@phoenixpal I'm with @vic83 in thinking you have a Medicare Advantage plan that Mayo Phoenix won't accept. I went to Phoenix for my Barrett Esophagus 7 months ago when my Rochester MD retired. I've been going to MN. for 5+ years. Phoenix accepted my BCBS medigap policy and I didn't owe a dime. In almost 6 years I've been billed once and paid for $8.00 by Mayo that they later refunded to me. I haven't received any bills from Mayo Phoenix nor have I received any money from BCBS. My balance owed Mayo for my visit back in March is $0.

"This problem is unique to Mayo Arizona, which although it "accepts" traditional Medicare, it does not accept PAYMENTS from Medicare. That's on you the patient."
Yes, that would be a problem!
I have BCBS Senior Gold from Minnesota since 2009 which I took out originally because it allowed me to take it to another State and covered emergency travel. There are NO copays with this policy. I know Medicare made some plan type adjustments, but I got grandfathered in. I never see bills for anything, not visits, tests, hospital stays. It also includes eye refractory exam which I sometimes have to explain to the eye doctor staff since Medicare does not cover that. The only problem is when someone screws up.
Now when I was in the Mayo hospital last December, the person wheeling me out said that a patient told him that Mayo Arizona had stopped taking Medicare. And here in MN Mayo also stopped taking Advantage - because of plans without new contracts they said. So they said they were reserving for people with traditional Medicare.
And what about your visits to non-Mayo providers??? Do you submit and then get paid and then pay the doctor?
I understand the headache. The employer provided insurance I had in my last job required that 1) The doctor submits claim to the insurance company, 2) the doctor bills me 3) the insurance pays me, 4) I pay the doctor. I had to keep a spreadsheet tracking it all.
I am sure I am not allowed here to express what I thought of such a process! All these healthcare plans are not choice THEY ARE CONFUSION!

Oh, how horrible! Surgery is stressful enough and then to have to go through all that…
Yes, I have only had office consultation visits.

I’m sorry you have had to go through all of this nonsense. 🌵

@phoenixpal, Mayo Az does accept Original Medicare A&B. My husband had his kidney transplant at Mayo Clinic Az in March 2022 and are currently doing follow ups at Mayo Az. He has Original Medicare A&B as primary and BCBS of Calif PPO(employer insurance, in-network with Mayo Az) as secondary. Services covered by Medicare have maximum allowable payments set by Medicare and are accepted by Mayo Az. The payments are made by Medicare (80% of max allowable) to Mayo Az. and the rest (20%) goes to our secondary insurance. Our secondary, subject to the deductible, covers everything Medicare covers. The billing issue arises on non-Medicare covered services(not deemed medically necessary by Medicare), Mayo Az submits out-of-network claims to our secondary even though the secondary has in-network access. Transplant requires many services/follow-ups, esp labs, and not all are covered by Medicare. I have confirmed in-network status with member services as well as the list of in-network contracts on Mayo website. Member services say Mayo must submit claims properly(use in-network NPIs, etc) in order of us to get the in-network benefits. I've talked to Mayo Billing but as usual they did not have an answer. The billing supervisor said she would look into it and I have yet receive an explanation. The out-of-network billing came as a surprise to us especially pre-certification and insurance approvals were done multiple times during transplant workup, transplant listing, right before transplant, transplant and post transplant. Like you, I'm trying to find the right contact at Mayo who can help clear up this mess!
We love the services at Mayo Az but the billing has been very confusing to us!!