In a message dated 97-08-24 09:46:10 EDT, (Michael Sachs) writes: > By the way, we stood firm and Mom stopped arguing with the front desk > fairly quickly. The child did come in for his third Hep-B that afternoon > (without an office visit), they said a very nice goodbye, and I felt guilty > for my previous post calling them obnoxious. > Reminds me of an episode with a family we had several years ago that ended differently. They were moving to another part of the state, and brought 2 or 3 of their kids in for one last check-up before they left. This was a PPO, not an HMO plan. We saw them, gave them a list of pediatricians in the new area, and said goodbye. At the desk, mom said she didn't have her checkbook, could we send her a bill? They were not problem patients in the past. Mom gave us her new address. We sent a bill--it came back marked "no such address" or something similar. The insurance had been cancelled. Their local mail was not being forwarded. We never figured out if they really moved, or if they did, where. That balance is still with the collections agency, but they have had no luck, either. Moshe Adler, MD