The surgical center called yesterday to give me information about my surgery next week, on the 9th. They gave me quite a shock (spoiler: it got resolved okay, so dont worry while you read this). After giving me some information about preparing for my surgery and telling me that a nurse will be calling me next week with more specific details, the woman added, I also wanted to make sure you are aware that we are an out-of-network facility, but your cost will only be $3,176. Your insurance pays 80% and this is your remaining 20%. My heart sank. Okay, crap, I thought, Im going to have to switch to another facility, find an available date, and probably have to wait weeks more before surgery. The panic started, but I managed to say, What? I was told you were in-network. Uhm, thats not going to work. My doctor works at other in-network facilities, so Im going to have to schedule with one of them. Ill have to call you back. I am in too much shock right now to talk about this. Oh, Im sorry, Mr. Bliss, I thought you knew that. Let me check with my office manager and see if theres something we can do to help you with this. Ill be right back. Lovely hold music...One minute later she returned and said,Good news. My office manager has approved you for the in-network price. Well accept that amount from your insurance company under your in-network terms, which is covered at 100%. There will be no out-of-pocket expenses for you at our facility. Does that seem shady to you, too? What the heck?!? They figured theyd try to extort more money out of me, but when I threatened to take my business elsewhere, they suddenly realized that some money is better than none. I really hate this medical billing nonsense... I will be getting this in writing before my procedure, of course. Ugh. So, Im on for October 9th, as planned. The insurance has approved the procedure. I checked with my doctor and told them that everyone that touches me or is involved in any way needs to be in-network, and they agreed and confirmed with all participants that they are in-network. (They actually apologized profusely over this -- they thought it was in-network and got an approval from the insurance company that seemed to agree with that understanding.) What a racket.
Posted on: Thu, 02 Oct 2014 17:11:15 +0000
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