ComplaintsforOphthalmic Consultants of Connecticut, PC

• Initial Complaint

  02/17/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Unanswered

  More info

  This organization stops short of illegality but are unethical and prey on seniors needing cataract surgery. I’d agreed to pay $2600 for left eye and when I arrived at ******** ********** in ********* they said I owed $2400+-. I questioned this since I’d paid the $2600 the day before. They said it’s the fee the facility charges. This brought me up short and I declined the surgery. Medicare covers this surgery; I’d had the right eye done 18 months before at **** and it was completely covered. **** had told me the left eye would cost $1700 to correct the astigmatism. I’d have returned to **** but the eye was deteriorating rapidly; couldn’t see out of it at all and couldn’t get a **** appointment for four months. I wasn’t comfortable paying a total of $5000 and my credit card limit wasn’t high enough to absorb the extra charge. I’m a single, 71 year old woman living on SS. Immediately after declining the surgery I called the **** ***** (they have four in **) office and told them I’d cancelled and asked for my $2600 to be refunded. As of this writing I’ve left three messages and no one has called back. Dr. S**** had mentioned he does 2000 cataract surgeries a year; the procedure takes five minutes. During my short time in ********* there was a steady stream of seniors coming and going; OCC is printing money! One of their deceptive practices is to charge $2300 for the surgery plus $300 to have another doc check to make sure the new lens was placed properly; the $300 is “strongly recommend”. When I separately asked two employees about this both gave the same response: “If you’re spending $2300 why not spring for the extra $300” (or words to that effect). Obviously they are trained to give this standard response. On my initial January 6 meeting I was inundated with paperwork and asked to initial each page to show approval. I’m guessing everyone signs not knowing what they’re signing; you can’t possibly read all that in a few minutes. All in all an upsetting experience!

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