Update: medical ins. co. rep said to hold off paying the bill, which we are disputing since they ARE supposed to cover everything beyond the copay. Needless to say, we are disputing the giant bill we got in the mail.

Incompetence. How the bleep hard can it be to get the paperwork right? Ins. co. will probably blame the therapy provider's office staff, and the office staff will probably say the ins. co. fouled it up.

Either way, of COURSE we got a Bill from Hell on a Friday and have to stew over it for a weekend before hearing anything back. Same as when I was single and injured my knee 14 years ago -- different insurance plan and company, same problem. I'd get five separate, incorrectly billed physical therapy bills on a Friday, and have to be annoyed all weekend before calling on the following Monday morning to get the issue fixed.

The US health care system is still a mess. Incompetence and non-caring is part of the problem. The rest of the problem is that even WORKING PEOPLE can get socked by a bill that still remains standing after it's been disputed (or that can't be disputed). I can't imagine how an indigent family would scrape together funds to pay a bill like we just got in the mail.