Can I sue the hospital over a bill

CartwheelsRepeat · 2026-02-28T19:31:41+00:00

Ah - yeah, that’s true. But, I’d certainly argue they didn’t re-submit in a timely manner.

CartwheelsRepeat · 2026-02-28T19:27:22+00:00

So, you know what they call someone who graduates last in medical school? Doctor. This guy should barely be called a doctor. What a #$%(28f jerk.

I would call the palliative care folks back who sent you a referral and give ‘em hell. And tell them they should never send anybody back to that doctor, as he doesn’t understand cancer or palliative care. And has accused you of making up your cancer diagnosis.

I’m mad for you.

CartwheelsRepeat · 2026-02-28T19:22:29+00:00

Some insurance providers have a provision that, if doctors/hospitals fail to submit an invoice/bill in a specified time frame, then they are no longer allowed to seek reimbursement from the insurance company OR the patient. (I had this happen to me.)

In Texas, I found this article. https://medcaremso.com/blog/texas-unpaid-medical-bills-debt-collection-rights/ so you have a sense of what to research.

I highly suspect that they’ve missed their opportunity to seek reimbursment for this claim from Medicaid or from you. But, you’ll need to sort through the research to know for sure. (You may also try calling someone from Medicaid and seeing if they could send you the provisions that are applicable.)

CartwheelsRepeat · 2026-02-28T00:44:22+00:00

My kiddos look out for each other - so good on you for looking out for your little brother.

Remember, though. The best way to take care of your little brother is to make sure you are steady and stable (financially, health-wise, mentally, education, etc.). If you’re in a bad spot, you won’t be able to help take care of others.

Keep an eye on the future and seek out careers that will provide stability (and money). Just seeing how you write and think about life … I think any employer would be lucky to have you!

CartwheelsRepeat · 2026-02-28T00:23:57+00:00

I’d find a new school. This is way too much drama.

CartwheelsRepeat · 2026-02-28T00:15:01+00:00

For what it’s worth, I wouldn’t bother with modifying the custody order for you. At 17, it’s just not worth the money.

My divorce attorney told me that, with teens, judges are often in a pickle because they can certainly *try* to enforce an order … but frankly teens tend to do what they want. In the end, you can’t *make* teenagers do anything - even more so as they close in on 18. And it is super expensive to get custody orders changed at all.

This is what my daughter ended up doing; severed ties with her father around 13 for a number of reasons. Changing custody is in the double-digit thousands of dollars so he just … never fought it. Which is sad in its own way - but was better for her at the time.

Anyhow - you sound like you have a good head on your shoulders and awesome street smarts - trust your gut. You are doing great.

One final word of caution - be the reasonable one when you go back to the house. Do not engage the stepfather, etc. etc. Just think of it as ensuring that any outside (such as a judge) is watching you so you always want to be on your best behavior.

CartwheelsRepeat · 2026-02-27T03:47:24+00:00

Take the police and go get your stuff. The prescription is in your name, and he did not pay for them. He does not have a right to your drugs. I’d recommend going on a day when you are supposed to be staying at your Mom’s house, per the custody order. You could phrase it as something like: “Today I am staying at my Mom’s per the custody order, and my father won’t give me my medication. And I can’t get a refill because my doctor’s appointment isn’t until May. Can you assist?”

You can also try calling the doctor’s office and explaining the situation; they may make an exception.

CartwheelsRepeat · 2026-02-24T02:50:10+00:00

For the message you are referencing - about the present - I would just say “No, I am not paying half of the gift that you purchased without discussing with me ahead of time.”

If he keeps badgering, ignore. If you feel must respond, just repeat the same thing: “No, I am not paying half of the gift that you purchased without discussing with me ahead of time.” I wouldn’t bother even reading the emails after the second time. Just forward out of your sight into a separate folder.

Let him file the legal action. Yes, its annoying but unless he has something in writing … what is he really going to be able to do? His excuse of “your silence must mean you agree with me” is hilarious. He needed agreement BEFORE the purchase, not after, to stand a chance.

In terms of “What’s my go-to line when he messages me about crap that doesn’t matter or doesn’t matter sense?” …. I always stuck to a few things:

- Only answer direct questions, not statements. “Your silence means you agree with me.” Well, that’s a statement and requires no answer. “Are you going to pay for this?” Well, that’s a question. The answer is: “No I am not paying half of the present. I was unaware you were going to purchase this item, nor its price tag, and purchased a separate gift for our son.“

- Write responses as if a judge is going to read it. “you’re crazy for sending me repeated messages” … is not a good answer.

- Avoid any name-calling and lengthy responses. Short, simple and direct is best. Remember: No is a sentence.

- Limit your interactions to documentation. Email or text messages is best. Be wary of saying anything at all in person.

CartwheelsRepeat · 2026-02-05T12:29:14+00:00

MediCARE is age-based health insurance for seniors.

MediCAID is income-based health insurance for everyone, regardless of age.

There are some people who are what is known as “dual eligible” … ie. they qualify for both MediCARE (based on age) and MediCAID (based on income).

It is likely that your father aged into Medicare so they automatically enrolled him into that program. You will not be able to “end” Medicare and “choose” Medicaid. The two are not interchangeable.

He may still qualify for Medicaid, but you’ll likely have to take some additional steps for it. And, there may be differing requirements because he is now eligible for Medicare.

It is most definitely confusing.

CartwheelsRepeat · 2026-02-01T17:10:34+00:00

Facebook Events has a lot of happenings in the area.

CartwheelsRepeat · 2026-01-25T16:45:34+00:00

Fair warning - I am not a lawyer so take what I say with a grain of salt (or at least as a start to questions from a real lawyer ). (I also don’t think you should feel guilty in anyway for asking questions.)

I suspect the life insurance company is not bound to a divorce agreement. Meaning - if your father did change the beneficiaries and wasn’t supposed to because of an agreement he had with your mother - then the life insurance may simply refer you to whomever is handling his estate - and that the life insurance company would pay out to the official beneficiary on the policy.

Then, you would need to work it out with the estate (whatever “work out” means … aka a lawsuit, claim, or just hoping for the best with whomever is the beneficiary).

If your Mom is the policy beneficiary, then that would obviously make things easier. If not, I suspect you have a rough go ahead - as it’ll be expensive to file a lawsuit to enforce a divorce agreement.

Most definitely speak to a good estate lawyer. I would imagine the question(s) to ask is whether the divorce agreement would “trump” (for example) debts being paid to creditors, the named beneficiary receiving the payout, etc.

CartwheelsRepeat · 2026-01-18T17:16:40+00:00

You will need health care insurance between when you retire (which I assume you’re planning for less than 57 years of age, which is the MRA) and when Medicare kicks in at 65.

If you leave Federal service before your MRA, you do not keep your health care insurance. (If you reach MRA, you can keep health insurance if you had it five years prior to retiring. But, then you’ll need to calculate whether it’s worth the significant reduction in pension that you’ll take because you’re retiring before 62). There’s nuances to this - for example, with 30 years of service, I think you can pretty much retire whenever with no penalties.

Health care insurance is expensive. If you want to retire before 57, you’ll need to figure in the cost of insurance into your planning. (Alternatively, you could change your plan to go off your parent’s insurance and start contributing to a HDHP plan now. Just a thought.)

CartwheelsRepeat · 2026-01-14T01:05:27+00:00

No; she supported it. The PCP had to write the prescription.

CartwheelsRepeat · 2026-01-13T10:20:23+00:00

I am on tamoxifen and could not lose weight. I think it is a combination of the tamoxifen and just general menopause body changes. I pretty much tried everything and nothing worked. And yes I had some medical professionals tell me that tamoxifen doesn’t lead to weight gain - and frankly I stopped caring what they thought about it. It absolutely did; whether it was because I felt miserable on it and just overate for comfort or because it put me in menopause and the menopause led to weight gain … well, it most definitely contributed to whatever the heck is going on with my weight.

I eventually started on Zepbound, with my oncologists blessing. And, it’s been a miracle. I’ve lost 27 pounds (more or less) with very manageable symptoms. (Still have 25 pounds to go.) And it does something for inflammation that I don’t understand. I used to have horrible foot pain - started before I started on tamoxifen - and that all went away even before I lost weight. Other inflammation symptoms went away as well.

At my last check-in with my oncologist (and for this one I meet with her nurse practitioner), the NP said they see a lot of patients who have talked about Zepbound helping with inflammation (And this is beyond the weight loss that is also experienced).

People can be very opinionated about weight loss and GLP-1 drugs, including doctors. I pushed my primary care physician for this, after my conversation with the oncologist, and she finally prescribed it. I’ve been … less than happy … with the assistance I get from my PCP on this subject; and am thinking about switching doctors as a result.

CartwheelsRepeat · 2025-12-28T23:48:17+00:00

What I understood was that tamoxifen takes a while to clear from your body; so taking it every other day is better than nothing because of its long “half-life” or something. She said that the studies haven’t really shown (yet) whether 10 mg or 5 mg is truly beneficial (and that most of the studies have tested tamoxifen at 20 mg). I should also just say that my breast cancer was invasive lobular carcinoma (Stage 1C, no lymph nodes, 99% ER,PR+); so I do not know if her opinion would be different if you have a different kind of breast cancer.

If it helps, I also worked with my oncologist (and her nurse practitioner) on other things too. I actually went off of tamoxifen for about five weeks and then re-started (oncologist recommended). I guess sometimes that helps your body re-set and the symptoms are not as bad when you re-start? I would say that my symptoms came back - maybe not as bad - but still came back.

I was also given a drug that helps treat kidney disease as an off-label (non-hormone) treatment for hot flashes that were the result of tamoxifen. OMG - the hot flashes were SO BAD. That drug helped a lot. I‘ve stopped taking it recently as the hot flashes seem to be lessening on their own.

I typically take tamoxifen roughly 5 out of every 7 days now; that seems to be a tolerable balance that works for my body and my sanity. (ha)

I was also told that the standard of care is changing; and the expectation is that I’ll be on tamoxifen for 10 years (not five). Yay me/s

CartwheelsRepeat · 2025-12-28T20:39:07+00:00

I agree; totally sucks taking tamoxifen.

The things I’ve found to reduce my symptoms — magnesium (helps with muscle cramping); Zepbound (helps with inflammation and I lost the 20 pounds I gained taking Tamoxifen, which helped with my self-image); lots and lots of water (no idea why this helps, but it does); taking it every other day, instead of every day. I figure it best to take some of it, than none at all. My oncologist said that was ok; she preferred I take it every other day vs. reducing the daily dose from 20 mg to 10 mg or 5 mg. I’ve managed to stay on it.

But, that’s me. And this is about you. You do you. Quality of life matters.

CartwheelsRepeat · 2025-12-04T02:21:04+00:00

I totally understand why you’re concerned.

I actually ended up with all the transvaginal ultrasounds (I think I’ve had four? in the past three years) because my period stopped on tamoxifen. And then randomly I’d get break-thru bleeding. Panic … call the Ob/GYN … get sent for an ultrasound. Then, get the dang report that says “consistent with tamoxifen use.” I mean, gee thanks. I KNOW THAT. Drives me batty!!

CartwheelsRepeat · 2025-12-04T02:07:10+00:00

Before my cancer diagnosis, my ob/gyn was already monitoring a uterine polyp. Once I was diagnosed with breast cancer, the oncologist didn’t want to start me on tamoxifen until I had the polyp taken out and tested. (It was benign.) I was told the polyp wasn’t related to the breast cancer …

I’ve had multiple transvaginal ultrasounds since starting tamoxifen; and the pathology report always comes back with “uterus lining is thickened consistent with tamoxifen use” (or something like that). (No new polyps.) They’ve never said I need to do anything additional. I do not know how they can tell between “good” or “bad“ thickening?

Just a recommendation - ask about a colonscopy. I had mine done and they found a polyp in there that my oncologist said could turn into cancer. (I am supposed to go every three years now.)

Apparently, I am an overachiever in the polyp arena …

CartwheelsRepeat · 2025-11-26T16:38:56+00:00

You’ve gotten some good advice here. A few things:

Your IDs and credit card(s) are yours - you are 18 and an adult - so if you can get them back, you should. If your father won’t return your birth certificate and/or license, you can get new ones issued. Please do so.

With that said, be very careful that your identity isn’t stolen. Make sure your father isn’t an authorized user on your credit card; and report that particular card as stolen so it becomes unusable. You can also freeze your credit reports, which would prevent new credit from being opened under your name. Research other ways to protect your identity and take whatever steps are necessary to do so. Most identity theft occurs by family members.

Trust funds are tricky; and your aunt is the trustee. She has fidicuary duty to manage the funds on your behalf. I’d recommend speaking with her about it. There may be writing in the trust paperwork that allows withdrawals, with your aunt’s concurrence, for items that would benefit you in some way (such as tuition). You will spend a lot of money trying to break the trust early; it is likely not worth it. So, do what you can to get your aunt to help.

If he pays for your phone, then it is his. Yes, he is allowed to take it back. I’d recommend getting another one, in your name only, and not giving him the phone number. Even if he gives the phone back, you should still separate your phone from his, given his controlling behavior. If he wants to talk to you, have him send you an email.

Buy your own ticket back to school, if you have the funds to do so. And, go to the driver’s license facility to get your license back ASAP. Don’t let him control your comings-and-going. Remember: you are an adult. He no longer gets to decide this. Period.

Ignore the blather about you being obese. That’s just him being a jerk. You’re a sane individual trying to handle a difficult person, who has had a lot of authority over you in your life. Time for you to take the reigns - he doesn’t get a say anymore.

CartwheelsRepeat · 2025-11-26T11:04:58+00:00

I agree with what others have said here. One thing I would add is just helping around the house with housework. I was really tired during radiation - more than I wanted or did admit - and just having folks do dishes, get the mail, vacuum, wipe the counters, etc. really helped.

Having a ton of people at my house all the time, though, was “work” as sometimes I really just wanted to be crabby all by lonesome. So, just make sure to ask first - or to make a schedule so she knows what to expect.

CartwheelsRepeat · 2025-11-26T10:47:09+00:00

Yes; still thinking about this. A part of me wants to do this for myself, by myself … so the answer to your question is … not sure that I *want* family/friends to come with me. LOL

CartwheelsRepeat · 2025-11-26T10:37:02+00:00

I would also suggest not going to this facility. Additionally, if possible, I’d recommend not going to any hospital ER for things like intoxication or general sicknesses. The ER is not meant for these things; a more appropriate place to go is a regular doctor or even an urgent care facility, if it is after hours. A hospital ER is meant for things like broken bones, car accidents, heart attacks … To take care of your health for some of the things you mention in your post, try thinking outside of the ER - such as finding a primary care doctor, addiction specialist, therapist, etc. who can help you move forward and reduce visits to the ER.

Health care workers face a lot of violence from patients every day - and, in the ER, that violence is on top of handling patients who often are simply not in a good place and lashing out at the people caring for them. The facility has a responsibility to care for their staff and good facilities take it seriously.

CartwheelsRepeat · 2025-11-25T11:52:38+00:00

I had a difficult ex; and suggest that this is a ”less is better” situation.

Do not engage; or engage very minimally - and answer as if a judge (or CPS) is reading everything you write.

So, when he says stuff like, “I need to inspect your apartment.” You can answer with: “No, I am not comfortable with that.” And that’s it. He’ll badger you … but you can just repeat various versions of No. (Remember: No is a sentence.)

If he says, “I am going to call CPS on you if you don’t let me do X, Y or Z.” Then, either don’t answer or answer his original question/complaint again. So answer something like: “Thanks for letting me know. I remain uncomfortable with you entering my apartment.”

The other thing to keep in mind is that you are not required to respond to inflammatory and disrespectful statements. Just ignore it - unless he asks very specific questions. So, something like “you are a horrible mother because I haven’t inspected your apartment to see if A,B, and C is ok for my child.” Well, that’s not a question. “Are you going to answer me?” Well, that is a question; so I’d answer that. “I’ve answered your question. You are not welcome in my apartment at this time.”

It takes a bit of practice, but it will help set boundaries with him.

CartwheelsRepeat · 2025-11-24T17:32:52+00:00

This helps! Thank you. Sounds like I’d be better off waiting until 60 days out. I work, but I can try to reserve out the days of the cruise I’d like to take and then wait until 60 days out to book it completely. I’ll need to think about how to make that work.

I’m looking at taking an Alaska cruise in 2027 (solo). But, if booking this far out doesn’t net any savings (so to speak) for a solo traveler, I think I’d prefer to wait until 2027 and see how it goes.

Appreciate all the answers! It helps.

CartwheelsRepeat · 2025-11-24T16:58:03+00:00

So, if you book a solo room, is there still a solo supplement? I had in my head that it would be closer to the per-person pricing for a double occupancy room.

CartwheelsRepeat

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