I left my old job in December 2015 - I was offered COBRA benefits that could be retroactively enabled up to 60 days after I left the payroll. My new job didn't start until mid-January (I wanted a long vacation) - I saw my doctor (a specialist) in the week before I started my new job. I didn't think anything of it because I thought I'd just enable COBRA and not bear any significant expense (beyond the cost of COBRA itself).
I received the bill from my doctor in late January. For $615 (!!) - this was because they billed my old insurer they had on-file who said I wasn't covered anymore - and proceeded to invoice me instead. Fair enough, as I hadn't retroactively enabled COBRA.
After I got the bill, I looked at the COBRA paperwork and saw it was approximately $500/month (plus an additional $50 for dental coverage). $500 is still less than $615 - but then I remembered my old insurance had a $1500 deductible that is reset every January. So I'd have to pay $500 plus the $615 bill anyway as that's under the annual deductible. Total out-of-pocket: $1115; so when mid-February came I decided to not retroactively enable COBRA and thought I'd pay the bill myself.
I know that you can negotiate medical bills down ( How can I negotiate a medical bill that seems excessive? ) so I called up my doctor's billing office and discussed options - without much persuation I got them down to 20% off and paying the balance over 6 months (they said the 20% discount is for all uninsured patients paying with cash). I said I'd call back the next day to confirm, but I neglected to. I thought I would find my old EOB paperwork to find out what discount my insurer used to get (because I'm certain it was for more than 20% - I'd get them to match that, then I'd pay them the smaller amount).
However, tonight I was paying a whole slew of bills off and I thoughtlessly paid-off my Doctor's bill using their online credit card service - I had completely forgot about the discount I was trying to get.
So I've inadvertently paid-off a medical bill for the full amount of $615 using their online collections service when I wouldn't have had to pay more than $492.
What's the best way (assuming it's possible) for me to ask my doctor for the 20% discount they mentioned to be applied to my account and get that amount put back on my credit card?
(I note that I'm paying with my "normal" credit card because my remaining HSA balance is insufficient to cover the bill)