Action News Troubleshooters: Patient's $15K medical bill reduced to $0
On top of battling a brain tumor, Dominick Pizzo of West Grove found himself battling his hospital over a bill that started out at $2,100 then shot up to more than $15,000.
Pizzo underwent a procedure called CyberKnife to remove a portion of it.
A few weeks later, he got a bill for $2,140.
"So I called to make arrangements with someone that affects income and the woman on the other end said, 'Don't worry about it, It's under review,'" Pizzo said.
He says representative at Crozer-Keystone Health Systems told him not to pay anything until he got a new bill.
The problem is a couple weeks later, his new bill was a staggering $15,000!
It was a big blow especially to Pizzo whose wife works seven days a week to keep the family afloat.
"She looked at it and she was devastated like 'what's going on here? Why us?'" Pizzo said.
That's when Pizzo reached out to me for help. And the Action News Troubleshooters got to work and got real results for Pizzo.
With the help of our Call for Action volunteers, the Troubleshooters got Pizzo's $15,000 surgery bill reduced to zero!
"When I saw the zero balance, I was so excited, I got my wife, gave her a hug and said, 'Something's taken care of, somebody's looking out for us,'" Pizzo said.
Crozer-Keystone Health Systems tells the Troubleshooters in part, "In this patient's case, there was an inadvertent error in how the claim was initially processed by the insurance carrier. CKHS resubmitted a corrected claim."
Pizzo was very thankful to the Call for Action volunteer to help him.
"Thank you so much. You guys are fantastic. You treated us like family. You really did. I appreciate it. I'm tearing up because it's a great burden off our shoulder. I can't thank you folks enough," Pizzo said.
Pizzo is one of many Action News viewers asking for help over a medical bill mistake.
While the Troubleshooters are always happy to help when it comes to fighting a medical bill, we've found a couple other good services.
The Patient Advocate Foundation helps patients with chronic and debilitating illnesses negotiate bills for free.
And if you have a case for the Troubleshooters, let me know about it by reaching out to me on social media or here.
You can also call us at 1-866-978-4232 weekdays from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m.
ONLINE:
Patientadvocate.org
Healthadvocate.com/
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