Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
LEHI — Miles is the newest member of the Littledike family. His father, Ryan, says Miles' arrival in December went almost flawlessly.
"They probably had one of the best labor and deliveries, and the service was amazing," he said.
Trouble did not show up until Miles' delivery bills did. Littledike says one of the doctors sent him the entire bill, so he called the billing department.
"I noticed you guys haven't billed the insurance. Can you bill them?'" he recalled about the conversation. "And they basically said, 'We're not going to do that.'"
The Littledikes use Medi-Share. Technically, it is not insurance. It is a faith-based health care cost-sharing plan where members share the costs of each other's health expenses. Ryan Littledike says that all the other medical bills incurred during Miles' delivery were billed to the plan.
"Except for one," he said. "And that one was from Granger Medical."
The bill in question comes from the services of a doctor who was called in to assist by Granger Medical Clinic, which Littledike says refuses to budge.
"They're like, 'Well, we see that you're at this Christian member sharing program and our policy is that we treat you as a self-pay patient, and we're not going to bill your insurance.'"
Frustrated, Littledike asked us to investigate.
"I think they need to change their policy," Ryan Miles said.
No one from Granger Medical Clinic would talk about this on camera, but the company's president and CEO, Mary Jane Pennington, M.D., answered our questions by phone. She confirmed they do not work with Medi-Share or any cost-share plan. For anyone on a cost-share plan, Granger Medical says they bill the patient and expect them to work it out with their plan themselves. When I pressed on why they will not send the bill like they would to a traditional insurer, I was told they "can't send a random bill..." when they are not contracted with a health plan of any sort. There is no mechanism to even send that bill.
As for Littledike, Granger Medical declined to talk about his case specifically, citing patient privacy laws. But he tells us that shortly after our calls to Granger, they did send his bill to Medi-Share, which paid.
If you have a health care cost-share plan, and you are seen by a Granger Medical doctor, Granger's CEO says they will treat you as a self-pay patient. That means the entire bill is on you — unless you work out something with your plan on your own.
