I rang the accounts department and was notified that I was charged the private fee because the dr did not tick the box on the pathology request slip. By ticking this box the dr is indicating that the pathology test is to be bulk billed.
So for those of you thinking of a pre pregnancy test, check with your doctor if the pathology test ordered is bulk billed.
In my case all the test could have been bulk billed, however because the doctor did not tick the box, I was charged the private fee which in total is more than twice the amount that Medicare would reimburse. Does not make sense to me.
If you use a private pathology and the dr does not mark the bulk bill box, then they are entitled to charge you.
It is a lot of mucking around, but if the dr usually bulk bills patients with that pathology company, the dr can ring and say he made a mistake and it should have been bulk billed. (I used to work for a private pathology in accounts and got heaps of those calls).
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