Complaint Review: Dr. Bobby Buka M.D.

I had been a patient of Dr. Buka for about four years and for three of them I had no complaints, their website touts that they are one of the Top Dermatologists in NYC. As I was a patient with him, his offices started to expand I and I saw less and less of him. Instead it would be a PA or he would pop in for about five minuets. I had a sweating problem and he recommended Botox for my armpits. I did the treatment twice, but the second time I had it done, they committed billing fraud when they balanced billed me for the services when my insurance company denied the claim. It gets worse; they not only balance billed me but they sent it straight to collections without first sending me a bill. They claim they sent TWO bills but I never received them. Furthermore, Dr. Bobby Buka’s Office claimed the reason why my insurance had denied this pre-authorized procedure was because I had failed to submit a questionnaire to my insurance company.
I called my insurance company in a panic, as I was a student at the time with this near $2,000 collections notice in hand. My insurance company told me that the reason why it was denied was because the DOCTOR (Bobby Buka) had failed to submit procedural documents about the needle, how far it went in, etc. One of the reasons why this may have been looked over was because the procedure was not done by my Dr. but by his PA. To top that off my insurance company told me they were illegally balance billing me when the explanation of benefits CLREARLY said that my patient responsibility, even though it was denied, was zero dollars.

When I called the office to relay this information they completely wrote if off and said I was lying and that my insurance company wouldn’t have said any of that. After a few weeks of failed attempts to contact their billing department, which by the way is only available via email, I threatened legal action and I was put in contact with the manager who was not helpful in the beginning. After about a week she agreed to contact my insurance company and talk to them. She, by the way he name is Sadie, never apologized nor admitted fault, still saying that this was the result of something I had failed to do. Shortly after this, she did say that my insurance company was ACTUALLY the one to blame (no apology). I told her to take me out of collections, as I wasn’t responsible for this debt, and about a week later she said that she had. I called the collections company to verify this and they told me that I was on hold but not out of collections. Only after I threatened legal action AGAIN, did they then completely take me out of collections.

Skip ahead six to eight months. I made an appointment for a regular check up, as my mother had melanoma, and went into the office where I was initially told that I owed the balance that they has sent to collections. I knew that my insurance company had paid this so I said to check again and she found where I only owed a copay from it, which I was expecting even though they (admittingly) have yet to send a bill for this (my insurance company paid this in May and it is now October). I was told before the procedure that I could go on a payment plan as I was a student and didn’t have a sufficient source of income yet. This same receptionist then told me I had to pay the balance in full before I could be seen. I asked to speak to a manager and he told me that I had to pay half of it before I could be seen. I had anticipated needing to make a payment not all or even half. Again, I am a student and live paycheck to paycheck. I tried to tell him what had happened to me, but he was unyielding and unsympathetic. He told me I was not sent to collections for the full about, which I have the collections notice to prove it. He also told me that they had only sent me ONE bill prior to sending it to collections when previously I was told they send TWO bills before they send to collections. Again, I never received a bill for this but I did receive a bill for an unrelated office visit the same week I got the collections notice. I paid the $35 office visit that was on my account and said I can make a payment of about $50 towards the balance but that’s all I had in my account and couldn’t pay half of the balance. He took none of the past events into consideration, and as he swiped my debit card for the $35 he said you do know that this won’t allow you to be seen today right? I was partially in tears at this point. I left the office not getting seen.
It has been over a week since this. I have called the GM Sadie about five times. All but one of these times I was given an excuse that she was out or in a meeting or out all day ONLY after being put on hold for about 5 min each time (enough time for her to get tipped off). One of the times I was mistakenly sent straight through to her and she said, “Oh yes, Jonathan Kirkland. Give me a min.” From here she put me on hold and the call was cut after I was on hold close to 10 min. I called straight back and was told again that she was in a meeting after another 5 min hold. I’m done, they should be reported to the NY Board of Health for billing fraud, which I intend to do.