HENRICO COUNTY, Va. — A Henrico woman whose mother died of breast cancer at any early age contacted CBS 6 for help after fighting a bill for a preventative mammogram at a Bon Secours Mercy Health imaging facility in Short Pump that she said her insurance covered in full.
"My mother died of breast cancer when she was 48, so I have been getting mammograms since the age of 30. I am a real advocate for it, I never miss one,” Sue Molnar said.
Molnar visited the Bon Secours Short Pump Imaging Center on West Broad Street on July 29th of last year for her annual mammogram.
She said the facility was in-network with her Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance, and she knew her patient responsibility would be zero because the mammogram was considered preventative care.
Thankfully her results showed no health issues, but in September she received an unexpected bill from Bon Secours Mercy Health for $744.63.
"Preventative care mammograms are covered at 100% through my insurance, and there was not supposed to be any patient responsibility as long as you go to an in-network provider," Molnar said.
Molnar showed documentation from her insurance verifying her patient responsibility should have been $0.
"Patient copay is zero, patient deductible is zero, so my patient responsibility is zero," she said.
Despite disputing the bill for months, she continued receiving bills.
By February, a collection notice arrived in the mail.
"It makes me mad because I'm doing everything I am supposed to be doing. I pay my bills on time," Molnar said. "It can affect your credit rating, which I did not want to have happen."
Since September, Molnar said she has spent 20 hours disputing the bill to no avail.
She believes the hospital chain charged a certain amount for the mammogram, and Blue Cross Blue Shield paid what they believed to be the agreed-upon amount for the procedure, but that amount was far less than what Bon Secours Mercy Health charged.
"My insurance paid the agreed-upon amount with Bon Secours, but they are balance billing me for the $744," she said.
In April, Molnar communicated with Bon Secours Mercy Health's customer service team via the patient portal, and they verified her patient responsibility was zero.
Yet in July, she received another bill for $744.63.
Soon after she saw our recent story profiling Chesterfield resident Heather Atkinson, who described a similar situation with Bon Secours Mercy Health regarding a preventative cancer screening that her insurance had already paid for from her health reimbursement arrangement (HRA), and yet month after month she received a bill for the MRI.
Watch: Insurance paid her hospital bill. So why does the hospital claim she still owes $1,474?
"It made me call you. I don't know what else to do," Molnar said.
From what Atkinson has been able to determine, she believes she was caught in the middle of a disagreement between her insurance and the hospital chain over the price of her MRI.
"If there is a discrepancy between what Bon Secours and the insurer believe to be the allowable rate, that is really a contractual dispute between the two companies that doesn't have anything to do with me," Atkinson said. "I don't feel I should be responsible for that. You should work that out with Aetna and you should not place the burden on me to continue following up to get people to pursue this."
Both women fear these billing issues could discourage other women from seeking important preventative care.
"I'm frustrated, but I'm also sad because I think it leads people to not want to get that preventative care mammogram that's so important," Molnar said.
When CBS 6 reached out to Bon Secours Mercy Health about both women's issues, the hospital system took immediate action.
While Hipolit was interviewing Molnar, a customer service representative from Bon Secours Mercy Health called her and said her bill was adjusted to reflect zero patient responsibility.
The same thing happened with Atkinson after our interview with her.
In a statement, spokesperson Jenna Green said: "While these recent cases have brought attention to areas for improvement, they represent a very small fraction of our overall patient interactions. They have provided helpful insights that led us to promptly enhance our internal processes. We have already implemented adjustments within our Customer Service team to more quickly identify and resolve similar issues moving forward. We continue to review additional workflows to further strengthen our approach."
CBS 6 is committed to sharing community voices on this important topic. Email your thoughts to the CBS 6 Newsroom.
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