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Billing malfunction.. My wife and I took childbirth classes at Baptist Hospital on 10/22/11. At these childbirth classes we were informed of payment options available for labor and delivery. One of these payment options was to pay the estimated remainder in full in advance of delivery. Doing so would grant a 20% discount according to a pre-patient specialist whose name I have chosen not to mention. Therefore, on 11/14/11 my wife paid the estimated remaining amount of $770.10. Any additional costs i.e. C-section or other complications would be added to the bill and we would owe those charges but still be eligible for the 20% discount. This amount and 20% discount were to be applied to the birth of our daughter. On 2/2/12 we received a bill for labor and delivery costs from 12/6/11. No 20% discount was applied, and the $770.10 we paid in advance was nowhere to be found. My wife called Baptist hospital. She was told the 20% and the $770.10 was applied to an overnight stay on 11/22/11. Now, this bill, according to the gentleman on the phone, was $466.07. Where is this bill? This bill has yet to be sent. There is no proof of this bill or receipt of this payment. My wife asked why the 20% and the $770.10 were applied to this bill and not to our labor and delivery. The gentleman stated that “they assumed that you were going to give birth that day.” So our advance payment was applied to an incorrect hospital stay based on the assumption of the billing department? When my wife requested that the issue be corrected, she was told that it was too late because the payment had already been applied. Again, no receipt or bill to prove this. Also not on the bill from 12/6/11 is the remainder of the $770.10 of $397.24. If my wife had not called to question the bill, where would that money have gone? To Baptist’s pocket? Now we are being told that the bill for labor and delivery on 12/6/11 is not eligible for the 20% discount unless the bill is paid in full. We are very thankful for the care of the nurses and doctors of Baptist Hospital. We are very blessed to have a healthy baby. My issue is with the mixup of the billing department and their refusal to correct their mistakes.…
