Woo Kwang Song, MD

Please be wary of this provider. He’s a nice man outwardly, and his office staff are courteous and helpful. However, they have unethical tactics for uninsured people.
I’ve taken my mother to this provider many times in the past. As we’ve never really had insurance, we’ve paid cash, which I do with a smile on my face because my mother felt comfortable with this provider.
Well, it’s been years, and this past summer I took her in to request a routine colonoscopy. The first topic of conversation was what the problem was. I very clearly specified that we needed a routine colonoscopy as my mother was going through a cancer scare. We specified that there was some bleeding, but that it was related to a hemorrhoid issue and unrelated. THAT was his chance to strike. He performed an exam to check the hemorrhoid, under the pretense that he was going to assist us with the overall colonoscopy.
AFTER the exam, of course, came the topic insurance (which was made very clear BEFORE the exam because I specified that we’re uninsured but money is not an issue). I told him that we have no insurance, and again explained will pay IN FULL and up front if he wishes.
I don’t know what moved this doctor to do so, but his immediate deduction was that «the procedure is too expensive»… or in laymen’s terms, he didn’t think we could pay (I don’t know if we LOOKED poor or what the situation is), when all that this professional had to do was look up our history and see that they never even had to send a bill in the past because we were always in line to pay almost immediately.
He gave us an application for some financial assistance voucher and sent us on our way. Truth be told, the ENTIRE ordeal took about 5 to 7 minutes (not including the waiting room time which wasn’t bad at all).
And that is when we started getting a bill for nearly $ 200. As I said, money isn’t an issue here, but ethically speaking, I want to know HOW a doctor feels any financial concern for a patient AFTER doing a 2 minute check up for nearly $ 200. I’m I the insane one? He was only allowed to do the check up under the pretense that he would help us (as he did in the past!). I don’t understand how this doctor felt so genuinely concerned about what a financial burden this procedure would be to OUR bank account… but thought that nearly $ 200 was completely acceptable WITHOUT helping us.
If I have a restaurant, and I am COMPLETELY out of food and have no intentions of feeding people, can I charge the customer for seating him and waiting for the server to tell them that they can’t order today?
I would have CARTWHEELED to his office to pay the exam fee (looking at a patient for 2 minutes at $ 100 a minute) if he would have helped us with the colonoscopy that we actually needed in her time of need. But as it turns out, he conducted an exam for a procedure that he already had ZERO intention of conducting. Now– I’m not coming down on this doctor too hard, because I didn’t think much of ANY of this at first because of that voucher application he gave us…
We DID fill out that financial assistance voucher out of desperation so that he, or ANYONE could help us… and it got approved, apparently almost immediately… That sounds good, right? It DOES sound good until I tell you about the part where no one from this provider’s office OR the office that processes the voucher application called us to notify us of its approval until nearly SIX MONTHS later… this is AFTER she had gotten a colonoscopy done at a major local regional center. Thankfully that regional center had mercy on us. We paid THEM. In full. One shot. Immediately.
Can you imagine someone going through a cancer scare waiting almost a full half of a year to hear back from some help that was offered.
THIS provider, however; that almost $ 200 bill will go unpaid. They can send it to collections. We can handle it. I HAVE the money. But like anyone else who stands up for themselves while getting robbed, strong armed, or swindled, I’m holding on to my wallet.