and monitoring in the room, price per period of 15 minutes - Indemnity sum for inconvenience in case of consultation of urgent visit (OR) Visit outside of opening hours - Medical service without the patient, including the study of the patient's dossier -Report written without a form, from 11 to 35 rows Total: 225 CHF I am not novel to the Swiss doctors as I needed them also for more important stuff, when I was living in Zurich and having a family doctor was easy. But here seems there was some sort of error or over inflated bill for stuff I did not have really remember to have received. (While this whole thing of doctors in Neuchatel, the canton of whatches, seems a broken mechanism to me). In fact I called the Medbase, they told me I paid the additional fees and procedures beause was treated as an urgency, while clearly was not. I called Helsana, and except confirming that was not fair not saying that I was received as an urgent, since they visited me, they provided the service and there is not much I can do about it. Any useful experience to share?

Talk to them about the bill. jfc.

thexeno · #23 16.01.2023, 11:12

	Quote:	kri
	i have literally NEVER paid 70 CHF for a doc visit. The very minimum before anything starts would be 90 at our Medix in Zürich. And anything else adds up fast. 70CHF bills are for cals or checking lab results and communicating them etc. Like others have suggested, write to the clinic and exain politely your pov and ask them to clarify the invoice. This may work very quickly and easily.

You say writing is better than call, in this case? I guess maybe because when calling they are always a bit in pressure/emergency?

thexeno · #24 16.01.2023, 11:14

	Quote:	Landers
	Talk to them about the bill. jfc.

By phone I asked, that was their response. Explaining a bit that and said sorry about that. jfc.

It is the reason I am asking here, to see if I had other alternatives. Maybe I can go and write, as calling won't work well.

kri · #25 16.01.2023, 11:25

	Quote:	thexeno
	By phone I asked, that was their response. Explaining a bit that and said sorry about that. jfc. It is the reason I am asking here, to see if I had other alternatives. Maybe I can go and write, as calling won't work well.

The person you get on the phone likely

a) has no clue about the billing, they are probably there simply to answer phone and either give appointments and triage.
b) if you are trying to do this in English even worse as they will not be able to do such explanation in English

So just drop them an email in German (use Deepl if you have to) saying you are suprised by the bill because a, b and c and could they please let you know what happened? And then see what happens.

JackieH · #26 16.01.2023, 11:35

What do you hope to achieve?

It is not a vast sum of money, and you did use emergency services, whatever you say.

Find a GP to accept you on their list (accepted by your insurance model), and learn from this experience. Any 'on the day' appointment at a Clinic will probably always carry the 'emergency' extra fee. It is what it is.

st2lemans · #27 16.01.2023, 12:11

This bill seems perfectly normal and reasonable, by no stretch of the imagination is it "inflated".

Tom

Belgianmum · #28 16.01.2023, 12:29

	Quote:	kri
	The person you get on the phone likely a) has no clue about the billing, they are probably there simply to answer phone and either give appointments and triage. b) if you are trying to do this in English even worse as they will not be able to do such explanation in English So just drop them an email in German ( use Deepl if you have to) saying you are suprised by the bill because a, b and c and could they please let you know what happened? And then see what happens.

Since the OP is in Neuchâtel they would be much better off writing in French, I don’t think German would get them far at all.

I do agree that writing to them is far better than calling for all the reasons you give.

Having said that based on what they said in the OP and the fees listed I think what they have been billed is fair enough.

Spinal · #29 16.01.2023, 12:29

Ask them for more details - but my interpretation is:

Speaking to a family doctor that is not your registered doctor:
- Consultation basic, first 5 minutes
- supplement for service of family doctor at the medical cabinet
- Consultation additional, first 5 minutes
- Consultation additional, last 5 minutes

Doctor examining you

- Small exam from the primary care specialist

Your waiting, and them asking questions (possibly to see if the pain gets worse or better)

- Treatment, followup and monitoring in the room, price per period of 15 minutes

Not booking the doctor weeks in advance, but getting an "urgent" visit appointment

- Indemnity sum for inconvenience in case of consultation of urgent visit (OR) Visit outside of opening hours

Doctor reading your dossier, looking for your history, and possibly going on google to check how to handle your symptoms. Nurse preparing a bandage or cold pack or whatever.

- Medical service without the patient, including the study of the patient's dossier

Doctor or assistant putting this in the computer and issuing invoice

-Report written without a form, from 11 to 35 rows

thexeno · #30 31.01.2023, 20:42

	Quote:	Spinal
	Your waiting, and them asking questions (possibly to see if the pain gets worse or better) - Treatment, followup and monitoring in the room, price per period of 15 minutes Not booking the doctor weeks in advance, but getting an "urgent" visit appointment - Indemnity sum for inconvenience in case of consultation of urgent visit (OR) Visit outside of opening hours Doctor reading your dossier, looking for your history, and possibly going on google to check how to handle your symptoms. Nurse preparing a bandage or cold pack or whatever. - Medical service without the patient, including the study of the patient's dossier Doctor or assistant putting this in the computer and issuing invoice -Report written without a form, from 11 to 35 rows

i. The point here is that the I should not pay if a doctor makes me wait. I was not in observation. I waited before the visit.

ii. The cabinet center does not accept any appointment - I asked explicitly and they told me is not possible to make an appointment there. But I admit that the mental flexibility they have might have led them to see just my specific case and now what I needed, and they might have thought "no, is not possible to book first aid assistance" - in that case, I would be speechless...also because was not in need of first aid. So as suggested, could have been a misunderstanding.

iii. The visit was 180 seconds, he touch, no pain, "nothing alarming, bye". No special case, no history check, nothing. I don't even know the doctor name, he was fetched from another room, the same which he returned afterwards. He was clearly checking for first aid worth symptoms, as per bill "first aid visit". He touched and checked it was not broken. And, of course, it wasn't since are months like that. That's it.

The result is that I'll have to go through a specialist since it got worse now, but not enough for a first aid, is a legament inflammation. I'll try through Telmed and being more explicit. And I have plan B to go to a specialist in Italy, but that's OT.

	Quote:	koahiatamadl
	[...] asked them to double check. And then I got a revised much less inflated bill.

So I asked... and by email (thanks @kri)

	Quote:	st2lemans
	This bill seems perfectly normal and reasonable, by no stretch of the imagination is it "inflated".

And apparently was inflated. They voided the invoice and instead of 225 they made me pay 95.

To all the people stating that 150 to a GP for 5 minutes is the norm - trust me, is not normal. And I lived in Zurich, with a family doctor that was accepting walk in visit. Standard GP is in 74-89 range to all my experiences. (DM me if you are curious about which GP I had in Zurich, since seems rare to find these).

With that being said, I would thanks a lot who proactively supported the topic. It was worth.