Hundreds of families in Lakewood were bewildered in recent days as they received inexplicable bills from local doctors. All the bills were for $20, and -despite appearing legitimate – came without any explanation.
The medical bills were attributed to at least two doctor offices, Drs. Cohen & Lempel, and Dr. Samuel Preschel.
The bills coming in the mail prompted some people who didn’t bother looking into it to report far and wide that it was scam. It was not. Rather, it was a clerical error on the part of a billing company used by the practices.
In a letter to patients, Dr. Preschel wrote, “The vendor responsible for the error has acknowledged their mistake and issued an apology. They will be sending a letter to all affected patients to provide further clarification. Additionally, you will receive a corrected statement.”
“We want to assure you that your personal data remains secure and that this issue was strictly a clerical and technical error,” the letter added.
Mine was for $35 which is my regular copay amount. I actually thought I paid it back then with a credit card but could be it wasn’t charged. I planned to double check my credit card to verify but I guess I’ll wait for a new statement.