[masraum]

Someone that I know scheduled an appt to go see a Dr for a cosmetic consultation. When the appt was made, no mention was made of a consultation fee/charge. Four other Drs were seen for the same consultation, two did not charge, and two advised when the appt was made that they would be charging a consultation fee (which seems fair and is not a problem). While seeing the Dr, the Dr said "I think you have medical problem X." (somewhat related to the consultation). About 3/4 of the way through the consultation, the Dr asked "do you have insurance" and then said "ok, we'll charge your insurance."

There's now a bill. The office was asked what the consultation fee is, and it's normally $100. What the person's insurance was charged was over $600, presumably because the Dr said "I think you have medical problem X". (The charge is for "Office Consultation co Patients Responsibility."

To me, this sounds very crooked. It sounds like the Dr and/or his office has a scam in place to increase their profits. (no tests were done, no equipment used, this was a diagnosis made based on visual inspection.) The person was told "do a search for my videos on youtube about this subject.

Does this seem like a scam?

What is the best course of action to tell the Dr to piss off on the amount that the person's insurance didn't pay and is there a good reason to try to get the portion that the insurance paid refunded?

The person is happy to pay a reasonable amount for a consultation, but this seems too much and like a scam.