Medical Bill

I was discharged from the hospital without a single dollar payment.
After two days, someone called to inquire how I would settle the bill. they couldn’t give me yet an amount. They just said the bill would be sent in two to three weeks.

After a few more days, I received a professional bill summary in the mail for the ultrasound amounting to $144.00, about the same amount I paid to Cardinal Santos Hospital every time I had my routine whole abdomen ultrasound.

Hindi nga ako humihinga nung binubuksan ko yung envelope at baka mamutla ako sa laki ng babayaran ko.

Kaiser deducted $115 from my bill which leaves me with only $28.80 to pay. The $115.20 is covered with insurance. I don’t have any medical insurance here in the US, even in the Philippines.

Today, I phoned Kaiser’s financial services to find out when they’re going to send me the rest of the bill. I am a little anxious not knowing how much I owed them. Syempre that’s my obligation and I want to make sure that when I go home, I don’t owe them anything.

The lady who answered the phone said that as of today, my hospital bill is $5,469.29. That’s actually discounted daw from the original $18,485.95 plus professional bills. She said she doesn’t know if that amount would still go up, if there are still charges that haven’t been included yet.

From the almost $20,000 bill, they gave me a huge discount of $13,000 maybe because I don’t have an insurance. They’re so bait naman. Maybe I qualified under the US poverty line financial program.

It’s a big relief to know that my bill is so far down to $5,469.29.
It would be nicer if that amount would go down even further.

The lady working at Kaiser’s Financial Services advised me to go to their office and pay the bill using credit card, instead of mailing the payment.

When I called, I tried very hard to make sure I pronounced the words correctly kasi pag dito sa America, hindi nila maintindihan ang English ko kasi ang tigas ng accent. When the woman answered, the same thing, I made sure my pronunciation was decent. Then she said “ay teka”.
That made things easier for both of us.
OMB——–“Pilipino ka?”