I wrote an email to a doctor I that I used to go to, and they replied that since I haven't visited them for several months, I'm no longer their patient and I should find another doctor.
Fine. But now I see that they also charged my insurance for Fr. 30 for this email reply.
Is this normal or should I contest it? They used to charge me for basic communication when I was their patient, but an email telling me I'm no longer a patient should hardly count as "Therapeutic counselling by specialist", right?
You don't need our advice to challenge a charge you think is bogus. Just call your insurance to explain and challenge it and let them contest it for you. If it works it works if not you have been Switzerlanded.
I wonder if they would have charged you also if the email was automatically generated, such as: "Dr XXXXX is on holiday until DD/MM/YYYY. In emergency dial 112"
I would challenge it on the basis that the reply was administrative and not medical. But did they really tell you to "find another doctor" ? Don't they want you back as a patient ?
I would question this strongly. If people get bumped off a patient list because they’ve not seen their doctor for ‘several months’ there must be thousands of people that suddenly find themselves in the same position. I haven’t seen my GP in probably a couple of years.
Even if it’s a nuisance, I would recommend you find a new doctor anyway. You don’t need that kind of bad service.
We’ve just begun to receive copies of invoices sent directly to the insurance company by our Dr. At an appointment in February I had my second (of two) Shingrex vaccines. The previous November I had purchased the two doses at the pharmacy,which sent the bill to the insurance. I had the first injection and was told to leave the second with them.
So in March I get the copy of the Dr.s bill expecting to see a charge for preparing and making the injection. 175.00 francs!
I’ve written to the clinique and have asked them to justify the charge. If I don’t hear soon I’m going to send it to the insurance company and let them deal with it.
Yes, but there should be a limit to how much we can stretch this excuse. If it was an e-mail reply to inform the patient how long to continue taking some medication or to stop a pill, it is acceptable. But charging an existing patient just to tell him that you don't want him as a patient any more is absurd in my opinion.
This is basically incentivising the doctors (and any other professional to be honest) to start charging for whatever reason they think can bring them more money with the least amount of effort, driving the insurance premiums to the sky.
I had a similar case, was charged about 50 CHF a couple of times and I couldn't care less because my insurance was paying anyway. I informed the insurance that they should challenge this and it turns out they preferred to pay this than challenge it on the basis of a reasonable charge. And I had to go through admin hoops to save the insurance some money, this is crazy...
What's next? They charge you for making an appointment? Or even more, asking for an appointment and not getting one? Sitting in the waiting room and using the chair (should have stand you lazy bastard)?
Definitely weird, when my doctor retired I wanted to register with another local practice. They told me they had a waiting list but when they checked their computer they said I had visited them eight years ago so I was officially their patient, no problem.
It's a psychiatrist, so maybe they have different expectations than GPs? They even added in the email as a sort of "friendly advice" that in Switzerland psychiatrists like to see their patients on a regular basis.
Anyways, I'll call my insurance tomorrow and see what they say.
The health insurance rep said there's nothing they can do about it, and only the doctor can cancel the charge. They advised me to either confront the doctor directly about it (a stupid idea for obvious reasons), or talk to a lawyer.
As this is only Fr. 30, I'll just let it go and maybe write him a bad review.
For me it was also similar and I decided not to pursue any further, especially since the insurance was paying, but there should be a way to stop this abusive behaviour.
Every time I get my child to the paediatrician, at the end of the consultation we are asked if we have Paracetamol at home. We say yes and the answer is that it doesn't matter, it is good to have more, so we are given a box and charged for this, I guess at a premium rate. We have about 6 or 7 boxes at home, most of them unopened. Isn't this a waste of resources or what??? But of course such a thing can be pulled off because nobody is gonna contest it: Parents don't give a damn because they only pay 10% up to CHF 300 so we are talking about a Franc tops on their bill, insurances don't even care, but in the end, the paediatrician makes a nice profit out of it.