I kept getting these bills. There was one from the hospital and one from Labcorp, and together they said that I owed $700 for a routine checkup and a diagnostic test. I had just started a new job — my first out of grad school — and I hadn’t even gotten my first paycheck yet. I was exhausted from seeing my new therapy patients, meeting my new coworkers, and getting the hang of my new duties. Needless to say, the surprise bills did not come at a great time.

I knew my insurance covered both the checkup and the test. So I did what I had to do: I called up the hospital to try to get to the bottom of it. After a hold, I got through, but I was told that the issue was with the payer, not the provider. So I called my insurance company. But they told me the opposite: I needed to call the provider. So I called the hospital back. But they told me again that the issue was my insurance company. And so on. There were long holds. I was bounced around to different departments.

Unfortunately, all these offices kept business hours, which were almost identical to the hours I reported to work. So I squeezed in phone calls before and after work, often while dodging rush-hour traffic on the highway. Or I’d call during my lunch break, or when one of my patients cancelled. The process dragged on for days, which turned into weeks. Meanwhile, the bills kept coming, now stamped red with “PAST DUE” notices. My mind raced. Would they send me to a collections agency? Would these bills damage my credit? It wasn’t my fault that the hospital made a mistake and I couldn’t get through to fix it. Maybe I should just pay it and be done with it.