So I got a bill yesterday for a procedure at Iowa Radiology. This is a bill for $327. I do not have a spare $327 laying around, so I'm looking at the bill trying to figure out what this is for, espicially considering that it doesn't make any sense and I had already thought I had paid my portion of the bill for my visit to Iowa Radiology. So last night, when I opened this, I was a bit miffed, because both principal and the billing center it came from were both closed so I couldn't ask them what was going on.

So the bill didn't look like it had been reduced by my insurance, or paid by my insurance, so I was curious there too.

So I called the billing center and they said that they had submitted the bill to my insurance and my insurance refused the bill. But the bill is still under review and that's what the coding on the bill: PMT*CODING REVIEW meant. Like I'm supposed to know that.

So I called my insurance carrier and asked them what was going on, and after finding the bill, they said the procedure charge wasn't consistant with what I was going there for, so they were asking for medical records.

So I called the billing place back to tell them to send my medical records to my insurance and they said it was their standard procedure.

I then called my doctor's office and requested that they send the information to my insurance company and they said they would do so.

So now...I sit here and wait. The billing place said no charges would be assessed because it is under review, but this sure looks like a bill to me.

I remember when I talked to my doctor, and she said that the reason why I was getting these scans was to make sure that my heart and kidneys were well functioning so that when I went on the medication that they put me on, I wouldn't die from, oh I don't know, kidney or heart failure.

Is fraud so prevelant that insurance companies have a right to question a doctor's request for tests?