When the bill goes to collection, it will be reflected on your credit report. You can file a dispute with all three credit bureau saying you are still working with the company.
They won't be able to garnish your wage until they obtained a court judgment, then your HR will have to take the money out of your salary. I don't think $2700 is worth their effort to sue you in court. So this situation is unlikely.
1）官网上明确写了"For the insured who experience a denial—if the health plan denies QNatal Advanced as a “non-covered service,” the patient should pay no more than $300"
最后他们给我bill的amount远远大于这些信息。尤其是官网上非常误导的宣传语“Prenatal screening should be available to all. 76% of patients pay less than $99.”我已经尽力找了官网的关于这个test的价格信息，没有任何一个地方提醒我说这个价格可能会这么高。
The official website should list info for cash price.
This test is unnecessary for a lot of pregnant women and the website is promoting its service. It is very misleading for consumers when the website lists only the low price and didn't mention anything like patients who wanted to pay cash price would need to pay a much higher price...As a regular patient, it is hard to tell the difference between 'insured but denied due to not cover' vs. 'insured but denied due to not authorized'. It is reasonable for me to think that 'not covered' is due to 'not authorized'. Given that the info is listed on its website to promote this service to the general public, I don't think I need to possess expert knowledge in order to interpret the info. Nevertheless, I even called the quest lab before the test and the person was not able to provide me with any useful price info.
In addition, the full cash price itself (2700+) is way higher than the reasonable amount for this kind of test, according to the usual prices charged by different types of medical services. Anyway, I understand it is at the lab's discretion to charge the price. However, as a consumer, I also have the right to receive unbiased information from its official website to facilitate my decision-making. I'll try to keep negotiating with the lab and will bear any consequences.
大家好！我遇到一个棘手的事情想请教：
我收到一个来自Quest Diagnostics的 lab 账单，是关于QNatal Advanced这个test（就是对孕妇的NIPT test），因为我的医生没有authorize（我年龄没到，觉得不需要），我自费做了这个想给宝宝一个额外的保障，但是现在的账单比我做之前收集到的信息高出很多。现在的账单是$2700左右，做之前，我咨询过OB，看到Quest 网站上的信息（下图1），还有做了Quest 网站提供的cost estimate（下图2），最高都不超过$500。包括查了很多的论坛和资料，都没有付超过$500的。
我email了quest 的bill 部门，他们回信说不能减免任何费用。他们提供了financial assistance program，问我的家庭成员数量和家庭收入。我从网上看到他们的assistance program只有在家庭收入6万5之内才可以（对于2个人的家庭来说），我家情况并不满足。
我已经email回信他们，表达了我对这个bill amount非常吃惊，所以不能支付，强调了我下面的两个来自官网的信息，也说了如果知道这个价格超过500的话，我是绝对不会去自费做这个test的（我的保险很好，但是医生没有authorize因为觉得我不必要做，所以保险也denial了）。我也表达了financial assistance program和我问题的本质不符，我的问题在于我实在不愿意付超过我预期这么多的金额。
但是我又担心这个影响我的信用分数，甚至从我的工资那里直接扣掉。请问我如果每隔1星期去follow up和lab商量这个事情，他们会把我的bill卖给collection agency吗？什么情况下会直接从我的工资扣钱呢？我查了一下貌似不会直接从工资扣？
请问大家觉得我应该认了这个surprising bill，付了2700多的钱吗？我还是不愿意和quest lab直接妥协，实在是我已经尽了力在做这个test之前找出我可以知道的cost 信息（我当时打了好几个电话给quest lab，经常是有人接通后去查，然后就直接挂了，所以没有拿到具体多少钱的信息，但是从官网上我看到了以下信息，觉得不至于差太多）。
哎，从收到账单开始已经1个月了，我已经咨询了好几次lab和保险公司都没有用。不知道怎么办，谢谢帮助！！
图1：截图来自官网，说for the insured who experienced a denial, the patient should pay no more than $300（https://www.questwomenshealth.com/pregnancy-and-fertility/pregnant-patients/noninvasive-prenatal-screening）
图2：cost estimate截图（也是官网提供的cost estimate for qnatal test，总价是481）
从网上看到正常的这个test code是92777， 我的账单上的code是CPT code 81420（见下图），我觉得不应该给我这个code，因为我是自费的，应该是92777不是吗？我只能继续打电话去lab问问了。
Billing code 81420
Quest code 92777
List price $2,762.00
Performing lab: Quest Diagnostic Nichols Institute
https://coastalwhc.com/genetic-screening-options?
我今天和Quest lab打了电话，总算有人记录下了我的问题（他们也承认了这个价格和官网不一致，说会进一步investigate，48天后更新）。我最主要的是这个test不是必须的，如果他们的官网（https://www.questwomenshealth.com/pregnancy-and-fertility/pregnant-patients/noninvasive-prenatal-screening） 不是写明patient should not pay more than 300，我根本不会去做这个test。我的ob也说了这个test自费的话，价钱从几十到几百，也没有说可能会超过1000。另外我用了官网的cost estimate，结果也是500以内（保险没有cover的情况下）。所以对我来说，这个是surprising bill。
我觉得钱是小事，但我不愿意妥协付这个surprising bill。
When the bill goes to collection, it will be reflected on your credit report. You can file a dispute with all three credit bureau saying you are still working with the company.
They won't be able to garnish your wage until they obtained a court judgment, then your HR will have to take the money out of your salary. I don't think $2700 is worth their effort to sue you in court. So this situation is unlikely.
有一栏是保险和医疗机构的合同价，一些保险公司称其为our allowance, 用那个价和他们谈，一般他们接受那个价。
这个是我在做test之前就知道的，因为这个test不是我必须的，所以我一早打算自费。当时我的ob说据她的经验，自费做这个nipt test也是最多几百.ob说的只是参考，我也做了功课，主要是根据quest lab的两个官网信息判断这个价格不会超过500（如我原帖中的截图所示）：
1）官网上明确写了"For the insured who experience a denial—if the health plan denies QNatal Advanced as a “non-covered service,” the patient should pay no more than $300"
2) 官网上提供的cost estimator（https://calculator.eligible.com/qnatal? ）
显示我所在的保险的allowed amount是481.40
最后他们给我bill的amount远远大于这些信息。尤其是官网上非常误导的宣传语“Prenatal screening should be available to all. 76% of patients pay less than $99.”我已经尽力找了官网的关于这个test的价格信息，没有任何一个地方提醒我说这个价格可能会这么高。
我不打算付这个amount。接下来等他们的调查结果的更新。如果不行，我只能先找我的ob，看看她能不能补开一个authorization让我的保险支付。如果还是不行，就等从collection agency来通知再说，我到时会像柠檬建议的那样和creidt agencies说我会和collection agency商量解决，请求不要马上降低我的credit score。后面就走一步再看一步。
This test is unnecessary for a lot of pregnant women and the website is promoting its service. It is very misleading for consumers when the website lists only the low price and didn't mention anything like patients who wanted to pay cash price would need to pay a much higher price...As a regular patient, it is hard to tell the difference between 'insured but denied due to not cover' vs. 'insured but denied due to not authorized'. It is reasonable for me to think that 'not covered' is due to 'not authorized'. Given that the info is listed on its website to promote this service to the general public, I don't think I need to possess expert knowledge in order to interpret the info. Nevertheless, I even called the quest lab before the test and the person was not able to provide me with any useful price info.
In addition, the full cash price itself (2700+) is way higher than the reasonable amount for this kind of test, according to the usual prices charged by different types of medical services. Anyway, I understand it is at the lab's discretion to charge the price. However, as a consumer, I also have the right to receive unbiased information from its official website to facilitate my decision-making. I'll try to keep negotiating with the lab and will bear any consequences.
Collection agent, 可能会超过有效期限。找更高一级领导谈。 应该没有问题。