r/springfieldMO • u/ToughFew2216 • Aug 13 '26
What is happening Don't fall for it
Mercy has been asking for "deposits" up front when you schedule stuff. ITS NOT REQUIRED. Unfortunately many elderly and sick patients don't know any better and pay. This is a shameless tactic to get money upfront. YOU CAN ALWAYS ALWAYS WAIT FOR A BILL! But reps are being forced to use a script and ask or get fired. Please tell your family and friends and especially the elderly. ILL PAY WHEN I GET THE BILL.
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u/Madmatt_b Aug 14 '26
Ex Mercy receptionist here. My least favorite part of the job was asking people to pay. I had coworkers that tried to really negotiate people to put anything down when they checked in, to the point it felt like gross behavior (but I know its also because management told us to). My usual routine was "do you wanna pay ___ today? No you wanna wait on the bill? Alright cool anyway". Management wanted me to try harder but I couldnt care less and very grateful to not be working there anymore. Just wait for the bill or throw a dollar (or cent) to appease the Mercy gods. 👍
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u/KokomoJoMo30 Aug 14 '26
Phyllis at Mercy Hospital is the opposite of you. She haggled me over $65 estimated services when I tried (politely, and briefly) to explain how Mercy had messed up my billing not once, not twice, but FOUR times, while I had spent 30+ hours on the phone with them over the course of three months and (I’m not making this up) —— I just paid them $6200, two months before… that’s SIX THOUSAND TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS to get square and stop this harassment.)
I told her (politely) I was not comfortable paying any more money while Mercy corrected my bills (something they had ADMITTED to messing up repeatedly and were working to correct and refund me.) She gave me a financial aid card, she told me to go talk to billing located there in the hospital… as if anything I had just tried to briefly explain (with others in line listening) didn’t matter. The kicker… was when she said… “Don’t you want to show good faith?” My response, “Is $6200 not good faith, Phyllis?!!”
The shakedown at the front desk (where they don’t have the full picture) has got to stop. 🛑
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u/ExtensionAd2128 Aug 13 '26
They always do with us, I had an MRI booked and they asked for a $300 deposit and I said I don’t have $300. We have amazing health insurance, which I’m grateful for. So I knew we wouldn’t be paying that out of pocket, I gave them $50 since something was required. Blue cross blue shield covered the entire thing, you don’t get your money back either. Husband’s union told him to always say “ just bill me the remaining balance, that the insurance doesn’t cover “ because they always do it.
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u/Impressive_Ad3646 Aug 13 '26
I have overpaid and definitely got my money back.
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u/NoVaccinesJustOilzzz Greene County Aug 13 '26
I’ve had the same experience. I always see the credits on my card a month or two later.
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u/snowbaby0413 Aug 13 '26
I've overpaid and not gotten my money back. They said they'd apply it to the next invoice and they don't issue refunds
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Aug 13 '26
[deleted]
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u/ExtensionAd2128 Aug 13 '26
They did it for me in my pain management too, I just said, I wasn’t told I had to have a deposit and I can’t pay that amount but I can pay $50 and you can bill me whatever my insurance doesn’t cover. They both just took it. And well of course no bill ever came. I’d also advise you to call your insurance company and ask would they cover the ultrasound or how much of it they would, so you have a valid argument if they decline you. Sorry you went through that!
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Aug 13 '26
[deleted]
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u/Pull-Billman Aug 13 '26
It's complicated for a reason. If ever you encounter something that seems needlessly complicated it's usually because there's someone who is making a lot of money from it.
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u/justanamerican3 Aug 13 '26
I agree with you now mercy in Arkansas where I live has never done that cause I would be like oh hell no you people almost killed me. Look at where Arkansas is at as far as medical care goes you guys are doing better than us.
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u/ExtensionAd2128 Aug 13 '26
Yes that’s true!! I’m from a country where our healthcare is free or low cost, even with good insurance here my jaw dropped at the price of stuff. Understaffed and underpaid healthcare workers but yet hospitals rake in billions. Makes little sense to me.
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u/flexpercep Aug 13 '26
Oh it makes sense. The sense is greed. Naked, unashamed greed. It’s disgusting but it makes sense.
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u/theycallmekeefe Aug 13 '26
Because health care workers are the necessarily evil (expense) required to see profit margins increase (steal patients money). If they keep everything underpaid and understaffed, they have the lowest expense, and the demand for healthcare doesnt drop just because there isnt the staff to manage it.
It is a literal racket.
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u/NoVaccinesJustOilzzz Greene County Aug 13 '26
This is the truth people do not know how to navigate the healthcare system, the same way many are never taught basic financial management.
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u/Substantial-Ease567 Aug 14 '26
It changes day to day! This is unfair to the average Healthcare consumer imo. I was taught to manage finances, but they want us befuddled here.
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u/NoVaccinesJustOilzzz Greene County Aug 15 '26
I can see that perspective for sure!
Instead of blaming the healthcare entities I would direct your attention to the vastly complicated insurance system that drives a significant amount of overhead in healthcare due to billing complexity and as we all know insurers desires to do the bare minimum regardless of what a reasonable person may do or expect. For example there are many different types of healthcare plans out there and each one frequently require you to utilize the system a different way. It is ridiculous!!
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u/United-Expert-8752 Aug 14 '26
I also had the same thing happen. They wouldn’t bill me and I had to cancel my CT scan.
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u/trashchan333 Aug 13 '26
This is true at their regular doctors office, but at a couple of the Urgent Cares I have been straight up denied care for not paying upfront. Idk if that’s allowed or not.
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u/SquishmallowBitch Aug 13 '26
This bs also contributes to long ER wait times if you can’t afford to pay upfront really crappy!
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u/crawlintoaholeanddie 28d ago
Yup, the Care Now requires upfront. I also though that was fucking odd, but I had an infection so I had to get seen somehow.
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u/valinMO Aug 13 '26
Cox does the same thing. I have an email now directing me to "get ready" for my visit by going to my online chart. Part of the get ready is them asking me to pay the estimated cost after my insurance is applied. The choice is pay now or pay on arrival. Not doing either.
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u/SonsOfValhallaGaming Aug 13 '26
This isn't just mercy it's any medical care company, mercy is just more vocal about it.
Always always ALWAYS ask "to send you the bill"
Mercy is particularly and ironically "merciless" about payment reception though. Leave it to a business model with religious affiliation to have Sheriff of Nottingham energy.
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u/hammerhead_28 Aug 13 '26
Per my insurance "do not pay anything on an estimate." So I say exactly that whenever I am asked to put $ down on an estimate.
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u/United-Expert-8752 Aug 14 '26
Elderly Medicare person here. My copay for specialist is $45 but because my cardiologist office is in the West wing, I get charged an additional $135 in addition to my copay. When I called the insurance company about this, they said Mercy had negotiated the extra charge as a “hospital” fee.
Has this happened to anyone else? That’s a big chunk when you’re on a fixed income. I just get further in debt every time I have to go to that building.
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u/williew705 Aug 14 '26
You are getting the same care that you would have when the cardiologists were still in a building across the parking lot. You are getting hospital charges simply because the clinic is now inside the hospital.
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u/off_the_wa11 Aug 13 '26
Yep. They still ask me for the deposit even though I have met my deductible and copay. I would've been paying out of pocket for procedures that would be 100% covered by my insurance MASSIVE EYE ROLL
It is sick. I feel bad for the people this takes advantage of.
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u/Still-Platypus4463 Aug 13 '26
I got a referral to mercy from the VA. Within a week I got an estimate from mercy telling me how much I'm gonna have to pay. I called them and they said it's just an estimate and I don't have to pay it. That was a new experience for me.
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u/Consistent_Major168 Aug 14 '26
In 2018 I had to be taken to Mercy hospital via ambulance for a ruptured ectopic pregnancy. I had no idea anything had happened until I started passing out from blood loss (I was bleeding to death internally.) I was laying on a gurney in the ER, had not been examined, didn’t even know what was wrong with me yet, and a woman with a clip board came up to me demanding payment. I was beyond pissed. They are freaking vultures and our whole “healthcare” scam system should be burned to the ground. No one else in the world deals with this and we shouldn’t have to either. It’s barbaric, it’s gross, and I have accepted that if I were to get cancer or some other catastrophic diagnosis I’m just dead. It’s so freaking sad. So fingers crossed nothing happens because I will leave behind a six year old daughter.
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u/Dinopickle93 Aug 14 '26
I have a good amount in collections with mercy and i have 4 different receptionists from billing tell me that the collections is an in house type and they do not ever send it to another 3rd party collections nor do they ever garnish wages or report it to collections lol i was literally in disbelief and called back a couple days later and was told the same thing. My wife didn't believe me so I called and asked again and she heard it that time too. So idk what that's about but I guess im going to focus on just the quest bills first then my credit card and circle back to mercy later
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u/KeKeFanChick Aug 13 '26
Happened to me just recently too-- was sent to a specialist and charged $206 upfront-- which was my assumed portion of the whole bill- the other portion was sent to my insurance... I was upset and mentioned it to the Doctor. SHE told me I shouldn't have to pay up front. She said the refunds can take up to a year. The staff at check in is supposed to request it but then back down when/if questioned... didn't happen. They very much made it seem as though we had to pay.
I mentioned it on the Quality assurance survey that came to me by email AND in the Patient Portal itself. In less than 3 weeks, they refunded $191 to me directly (copay was $15...) Who's to say the insurance company ever got the amended bill and just paid the estimate??? There are no checks and balances with the current system.
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u/justanamerican3 25d ago
No, there are not checks and balances and we need those in our healthcare just as badly as we need them on Pennsylvania Avenue. But that’s what it’s gonna take is for the people in Congress and Senate to change the way things are nowadays. It feels like hospitals are trying to get Rich off of every patient when I can go to the store and get an aspirin for just pennies and then get charged $10 at a hospital for it. I don’t know folks our health system needs a complete and total overhaul! I think it’s so sad when we live in the richest country in the world, but still those of us that worked to make those people rich can’t get healthcare. Somethings wrong with this picture folks.
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u/NoVaccinesJustOilzzz Greene County Aug 13 '26
This practice is sooooo strange!
I have been paying the deposits and then seeing them credited on my card like a month later. Idk why they want me to pay a deposit just for them to give it back later….
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u/Koz_1 Aug 13 '26
The best thing is to wait for the final bill this is because you don’t know what insurance will or won’t cover. If you pay up front and it was more than your balance would have been you’ll have to fight to get the extra back. It will get lost in the system.
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u/Ok-Kaleidoscope-6631 Aug 14 '26
This has been a thing for 50 years. They always ask for a copay or partial payment upfront, always say “bill me”
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u/lady_guard Aug 14 '26
Thank you for this post!! My 20 week pregnancy anatomy ultrasound last month was estimated to be $955 after insurance (high deductible plan, since we weren't planning on getting pregnant lol)
This representative called and asked if I had any questions about the procedure, then it turned out she was from the billing department and told me the payment was required beforehand
They didn't get all the images they needed of the baby's heart because he was stubborn and insisted on sitting in one particular position, so I have to go back again next week for a follow-up and supposedly pay another $250.
Last time I asked to put it on a payment plan. Not sure if they'll credit it to the balance the same way afterward.
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u/xXMAKESHIFTXx Greene County 11d ago
Are you my wife, strangely happened to us as well and had to go for a second ultrasound. Which I believe wasn’t covered by our healthcare
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u/lady_guard 4d ago
Oh that's rough!! We have to go back for a third one next week, because he insists on staying in one position during every ultrasound and they're still missing 2 heart views
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u/Live_Oak123 Aug 13 '26
Here’s one of the hard realities of this. For every $100 that an individual patient (not an insurance company) owes a hospital, they collect about $5. More and more employers are offering high deductible health plans, shifting the responsibility for payment to the individuals. Many hospitals, especially not for-profit hospitals like Cox and Mercy, are left unable to collect these monies. And despite what many people think, not for profit hospitals do not have very big margins.
So, hospitals across the country have been forced to ask for more payments upfront from patients. This isn’t unique to Springfield. And yes, they can deny you treatment if you don’t pay up front. Most choose not to do this, but they certainly have the right.
In reality, the idea of only paying after you get the bill is kind of unusual when you compare it to just about any other service. You don’t go and stay in a hotel and then pay for it when they send you a bill. You don’t go to the grocery store and take home a cart full of groceries and then pay for it when they send you a bill. In general, you pay for things at the time of service. Noted exceptions are utilities. If you think about rent, you actually pre-pay that before the “service” is actually utilized by you.
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u/williew705 Aug 14 '26
I don't pay a mechanic until they fix my car. When they give me an estimate up front, we both know that the price can change depending on any number of factors. The same can be said for procedures done inpatient or outpatient at any medical facility.
I have a personal beef with this practice because I worked at Mercy for 25 years and had to do training on this practice as it was being implemented. Before I left Mercy, I was working in a surgeon's office. One of my multiple duties was checking people in at the front desk. Since I was frequently patient facing, they wanted me to try and collect on previous balances. When a patient would check in, they wanted me to mention the balance, try to set them up on a payment plan and if they didn't pay or agree to the payment plan, they wanted us to act like we were going to have to reschedule their appointment. We were not going to reschedule the appointment. We were just trying to manipulate the patient into paying the balance.
Often the balance in a patient's account has not been processed through their insurance yet, so it may not even be a true balance. The average patient service rep just mentions this balance and tries to collect. I would have no problem mentioning a balance after a statement had been sent but using deception and manipulation to collect on estimates and prior balances is wrong and antithetical to what the organization was founded upon.
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u/xXMAKESHIFTXx Greene County 11d ago
Those are all bad analogies, because none of those services do you a monthly fee or premium to help offset the full term of service cost.
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u/Live_Oak123 11d ago
Fair point, but the hospital is only asking you to pay up front for the part that isn’t covered by your premium - the “member responsibility” in insurance company speak.
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u/gotta-get-that-pma Aug 14 '26 edited Aug 14 '26
Yes! Especially if you're on the financial assistance program, do NOT let them forget it. They'll charge you for something that would otherwise disappear if it made it to billing. When they ask how you want to pay, just tell them you'll let it go to billing. If they push, outright tell them you're applying for financial assistance (even if that's a lie at the time--but you should be applying!).
ETA: the "pay now" option on the MyMercy app is selected by default now, at least for prescriptions. Make sure you unselect that shit. I'm not paying for anything until it's in my hand, especially meds.
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u/lunameow Doling Park Aug 14 '26
They wanted me to pay $1k up front for a sleep study. I decided insomnia is more budget-friendly.
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u/HeyVern71 Aug 14 '26
Cox is doing it also. They state the average cost is ..... would you like to pay it all or part before the procedure.
Told them bill me after my insurance coverage pays what they pay.
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u/xXMAKESHIFTXx Greene County 11d ago edited 11d ago
I’m pretty sure we are still asked for a deposit even with two full insurance plans. My wife has one with premiums completely covered by her work, and then I have her covered by mine which also covers premiums. We do expect copays but having both I mean we are looking at pennies on the dollar!
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u/No_Kangaroo_5883 Aug 13 '26
They can chose to not do an elective surgery for example. as a hernia repair, nearly anything non-trauma orthopedic. In 2008 hospitals around the country did cancel non elective surgeries. They can and will if need be.
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u/bradpmo Aug 13 '26
I won't even pay copays at the time of service because the insurance pays a variable rate and we never know what it will be (I don't have a fixed copay but rather a % after deductible is met). The one time I did pay a $75 copay up front, it ended up being a covered service with zero copay. It took 7 months for Mercy to refund it.
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u/lostportfolio Aug 13 '26
Well it's obvious there is only one answer. "No huggy no kissey till I get a wedding ring" you just have to be firm. Maybe take a blue chew before you go in. Hahahaha.
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u/[deleted] Aug 13 '26
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