In Mr. Jordan’s case, Medicare at first paid both the anesthesiologist and the nurse-anesthetist, each getting the approved rate of about $700. When he called Medicare auditors to complain about what seemed like double billing, they rescinded the physician’s payment. So Old Dominion sent him a bill, which he refused to pay, adding, “Either they wrote it off or they’ve sent me to collection and I don’t care which it is.”
