SEP MED 1,546.65-
SEP MED 194.25-
NOV MED 896.65
(the first two figures were deducted by NUH. The last figure of 896.65 was credited back by NUH after I found out that they have overcharged me)
Above is extracted from a CPF statement. I dunno whether is it on purpose or a mistake. But they can never prove that it was an innocent mistake (cuz there should always be a 2nd and 3rd round checks when it comes to money!)
I went to claim from company insurance to get this reimbursed. It was a minor day surgery that I had. Somemore on that day, when I was paying the money, I politely asked for the total that I have to pay by cash (ie. total exclude amount covered by CPF which they claimed). I happily and nicely paid a couple of hundred dollars which they said it's consultation and dunno what.
I asked them exactly how much will they deduct from my CPF. They said they dunno, but should be around $1000. So I figured it should be around $800 to $1000+
Then the final invoice came and I forwarded to the company insurance reimburse for the amount my medisave has been deducted for. Then the insurance company got lotsa query and question why the amount so high. They requested that I get the exact name of the surgery from NUH before they can process the claim.
I went back, asked the doc, the doc said dunno, pushed to the nurse. The nurses went into a room behind their cashier counter for a VERY long time before one of them came out to tell me to go home and someone would call me on this.
One week later, one NUH staff called and said the nurse keyed in the wrong code! There was no sense of apology from the NUH staff at all. What? Arrogance is part of NUH's company culture or what. She didn't apologise and didn't sound friendly (though she wasn't rude either) at all. You see... if you give ppl the wrong change, you will at least have a bit of nice attitude when correcting your own mistake. This staff sounded so indifferent. Could they be doing this to patients all the time that the staff are immuned to it and forget to apologise??
I just wanted to get the part with the insurance cleared ASAP. So I asked the nurse to give me a new bill. So she did. And a week later, NUH called again and said I owed them money. I said "WHAT!?!?" "First, you said the cash amount is this xxx, and the rest will be settled by CPF. And I did pay the $xxx. Then you said you keyed in the wrong code, overcharged me and over deducted money from my CPF. Now you said I owe you money?"
The staff insisted that she was right. But my argument was: if there was still outstanding, I would have gladly paid at NUH before this whole saga. They were the one who told me that I have already settled all the outstanding in cash (after minusing the medisave portion). Now they said still have some money that I have to go down and settle.
Again, this staff didn't apologise about the mistake of overcharging me. Instead, she talked like she expected me to sound apologetics.
I told her sternly that if nobody sent me a note of apology, I will not pay. She said the mistake is not done by her (like not her problem at all).
After some time, another staff called. Also the same thing. Not apologetic at all and demand for payment. So once again I pointed out what is wrong with them and what I asked for was an official apology and I will make the payment. The staff said the mistake has nothing to do with her, cuz it was done by another staff. So I finally gave it a last straw by saying, "After all the mistakes, none of NUH staff apologises to me. But you all waste no time in asking me to pay up the remaining sum. which popped out to me out of nowhere. Would you like me to email to Mr and ask him whether I need to pay up?" Then hor... for the very very first time, the NUH staff apologised. Then I asked her to resend the bill (so that I can finally make the payment). But to date, I hear nothing (probably the girl freaked out and forgot totally about it).
So friends, next time you go NUH, make sure you go thru every single details in the bill (the name of medication, treatment, surgery and what does each do?) It's ok if you have stand at the cashier counter for half an hour to query. Cuz if you are overcharged, nobody will say sorry to you
