Holy Medical Bills Batman

[Deleted]

MH could kick himself for not waiting 2 days to get his blood drawn so it would have counted towards 2013 instead of 2012. 

The EOBs from our diagnostics came in yesterday's mail. Our liability for his blood work is well over $1,000 - one would think they'd give you a heads up about these things first.  One of the tests wasn't covered at all and was over $600 (I'm thinking it was one of the two genetic tests).  My HSG wasn't as expensive as I thought it would be, I only owe about $300.  Thank goodness for a well funded HSA.  The end is in sight, just the urologist consult and the follow up with the RE, well and lots of therapy bills.  We aren't making a decision on how to move forward anytime soon and thankfully, we do have IF coverage for IUI (although I'm sure the donor sperm isn't covered). 

Not sure which is worse the diagnosis or the amount it cost to find out we can't have children without a donor.

[changedname]

holy crap that is expensive bloodwork, what did they use, a diamond encrusted needle? wowsers. I'm surprised people have ins that covers IF treatments but not the diagnostics, that sucks. (I'm the opposite - our Canadian healthcare covers all bloodwork, hsg etc but no IF treatments).

[Deleted]

Jan 27, 2013 16:03:46 GMT -5 changedname said:

holy crap that is expensive bloodwork, what did they use, a diamond encrusted needle? wowsers. I'm surprised people have ins that covers IF treatments but not the diagnostics, that sucks. (I'm the opposite - our Canadian healthcare covers all bloodwork, hsg etc but no IF treatments).

We have a sucky high deductible HSA, so unless and until we hit our annual $4k - it's on us.  We do pay the insurance reimbursement rate, which does help.  Technically diagnostics are covered, but aside from being infertile we're both healthy and don't see the dr. for more than routine care. 

We haven't gotten the lab bills yet, but it's got to be from the karyotype and other genetic blood test the RE ordered.  The rest was all more routine - hormone level, etc.  I should request a damn DNA map or something for that price! 

[degal99]

DH had blood work done and we got a bill for $775. But, they hadn't billed his insurance first! But we still will probably be on the hook for about $200 or so after it gets resubmitted. I have better insurance then he does (my infertility work up was $5), but we did it that way because I've had more medical problems them him in the past. We weren't planning on my problems getting in the way of his health.

[jewel]

Wow, that is incredibly high! Sorry That is a terrible cost, just for bad news.

Have you tried negotiating medical bills? My husband used to have a high deductible plan, and we called before paying every bill. We offered payment in full (through the HSA) and they usually agree to take 5-10% off the bill, if it was within 30 days. It's worth a try!

[Deleted]

Jan 27, 2013 17:48:40 GMT -5 jewel said:

Wow, that is incredibly high! Sorry That is a terrible cost, just for bad news.

Have you tried negotiating medical bills? My husband used to have a high deductible plan, and we called before paying every bill. We offered payment in full (through the HSA) and they usually agree to take 5-10% off the bill, if it was within 30 days. It's worth a try!

This was just the EOB, we haven't gotten the bill from the lab yet, but I'll have him reach out when it comes in to see if they're willing to knock something off of it.  It's just annoying that the RE sent him for these tests without so much of a this will run you $x and may not be covered.  All she did was tell him to go get blood work done - they called in the script so we didn't even have that to go by. 

[KaraOrNot]

I feel you. We paid more in medical bills last year (most related to IF), than ever before. Just another awesome aspect of IF.

[Cheesecake]

Yikes!

[kershnic]

My RE charges my insurance $1000 for bloodwork all the time. The idea that they charge OOP people that is horrifying. But I assume if you hit your 4k then things will be covered?