Refund

Why is it so difficult to get money back from a doctors office when you over pay them? We pay a copayment everytime we go to the drs. When Alex had his broken collarbone earlier this year, he saw the dr 4 times. Based on the insurance payments to the dr, we ended up owing 3 different copays...the first one was our specialist copay, next two were our diagnostic copay and the last visit we didn't owe anything. But because we have to pay up front, we payed the specialist copay each time which means we overpayed for the services. The same thing happened with Kenzie broken collarbone visits. She had 3 appts...according to insurance the first one was our specialist copay, the next two we didn't owe anything but again because we had to pay up front we paid 3 specialist copays. The combined overpayment for both kids ended up being $70. The last appt was early August. Here it is November and we've seen nothing regarding our overpayment. I finally talked to the billing office today and was told that yes indeed, we did have a credit on our account and that she would issue us a refund check. So exactly how long would they have held onto the money if I hadn't called? And how many people don't call and would have lost that money because I'm sure the office wouldn't have refunded it without being prompted? I also think insurance companies contribute to the problem with their screwy copay systems. The kids were seen for the exact same thing each time so why did we end up with three different payments. Makes no sense to me.