Where I Gripe about Medical Expenses....

I have lots of opinions, but I usually just share them with my husband and a few close friends...but, I've decided to step out and share one of my more passionate opinions with you all:

Healthcare and Insurance Companies

Please know that I work in healthcare, so I may have a more tainted view/opinion than some of you.

When we sufferred out miscarriage back in Oct. of 2007, we choose to have a D&C as an outpatient procedure. I had to not eat or drink anything for 12 hours and then I went into the hospital for the hour (or less) procedure and then came back home. We started getting bills left and right -- from the OB, from the emergency room @ the hospital, the radiology group that read my ultrasound and then told me "there's no heartbeat" (that cost me about $150 to tell me that!), from the place where they test your bloodwork and from the anethesiologist. You know you don't ever get 1 bill -- all the doctors are contracted out to the hospital these days.

So, when we sat down and compared our bills with what our insurance said we'd have to pay, things started to get a little fishy. I received a bill from the anethesiology group that said I had to pay a certain fee for the D&C (I was put under for the procedure), then there was this emergency anethesia fee. WHAT? Emergency? Don't you think they would have told me (or my husband) that there was an emergency procedure during the D&C? No one told us there was a problem. So, I wrote a little note on my bill telling them that this was a planned procedure and there was no emergency in the process. They called me back and told me I would have to get a copy of my operative report, so I did that. No where in the report did it say there was any sort of emergency. So, I sent them a copy of the report and asked them to re-submit a bill to me with the correction. They called me and apologized and told me that I was right and they would credit me and my insurance.

As I was telling a friend of mine that story, she was on the edge of her seat, just waiting to see how much money I was now not going to have to pay. $10 Yes, after my insurance covered the emergency anesthesia fees, my portion was going to be $10. You may laugh at this, but I refused to pay that out of principle! You can't go incorrectly charging people for procedures and events that didn't happen. But, I believe there are so many people out there that don't check their bills and they just pay -- I bet they're paying for more than they really signed up for!

Next story: I am still getting bills from my OB for visits when I was pregnant, the D&C and for follow-up after the D&C. I was getting an $80 bill for an office visit and my co-pay is only $20. So, I called my insurance company and they tell me that my doctor is no longer in my network!! YEAH RIGHT! He works at the same hospital I work at and his office is just down the hall from me. Now remember, I said that doctors were contracted out to the hospital, so this may very well be in fact true -- that he's not in my network. But, for his best interest, he would be in my network (the hospital's network). He delivers ~75% of the babies born at that hospital!!! He'll be losing a lot of business if he's not in my network.

Once again, I checked my bills and called the insurance company. They are re-submitting my claims and I am expecting to save $60 on that visit.

After all is said and done, I was pregnant and now I am not. That cost me about $1,000 for nothing -- just character building I suspect.

Moral of the (long-winded) story: check your bills and fight for what you believe is incorrect! If you have insurance -- companies and doctor's office "accidentally" bill you over and above what you owe -- my philosophy: to make up for those without insurance that receive free medical care.