In May 2023, Dan and Helen Lococo entered Ascension Hospital Southeast in Milwaukee for their first-ever annual wellness checkup.
The couple sat in the room together for the appointment as their doctor checked their height and weight and ticked through a series of questions about their medical history.
When they left, they anticipated Medicare would cover the routine appointment.
But when a billing statement landed in their mailbox in September, the couple found that Dan Lococo had been charged for two additional services — an “established patient periodic preventive medicine examination” for $399 and an “office/outpatient established low MDM” for $180.
Helen Lococo, who had sat through an identical appointment, was not charged at all.
The billing discrepancy caused Dan and Helen Lococo over six months of emails, calls and sleepless nights while the couple pushed for answers from Ascension, culminating in a collections warning letter they received in the mail in December.
“This is your FINAL NOTICE,” the letter read. “Your account may be placed with a collection agency and reported on your credit report if we do not receive payment immediately.”