I underwent prostate cancer treatment in Dr. Ding's office in Lawrenceville, NJ. The initial visit took place in the summer of 2023.
Unfortunately, nobody wears badges in the office, so I can't refer to them by their last name.
Dr. Ding recommended radiation therapy, then nurse Jennifer explained some details and took me to the financial / insurance adviser, Lory, to go over the coverage options and out-of-pocket payments for the treatment.
Lory told me my current Medicare insurance is not the best coverage to have and my best option is to wait for the enrollment period at the end of the year and change my current Medicare plan to Medicare Advantage plan, and possibly add Medicare Supplement plan that covers a co-pay.
Unlike a stroke, prostate cancer is a slow-going process and half-a-year delay in treatment should not present a significant risk. Nevertheless, any delay with treatment is still undesirable and still presents risk. I took such a risk based on recommendations from the insurance adviser, Lory.
In December of 2023, when talking to multiple agents of multiple Medicare Advantage plans a lot of things were discovered.
First, I didn't need to wait for the enrollment period at all. I could have changed my plan in the summer and start the radiation therapy right away. The first enrollment in Medicare part B can take place in any month throughout the year. And by law, the plan, one is enrolled in, can be modified within 6 months from the day of the first enrollment. I enrolled in April 2023 and talked to Lory in July of 2023. My insurance card was in her hands with enrollment dated just 3 months prior. It looks like she does not know much about enrollment or changing plan rules. By recommending to "wait until enrollment period at the end of the year" she postponed my treatment without reason.
Second, on first enrollment in Medicare part B (and within 6 months from the enrollment date) insurance can't deny enrollment based on pre-existing conditions. Insurance companies are not even allowed to ask any medical questions. This is what the law says. I was denied the Supplement plan everywhere. Why? Because I missed the deadline based on the same "wait until the end of the year" recommendation from the financial / insurance adviser in Dr. Ding's office. This was absolutely wrong and unprofessional statement.
When a patient gets recommendations from the doctor for a medical treatment, he expects for these recommendations and directions to be correct for his treatment. When a technician or a nurse in the doctor's office, who operates the radiation machine, tells him to move up or down on the bench to properly align with the radiation head, the patient is supposed to follow such directions. He expects these directions are correct, and as a result of following them, it will be the prostate that will be irradiated and not his heart. Same way, when the insurance / financial advisor in the doctor's office provides certain recommendations, the patient expects that the office representative knows the subject and recommendations he got are also correct. It is not an office obligation to explain types of insurance coverage and payment options to the patient. Nevertheless, if the medical office choses to do so, such recommendations should be correct and should not be wrong or misleading.
I could have had a supplemental coverage for $36 to $39 monthly to cover co-pay. This comes to less than $450 for a year of coverage I needed. I've already paid $560, which is already more than $450.
On top of this, Dr. Ding's office wants me to pay $1,962 for their mistake.
Originally, I talked on this matter to Dr. Ding himself. He said that he isn't involved in anything other than medicine and passed me to his manager, Erin. I have had a conversation with Erin, she took some notes, made a copy of the sheet with notes that Lory put down for me and promised to resolve the problem. She never did. Next conversation I had was with Stephany, a new manager, because Erin left the office. She said she will talk to Erin and Lory to verify the circumstances. She never did.
After my initial conversation with the new manager, I asked her on two different occasions if she talked to the financial / insurance adviser, Lori, to verify our conversation and what she said to me at that time. Her answers were "no" the first time and "no" the second time. The office manager did not even bother to check the facts.
First they made a mistake, then they refused to investigate what really happened, then they failed to admit that some wrongdoing took place on their side. Next, they want the customer to pay out of his pocket for their mistake. At this point they moved to collections. Not how an honest business should operate, in my opinion.
I'm very disappointed with Dr. Ding's cancer center and would not recommend it. read more
