Excessive medical charge

[hongkong7]

i recently had 2 skin moles removed at St Pauls Outpatient department for the charge of 5700 HKD - no sutures needed just skin strips applied. The charge i thought was a little excessive but since i did not have time to shop about i paid in full .

The main problem is that when i asked the Dr to fill in my Blue Cross Medical Claims form ( one page with diagnosis declartion and signature required) i was then asked to pay an additional 250 HKD on top of the 5700 - just to sign my insurance form.

Previously doctors have always just signed this form as part of the consultation so i felt i was being taken for a ride .

Subsequent enquiries to the patient liason officer were not successful who insisted i had to pay an extra $250 just to get the claim form filled ( not a medical report or copies of records etc )

Has anyone else encountered Drs charging for filling in the insurance claim from? Is this really standard practice as far as HK private hospitals go ? Is $250 excessive for such a minor proceedure ? Anyone know where i can make further compaint for overcharge since the complaint directly to St Pauls got me nowhere.

The amount of money is small but i really feel it is a ripoff to be charged sepeartely to fill in the claim form

[Loz_2]

I imagine the doctor would probably argue that the $250 may be based on the time taken to fill in the form. Assuming it takes 5 minutes to fill out a form, that is about HKD3,000/hr which seems not unreasonable.

[hongkong7]

yes i looked at the hospital authority web site and they chrge for this sort of thing too - thanks for the reply guess i just have to pay up - makes me appreciate my own Dr even more he never charges to fill in claim forms

[PSMaverick]

Its common and remember, the insurer may not pay you for that charge!