Dealing with Health Insurance
Hi,
My UPPP was an expensive operation, apparently. I recently received a bill from the BUMC for $4167.00. This has occurred because I've apparently maxed out my benefits for the year, which I think amount to $5000. All on that one operation. I don't know exactly how much was picked up by the insurance, though. I'm hoping to find out about this soon. In any event, it's clear that asking one's doctor and insurance people, "Will my insurance cover this operation?" is not an assurance that you're not going to pay thousands of dollars.
The real confusion here is that a few months ago I was dealing with insurance not paying for my bill. The problem there, however, was not a lack of benefits remaining---it was a lack of understanding the referral I had gotten. (This was fixed, following a brutal round of harassing 3 different people, most of whom were completely nice.) This bill, however, was for less than $3000, and certainly not $4167.00. How did this bill inflate? Should I have shut up, put my trust in the insurance/medical center people and paid the first one?
I just called the people I received the bill from. They told me exactly what the bill said---that I owe a bunch of cashmoney---but couldn't fill me in on why I had gone over my limit with the insurance. Apparently that must have come from charges levied by the hospital. These people represent the doctor. These are two completely different groups, with a complete lack of ability to share information. When I asked whether they could give me a number, they were unable to find an appropriate number to deal with the hospital. Awesome. I'm really glad that the doctor and the hospital that worked together to cut apart the inside of my face are apparently not on speaking terms. I guess that explains why the hospital attempted to feed me ginger ale directly post surgery. Even though over two weeks later I couldn't drink carbonated beverages, I'm sure ginger ale would be perfect for someone who thinks he's gonna choke on ice shavings.
The only thing I get from this so far is that there are, like, 100 people to talk to in order to figure out exactly why and how much you're getting billed for something. Although most of those people are extremely nice, they are, for the most part, completely helpless when it comes to answering the "whys" and "hows".
I have paid $20.46 to the otolaryngology people for what I think are copays and $209 for anesthesia (which was clearly optional).
In addition to all this, I got a phone call from some bill collector earlier this week. He said I hadn't paid some $500 bill. "For what?" I asked. "Well, it says here you had some operation on January second..."
My UPPP was an expensive operation, apparently. I recently received a bill from the BUMC for $4167.00. This has occurred because I've apparently maxed out my benefits for the year, which I think amount to $5000. All on that one operation. I don't know exactly how much was picked up by the insurance, though. I'm hoping to find out about this soon. In any event, it's clear that asking one's doctor and insurance people, "Will my insurance cover this operation?" is not an assurance that you're not going to pay thousands of dollars.
The real confusion here is that a few months ago I was dealing with insurance not paying for my bill. The problem there, however, was not a lack of benefits remaining---it was a lack of understanding the referral I had gotten. (This was fixed, following a brutal round of harassing 3 different people, most of whom were completely nice.) This bill, however, was for less than $3000, and certainly not $4167.00. How did this bill inflate? Should I have shut up, put my trust in the insurance/medical center people and paid the first one?
I just called the people I received the bill from. They told me exactly what the bill said---that I owe a bunch of cashmoney---but couldn't fill me in on why I had gone over my limit with the insurance. Apparently that must have come from charges levied by the hospital. These people represent the doctor. These are two completely different groups, with a complete lack of ability to share information. When I asked whether they could give me a number, they were unable to find an appropriate number to deal with the hospital.
The only thing I get from this so far is that there are, like, 100 people to talk to in order to figure out exactly why and how much you're getting billed for something. Although most of those people are extremely nice, they are, for the most part, completely helpless when it comes to answering the "whys" and "hows".
I have paid $20.46 to the otolaryngology people for what I think are copays and $209 for anesthesia (which was clearly optional).
In addition to all this, I got a phone call from some bill collector earlier this week. He said I hadn't paid some $500 bill. "For what?" I asked. "Well, it says here you had some operation on January second..."
posted by Kyle at 10:35 AM
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