Penrose St. Francis is a "charitable hospital" that is affiliated with the Catholic religion but its practices are far from charitable toward the uninsured or underinsured. The doctors and nurses on the night shift staff are far more likely to stereotype you and then talk down to you and even, in some cases, lie outright. And then the billing department practices use heavy handed bullying techniques and outright unethical practice of balance billing in hopes that the patient is gullible enough to pay whatever it is they are asking for.
Penrose St. Francis has a contract with my insurance to accept the "allowable charges" as payment in full. They attempted to violate that contract and also violated ethical practice rules by sending me two different bills that amounted to more than ten thousand dollars worth of illegal charges. I know this was not just a matter of "we didn't know better" because they have charged me according to the terms of the contract many times when only small amounts of money were dropped from the bill due to the contractual agreement. However, when the "allowable charges" would rightfully have caused them to have to adjust their bill by $4700, and $5900 on two separate bills, the billling department tried to tell me I had to pay the full balance when in reality I OWED THEM NOTHING. As soon as I confronted them and told them I knew they could not use the unethical practice of "balance billing" and told them to call my insurance agent they backed down because they realized I was not the gullible mark they were hoping I would be.
I am writing this report because my concern is for the trusting and gullible people who may be suckered into making a deal with these people and thereby, become contractually obligated to pay the amounts that they do not legally or ethically owe according to the terms of the contract this hospital has with their insurance company.
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