Showing posts with label Scams. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Scams. Show all posts

Best Banks NOT!! Save Money With Credit Unions Instead! - Free, No Fee Checking, Saving Accounts, ATMs, etc.

Latest update: January 6, 2023. Page URL indicates original publication date; meanwhile, times change and the updates continue.

Money saved is worth more than money earned; money saved is tax free. Credit unions and certain other financial institutions are much better than national banks and credit card companies. Pay fewer, lesser, and no fees.

Forget: Chase Bank, Ally Bank, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, and all the rest of them. They all may claim they have free checking and savings accounts, but there is invariably fine print in their conditions that will cause you grief.

A special mention about Bank of America. "Fees" are their middle name. Why any consumer would do business with them is beyond me.


People often ask,
  • What is the best bank in a given location?
  • What is the best bank for a specific kind of customer?
Rephrasing the question to "What is the best financial institution?" is the way to find what's best.

It is positively amazing how many people put up with all the fees many banks and other financial institutions attach to their savings, checking, and credit card accounts. Those banks and financial institutions will keep on doing this as long as the consumer keeps letting them get away with it. There is no excuse for the consumer to tolerate these kinds of bank fees when there are so many better alternatives available.

Avoid National Banks and National Credit Card Companies

National and local credit unions and local banks are the way to go.

The average consumer should never do business with a national bank or national credit card company. Check out your locally owned banks; even better, check out your local or national credit unions. National debit card companies might be OK: read the fine print.


Customers who have followed the above principles:

  • Have not paid any monthly account fees in decades.
  • Have not paid any check fees in decades.
  • Have not paid any credit or debit card transaction fees in decades.
  • Have always been paid higher interest on their savings.
  • Have always paid lower interest on their loans.
  • Have always experienced the bliss of fewer and lesser fees all-around.

What Exactly Is a Credit Union?

A credit union in the United States is technically a co-op arrangement among members. Those members with money make deposits. Those members who need money take out loans.

The spread between the interest paid to members with savings and the interest collected from members with loans is supposed to be no larger than what will cover the co-op’s expenses.

The covered expenses also enable both savers and borrowers to have free checking accounts, no-annual-fee debit and credit cards, and many other free or lesser fee services. Many countries have these same co-op type institutions; they are just known by different names.

About Credit Union Membership

With banks, you are a customer. With credit unions, you are a member.

It used to be difficult to become a member of a credit union. The usual requirement being you were working for a specific employer. In fact, many times the credit union was actually named after the employer. Many of these credit unions are still in existence today.

Membership requirements these days are much more open. Every credit union has unique criteria.

 Credit unions did not come up with the idea of membership requirements. Federal regulations require members of credit unions to have something in common, usually being the mutual employer scenario.

However, other criteria can now be used; just being a member of a certain profession is a good example.

What opened the floodgates is the now current use of geographical location as to what determines eligibility. In other words, are you and the credit union in the same county? If so, congratulations; you are a member. The credit union website will clearly spell out the eligibility requirements to become a member.

f you do not qualify, it is neither their fault nor yours; federal regulations are federal regulations. The good news is your chances of success are fairly high. Worst case scenario is you merely proceed to your local bank instead.

Internet-based financial institutions are also worth checking out, but be very careful and check their reputations and fee schedules with a fine-toothed comb.

The Good, the Bad, the Ugly.


About Your Local Banks and Credit Unions: The Good

Here is the normal fee structure at your good, locally owned banks and credit unions:

  • There are no membership fees. 
  • There are no annual or monthly credit card fees.
  • There are no annual or monthly debit card fees.
  • Savings accounts have no monthly or other fees. A minimum balance requirement of a couple hundred bucks or less is acceptable.
  • Checking accounts have no monthly fees and no minimum balance requirements. The requirement you have a savings or similar account with a reasonable minimum balance to qualify for the free checking account is an acceptable option. Using the direct deposit option to qualify for a free checking account is not always a good idea; getting slammed with a bunch of fees when you lose your job is not the way to go. On the other hand, qualifying based on direct deposit of your Social Security retirement check certainly isn't much of a risk.
  • No debit card point-of-sale fees of any kind.
  • No credit card point-of-sale fees of any kind.
  • Very minimal or no ATM fees on debit card transactions.
  • All other fees are less than what you are paying at your current financial institution.
And a special note about credit unions and ATMs. Basically, they've united into a single network as to ATM fees and non-fees. If one belongs to a credit union, you can use any and all other credit union ATMs, and the only fee will be the fee or non-fee that you have agreed to with your credit union. In other words, there's no secondary fee for using an ATM that is not your particular credit union's; any credit union ATM will do just fine. Personally, I have not paid an ATM fee in decades.

About Your Local Banks: The Bad

It should be noted some local banks can be even more obnoxious than your national banks. Local banks are just like any other locally owned business. Employee attitude will directly reflect the personality and attitude of the owner(s) of the bank.

Fortunately, the bank’s fee structure is very often a clear indication of the bank’s attitude towards the general public. Ridiculous and excessive fees? Go elsewhere.

About Your Local Credit Unions: The Ugly

Credit unions are well-known for being the better deal. As such, there are bankers-to-be who come out of the woodwork to take advantage of the better reputation credit unions have.

The methodology to do this is not difficult. The banker-to-be simply opens his business via and under the credit union regulations and rules. Then, as far as interest rates and fee structuring goes, they run it like a bank. There is a credit union in San Francisco that is positively famous for this. There is another credit union in Riverside County, California that I would also avoid like the plague. So just because an institution calls itself a credit union doesn't mean you are home free. Do check out their fee schedule and interest rates relative to other institutions.

The Search

Needless to say, your location will vary.


How to Find Your Local Banks and Credit Unions

Finding them is not hard to do. The usual Yellow Pages perusal and/or an internet search will turn them right up. And it should be noted there are excellent national credit unions as well.

As to finding the good ones, you will need to check their website. Find their fee schedule and you will usually know what you need to know. If they do not have a fee schedule online, then that is a possible red flag. If your choices are limited, then you may have to make a personal visit to the financial institution and check out their brochures in the lobby.

Those financial institutions having the "glass cage" setup you must navigate to enter and exit the premises should be avoided like the plague. For some reason, there seems to be a strong correlation between "glass cage" usage and the treatment of customers as peasants in general.

You can also find a local credit union, plus all sorts of other worthy credit union information, at the federally run Nation Credit Union Administration (NCUA) website.

You can find all sorts of interesting information about your local banks at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) website. They even maintain a public list of failed banks.

Next is the opening of an account. A driver’s license, Social Security card, and a pleasant attitude are all that should be required. If the bank or credit union employee, or the procedures in general, are unusually obstructive; then forget it and move on. If they require you have an account with them for at least six months before allowing you to apply for a debit card, then you definitely want nothing to do with them.


Worthy Internet Institutions

There are worthy internet-based institutions out there. Just thoroughly check their fee schedule; particularly as relates to their savings and checking accounts, and their credit and debit cards. Also, plug their name and the word "scam" into your search engine and see what pops up. If there are pages of complaints, it would probably be wise to avoid that particular institution.

I have never had a problem with PayPal. Unfortunately I recently came across this article: PayPal faces lawsuit for freezing customer accounts and funds. Apparently there is no due process whatsoever; it's probably a good idea to not keep significant sums there.


Only consider doing business with credit unions authorized to display this logo:

NCUA (has all sorts of worthy information)


Only consider doing business with local banks and internet-based financial institutions authorized to display this logo (or other equivalent government signage)


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Sales Tax Overcharges: How to Not Overpay and Report Store

Latest update: April 17, 2022. Page URL indicates original publication date; meanwhile, times change and the updates continue.

Have you been overcharged on sales tax? Here is a way on how to mentally calculate state sales taxes on the spot and stop being cheated, catch errors, and prevent fraudulent attempts.

Sales Tax - Regressive Taxation of the Poor

Business, Vendor, or Store Overcharging on State Sales Tax?

When it comes to sales taxes, fraud is not that rare of an occurrence. Many times, smaller stores do deliberately overcharge state sales tax. In fact, I’ve seen news reports where even the larger, national chain stores have been caught overcharging sales taxes. And employees in all stores have also been known to make price and thus state sales tax mistakes as well.

Mentally calculating state sales tax to prevent being overcharged is easy. It all has to do with rounding, no degree in rocket surgery required. You are simply doing a quick approximation to prevent yourself from being a victim of sales tax fraud or simply to prevent being mistakenly overcharged.

[Be advised that this page is US-centric. Canada and most European countries have sales taxes or a value added tax (VAT) far exceeding 10%. However, if the VAT tax is close to another round number, one can still make this method work.]

Here are the four main premises of this page:
  • Most combined state, country, city sales taxes do not exceed 10 percent, but most sales tax totals are reasonably close to 10 percent.
  • Most thieves are greedy and will exceed the 10 percent amount.
  • Even my dog can mentally calculate 10% of something.
  • Even my dog can mentally add 10% of something to something.

You do not need any of these...

How to Mentally Calculate State Sales Tax – Some Examples

How do I calculate sales tax from a total?

The best way for this tutorial to demonstrate mentally calculating state total sales taxes is by giving examples. In reality, you already know how to do this. You just may not know that you know yet. So let's begin. You walk up to the counter and engage in a purchase which sells for...

$49.99
  1. You round the price to $50.
  2. You calculate the 10% as $5.
  3. You add the $50 plus $5 to get $55.
  4. If the counter person wants more than $55, welcome to the world of sales tax fraud and overcharges.

Other Examples...


$29.99
  1. You round it to $30.
  2. 10% is $3.
  3. Total is $33.
  4. If the final price is over $33, welcome to the world of sales tax fraud and overcharges.
$5.99
  1. Round to $6.
  2. 10% is $.60.
  3. Total is $6.60.
  4. Anything over $6.60, welcome to the world of sales tax fraud and overcharges.
$79.98
  1. $80.
  2. $8.
  3. $88.
  4. Over $88, cheated.
It should be noted that honest mistakes do happen. You will find out soon enough if the overcharge was deliberate or accidental.

Is It Sales Tax Fraud?


What to Do When the Person at the Counter is Overcharging You on total State Sales Tax

This depends on your mood, time constraints, the amount of money involved, the store and neighborhood, etc. Below are some typical scenarios and what one can do in each situation; followed by what you can do after the fact.

You Don't Care About the Amount Involved

  1. Say nothing.
  2. Pay it.
  3. Say nothing. Or say the routine "Thanks."
  4. [Optional] Locate and take one of the business cards offered on the counter.
  5. Leave.
  6. Once outside, note the date and time.
  7. Never go back.
  8. Maybe tell everyone you know.

You Do Care About the Amount Involved (Option One)

  1. Don't pay it.
  2. Say nothing.
  3. [Optional] Locate and take one of the business cards offered on the counter.
  4. Leave. Be advised however, the counter person (probably the owner) will immediately know that you know he was trying to cheat you. And you took one of his cards... And state sales tax fraud is a very serious offense...
  5. Once outside, note the date and time.
  6. Never go back.
  7. Maybe tell everyone you know.

You Do Care About the Amount Involved (Option Two)

  • Politely point out the total is incorrect and explain why you think so.
  • If the counter person reviews and corrects the error:
  1. Pay it.
  2. Call it a day.
  3. Maybe or maybe not give the place another chance in the future.
  • If the counter person denies, disputes, or otherwise argues with your statement...
  1. Don't pay it.
  2. [Optional] Locate and take one of the business cards offered on the counter.
  3. Leave.
  4. Once outside, note the date and time.
  5. Never go back.
  6. Tell everyone you know.

Reward for Reporting State Sales Tax Fraud?


How to Report Stores and Other Businesses Who Overcharge State Sales Taxes

Not only are you doing a good deed for society, you might even make some money in the process.
  1. Find your state's website dealing with all things sales tax.
  2. Find where to report what you experienced. As an example, in California the California State Board of Equalization would be where to go. California does not pay a reward the last time I checked. However, reporting the fraud is still a good idea; wouldn't you like the thief (employee or owner) removed, so you can have an honest, local place to shop? Reports can be made anonymously and will still be investigated.
  3. For other states, determine if you might get a reward. Tell them your experience in detail, including date and time. Give them all the information on the business card. If you don't have the store's business card, that is ok; just be sure the store name and address you are reporting is correct. And don't worry; they're not going to just take your word for it. They will probably send the equivalent of a few "mystery shoppers" to the store to confirm. When they have absolutely verified and proven it is not an isolated incident; only then will the hammer fall on the deserving thief.
More than likely the store location is leased. With any luck, the thieving employee or owner will soon be gone; hopefully replaced with a new, honest employee or business.

A separate note as to state sales tax billing errors by business vendors. There it is in writing; it's a pretty good bet that this is an honest mistake and a simple phone call will fix it. While you're at it, you might want to review the previous invoices from this vendor.

A July 2020 Update
If you do online shopping, you will want to read this site: Dark Patterns.

April 2021 Update
Depending on your state, retailers can be subjected to both criminal and civil penalties for frequent overcharging of sales tax. There can even be class action suits against the larger retailers.

October 2021 Update
Another holiday shopping season approaches, chaos expected to be even worse than last year. Here is a very worthwhile .gov page about sales taxes for Californians: California Buyer’s Guide to Tax.

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Fighting Fraudulent and Inflated Medical Bills - Federal and State Websites Help Patients Fight Dishonest Charges

Latest update: August 29, 2022. Page URL indicates original publication date; meanwhile, times change and the updates continue.

These websites will actually help you when a medical entity victimizes you with inflated or outright fraudulent medical bills and/or denied insurance claims.

This includes hospitals, general doctors, specialists, X-ray places, CT scan or PET scan centers, blood test places, and pretty much any other medical facility or entity that engages in illegal or unethical conduct. Emphasis is on illegal, unethical contracts and on illegal, unethical billing practices. Also includes resources regarding insurance company misconduct or for when a Medicare, Medicaid, or Medi-Cal case worker makes a mistake or acts in bad faith. Sooner or later, you will need the information on this page.

Medical Federal and California (and other) State Government Websites That Will Help You When an Insurance Company or Service Provider Victimizes You – Also Some Worthwhile Additional Information

Ways to Deal With Our Country's Corrupt Private Sector Medical Industry


Patients Rights and Financial Help Resource List

A list of resources regarding the rights patients are legally supposed to have. Many provide complaint forms and will actually help you. All listed websites are government or other well-known, reputable resources. All links go directly to the website's patients rights page and/or patients help page. Needless to say, all are free.
  • MedlinePlus, from the U.S. Library of National Medicine.
  • HealthCare.gov, your rights under the Affordable Care Act.
  • Medicare.gov, your Medicare rights.
  • The Medicare Beneficiary Ombudsman. , a resource for filing complaints, grievances, appeals, etc.; in other words, a place to rat out medical service providers. The page also promises to provide information, help, assistance, and other services. The page is apparently also the starting point for when you need to deal with Medicare's own shenanigans.
  • CMS.gov, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The particular link I provided has to do with Consumer Information & Insurance Oversight. The page may not especially look it, but these guys are your friend. Sometimes, out of the blue and without any action on your part, they will send you notices a particular medical bill from a medical service provider or insurance entity is not valid and that you don't have to pay it. This website is definitely worth prowling around when you have the time.
  • California Department of Public Health (CDPH), the go-to page for filing medical complaints in California.
  • Office of the Patient Advocate (OPA), another go-to page for filing medical complaints in California.
  • CDSS is another California site that may be able to help you, especially as applies to local office Medicaid (Medi-Cal) obstructions.
  • Bing. For folks not in California looking for their state websites, simply do a search for:
    "YourStateNameHere patients rights help site:.gov" (without the quotes and be sure to include the exact "site:.gov" syntax).
If a link suddenly stops working, it means the website moved that particular page. Let me know in the comments section and I'll find and post the new location.

Some Tips for When Dealing with the Medical Bureaucracy

(being involved with an insurance plan network limits some of these tips)

  • The Medicare 1-800-633-4227 number is open 24/7. They have always been friendly, professional, and helpful. Do give them a break and check their website first. You might not only find the answer to your question(s), but also discover other worthwhile information relating to your situation.
  • Referring doctors make paperwork mistakes all the time. Whenever possible make sure the medical treatment specifications match what the Medicare white book says. This is mostly applicable to preventive services. Not kidding here, make sure the doctor's instructions exactly match what the Medicare website and yearly white book specifies. I've personally saved myself one financial disaster already by doing this.
  • Never walk into a medical service provider's diagnostic center without the proper Medicare COPD 5-digit code included on the referral paperwork. 
  • Referring doctors make paperwork mistakes all the time (did I mention that already?). Always verify the accuracy of the Medicare code on the paperwork before going to the specialist's or medical service provider's office. Confirm with Medicare that the Medicare code number is valid for your circumstances and procedure(s) and that Medicare will approve and pay for the procedure.
  • When referred to a specialist, sometimes a COPD code isn't provided; the specialist adds the code after the fact. Your only defense against this is having diagnostic information showing the necessity of the visit to the specialist, e.g., CAT scan shows potential malignancies in lungs, thus being referred to a pulmonologist makes medical sense. If the specialists uses the wrong code(s) after the fact and the claim is denied, don't just give up. Work with Medicare and the specialist to get the mistake straightened out and resubmit the claim.
  • If not involved with an insurance plan network, the referring doctor does not not always know if the referred specialist or medical service provider takes Medicare, Medicaid, Medi-Cal, etc. When you walk into that referred specialist's office or medical service center for the first time and have identified yourself, always ask first:
  1. Does Medicare accept you and do you accept Medicare as full payment, secondary insurance covering remaining balance?
  2. Does Medicaid//Medi-Cal/Etc. accept you and do you accept Medicaid, Medi-Cal, etc. or whatever other supporting insurance applicable in your situation as full payment?
If any part of their answer is no, leave immediately. As a Medicare beneficiary, you have the right to go to any Medicare specialist or service provider center you wish, unless you are on an insurance plan where one must stay within the plan's network. Either way, tell your primary, referring doctor what happened and they should be able to take care of it.

An important note. If a medical entity financially victimizes you or is trying to victimize you happens to be a referral from your doctor, first check with Medicare via their website and/or phone calls and find out exactly what is going on. If that doesn't clarify or fix the situation, then tell your doctor's office all about it. They might be able to fix the problem with just one phone call to the offending medical entity; not so surprisingly, your doctor's office will often be quite successful at this.

A personal note. That medical contract you are always forced to sign is basically a blank check allowing the medical entity to do whatever they want. You've given them the right to do anything and everything their little hearts desire and then to bill you for whatever insurance doesn't cover. For that reason, I always print directly above my signature the following in caps:

"ONLY PROVIDE INSURANCE COVERED SERVICES ONLY"

If the medical service provider then refuses you as a patient, immediately inform your primary physician that referred you. If that doesn't solve the problem, i.e., your doctor being able to find a different service provider in the area; I'd personally let Medicare, Medicaid/Medi-Cal, and any other involved insurance/government entity know all about it. I would think they would all want to know about a medical service provider that turns away patients simply because that patient only wants those services that are covered by insurance. Who knows? They might even be able to help you.

An update (Medical Hack(?)). Someone sent me this. I do not know if it is true or not. It sure would be interesting to find out:

Medical Life Hack?

I'm continuing to look for other government medical websites that help patients when it comes to money issues. If you happen to know of one, please mention it in comments. I'll be happy to include it on the list. Federal sites are preferred, but sites specific to your state are also welcome.

Here's an article from CNBC about fighting a fraudulent medical bill: More than 30% of Americans have medical debt: What you need to know about negotiating a medical bill.

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Defending From and Fighting Against Corrupt Medical Service Provider Contracts

Latest update: August 6, 2022
Page URL indicates original publication date; meanwhile, times change and the updates continue.

If you have a personal situation going on, these government websites can help you: List and Information.

Never Blindly Sign a Medical Contract Without Reading It First. Learn to Say "NO"!

Medical Service Provider Corruption - Patients Forced to Sign SWAG Medical Contracts Under Duress

[This page was originally entitled "Medical Imaging and Diagnostic Centers Saying Medicare Part B Reneges on Paying for Preventative Services" and was about a local incident. The page has since been expanded to include other local incidents and as they relate to the national issue. Bottom of the page has a list of government bookmarks for helping patients deal with unethical medical conduct. There is also a phrase I add whenever signing a medical contract.


First Incident

Per doctor's written instructions, I went to an imaging/diagnostic center (name temporarily redacted) for chest/lung X-rays. I had been to this place before a couple years ago and there hadn't been any problems.

As with most medical service providers, I was first directed to the Hallowed Contract Signing Room. And there is where everything fell apart...

They placed a second contract in front of me that basically said (paraphrasing):
  • We will take the X-rays.
  • We will bill Medicare.
  • Medicare will note the bureaucratic coding error and deny payment (this part was buried in legalese).
  • When Medicare recognizes the bureaucratic coding error and refuses to pay, then you must pay instead (this part was buried in legalese).
  • If you refuse to sign this contract, we will refuse to do the X-rays your doctor ordered.
I refused to sign.

The reason they did this was because they immediately realized the doctor had filled out the requisition incorrectly regarding Medicare reimbursement procedures (this was a clerical error, not a medical error). Instead of informing me of this so that the clerical error could be corrected, and thus having a loyal patient for life, they instead tried to con me into being financially responsible for the easily fixable bureaucratic, clerical mistake.

As a side note, I asked for a copy of the contract to show the doctor as to why I didn't get the X-rays and the imaging/diagnostic center flatly refused. I can't help but wonder how many other patients this CT diagnostic center attempts to victimize and does victimize each month

Second Incident

Per doctor's written instructions, I went to a local blood lab (name temporarily redacted). While in the back room, they came in with a contract saying certain medical codes were missing and I would have to agree to pay for what Medicare wouldn't pay because of the missing codes. I declined, at which point they said they would contact the referring doctor's office and get the codes.

They then came back and said they had got the codes and proceeded to take my blood. I never had to sign anything and all appeared well.

When I got home, it occurred to me to call the doc's office to see if the blood lab really did call them and get the codes.The  doc's office said they never received any such call. They further said they would look into and deal with it, and that I would not be responsible for any bills.

I waited to see how this would sort out before acting further. Fortunately, I never signed or otherwise consented to being billed. And no bill was ever received. I can't emphasize this strongly enough, don't automatically sign whatever piece of paper a medical provider puts in front of you; read the thing and don't be afraid to say no when you perceive something is not right.

When I first reported about this second incident, I received input from others stating such things as...
  • They have been nothing but trouble for people with Medicare or PPO health insurance.
  • Credit card numbers demanded in advance before agreeing to do blood work.
  • Collection agencies being used on unwarranted/disputed bills.
This incident is considerably worse than the first incident, in fact it makes the first incident pale by comparison.

Third Incident

Per doc's referral, I went to an eye doctor place (name temporarily redacted) and made an appointment. After making the appointment, I then perused their frames selection. The prices were literally double to triple the prices that can be found elsewhere, presumably the lens prices would be equally exorbitant.

The place was packed with patients/customers, noticing this caused me conflicted emotions...
  • On the one hand, I am pro capitalism. If a business entity discovers an unending supply of customers who voluntarily pay double to triple the going rate for a product or service, then you really can't fault the business entity for taking advantage of that.
  • On the other hand, pretty much all the patients/customers there were extremely old people who just plain no longer apparently had the mental faculties to know any better or the ability to realize what was going on. I'm not an attorney, but this could easily be perceived as a case for elder abuse. Most insurance does not pay for frames and lenses, only for the exams. Then again, maybe all the patients there were rich and just didn't care.
At any rate, I mulled things over and cancelled my appointment. I may or may not work up the energy to look into that particular situation further.

The National Problem

[This page started out being about the actions of a single medical service provider. However it has now become about the national issue of medical service providers denying patients medical care unless the patient agrees to sign what are known as SWAG CONTRACTS.]

Continuation and Update

I called the doctor's office. Yep, apparently most imaging/diagnostics centers are now pulling this stunt.

A patient being held responsible for a bill, because they falsely claimed they were insured, is indeed as it should be. However, a service provider attempting to force a patient to be held responsible for an insurer's breach of contract, bureaucracy, bad faith conduct, mistakes, or even just a misunderstanding is not.

The contract is between the service provider and the insurer, it is their responsibilities to understand and agree to the terms. Any attempt by a medical service provider to make a patient responsible for an insurer's actions is, to me, an essentially bad faith action on the part of the provider. Basically, the medical service provider is extorting the patient to insure the provider against the actions of the insurer, the threat being the withholding of needed medical care if the patient refuses to do so. In other words, patients are being forced to sign contracts under duress.

Proposed Solution


Is it any wonder most countries think America has the most corrupt Medical Establishment on the planet? Our government keeps trying to fight it. But the greed and corruption is so entrenched, ingrained, embedded, and widespread (there are media reports almost daily on the subject) that nationalization of the medical industry may indeed be the only answer.

There would still be private sector medical professionals, but the government would be the single insurer and the only legally responsible payer. And it would be illegal for any private sector medical entity to try to coerce a patient into signing any sort of contract. Proof and authentication of identity and coverage would be all that is required, pre-authorization for medical procedures implemented on an as needed basis. Premiums would be based on income. Service providers (including hospitals) would no longer have to worry about being paid. Patients would no longer have to worry about being thrown into financial hardship or outright bankruptcy.

You might try suggesting the service provider get pre-authorization from the insurer. However and for some unknown reason, there are apparently some medical service providers who refuse to make the 3-minute phone call, the initially mentioned imaging and diagnostic center being one such case.

On a personal note, I am aware versions of this situation have been going on for decades. I have always circumvented the problem by simply adding the following sentence directly above my signature in caps: "ONLY PROVIDE INSURANCE COVERED SERVICES ONLY". I am not an attorney, but it seems to work. The service provider then gets everything pre-authorized and there has never been a problem.

This Has to Stop

A Bookmarks Reference List of Patients Bill of Rights Resources

I figured while I was at it, I might as well compile a list of resources regarding the rights patients are legally supposed to have. All listed websites are government or other well-known, reputable resources. All links go directly to the website's patients rights and assistance pages. I might add to this list from time to time. The list is at Government Help for When Victimized by the Medical Profession, particularly relates to financial and billing misconduct.

A side note, you might want to select the MedFin (Medical Financial) label below. If you see a relevant article title, select the title.

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What Happens When Doing an Online Internet Search - Tech and Privacy

Latest update: February 3, 2024. Page URL indicates original publication date; meanwhile, times change and the updates continue.

Do not do an online search for your debit or credit card account numbers. Actually the following description of what happens applies to any and all search terms you may happen to enter in most search engines.


Epic Fail!

MasterCard, Visa, Discover, American Express ( AMEX ), etc.

This website has discovered people are doing that. I'm guessing people do so in an attempt to see if their credit or debit card numbers have been stolen and are being posted online. Unfortunately, by searching online for your card number, you have just made your credit and/or debit card account number available to any website you then happen to land on; the website owner now has your card number.

Here's What Happens When You Do a Search on Google, Bing, Yahoo, or Any Other Search Engine


Sequence
  1. You do a search for your credit or debit card account number (or anything else for that matter).
  2. A list of search results comes up.
  3. You click on one or more of the results.
  4. Now here is where the problems start... The vast majority of website owners automatically track what search terms bring people to their websites; they do this for perfectly benign and legitimate search-engine-optimization-related reasons. Your card number was the search term bringing you to the website and so is nicely displayed to the website owner along with all the other more usual search terms being recorded by the site. Now if you landed on an honest website, then your account number is simply ignored. But if you landed on a dishonest website who is looking for these kind of numbers...
Dishonest websites use hacker/SEO techniques to attract you to click on their websites. If you do so, grief follows.

Be wise, do not look for your credit or debit card account numbers online. And as a side note and needless to say, the same applies to your social security number and all other sensitive data. And the website you landed on is not the only entity that now has your search term(s). Search engines now have them as well.

Online credit card account number searches are a bad idea...
Online credit card account number searches are a bad idea...


It should be mentioned that many search engines track, store, and analyze virtually every search phrase that is entered into their sites. Many times, the search engines will turn around and make that information available to others; this includes algorithmically displaying it online to the general public. This information can also be sold/given to any and all government agencies and private companies. Google has become famous for this kind of privacy invasion; frankly, I now mostly use the other search engines these days. And, as generally known, people know that your search history is also stored in your browser; not a bad idea to clear that out every once in a while.

Please share this page so as to help others. The more people who are knowledgeable, the better off we all are. We really do live in a fishbowl society these days.

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