Do NOT do your eye exam with this doctor at his clinic because they charge you enormous money for a regular checkup!

My son had his pediatrician in this clinic, nothing unusual. But last month, his pediatrician referred us to do eye exam for his possible vision problem. Without thinking, I came to their front desk and asked whether they have eye doctor and whether my insurance cover my eye exam here. They have my insurance information and told me that my son's eye exam is covered by insurance. So, they did NOT give me an estimate of the cost before the exam and did NOT give me a bill after the exam when we left.

One month later, I received an eye-popping bill of $448 for this eye exam. I called to my insurance company VSP and they said this clinic is not in their network so they won't pay for the exam even if I have coverage for the exam. Then I called to the billing department of Virginia Mason, they told me that they were NEVER contracted with VSP and they have other patients caught in this dilemma in the past! So they always knew that they were not part of my insurance but NOBODY told me before hand. And when I ask why they charge $400+ for a regular eye exam while others in the market charges no more than $150, they told me "You can go to the other doctor as you want but here in Virginia Mason this is what we charge"! When I questioned them why they did NOT provide an estimate of the cost before the exam, they blame me because "You did NOT ask for it"!

Shame!

Just be SUPER ALERT when you go to the services here, and ALWAYS ask for the estimate before hand and ask every DETAILS about your insurance here!

BTW, for this huge bill, they even did NOT check my son's color blindness. The nurse asked me whether there is any color blindness in the family, I told her my husband is but I am not, and she went to fetch the material for color blindness check. After a few minutes, she came back said she could NOT locate the material but she told me "By this time of your son's age, you guys should have already known whether he is color blind or not". What the heck? So that service is what my $448 bills paid for? I should have known???

Seriously, do NOT be cheated!

Submitted Sept. 24, 2018