If this is through Children's, WAIT to pay it. Let them send you the bill after the surgery and then like a week later they will call you again to ask if you would like to set up a payment plan. At that time, they will offer you a 10% discount to pay the thing all at once in full. I'm not sure why they do this, but they don't have any kind of hardship requirement for the discount. We go through this after every single one of PTS's cardiology appointments (which is usually pretty hefty because she gets an echo and an EKG). The first time they offered it, I even said something like, "We don't have any problem paying that bill, it's just that we only got it last week and we pay our bills at the end of the month." The woman was like, "Well, if you pay in full right now, you get a 10% discount." I was like, "Done."
To add to this, whenever I pay a medical bill I always ask for an additional discount for paying right away (within 30 days). So I've gotten up to 20% off for paying in full and paying on time. They won't offer it, you have to ask for it. However, I understand that this is a pretty big amount and this might be pretty useless advice...we wouldn't have 3K available to pay it either.
FWIW, our insurance company told me to never pay for care beforehand, always wait for the bill afterwards. Then get the bill itemized...there are often mistakes (and I've found this to be true). It's easier to pay an accurate amount then have to get a refund, and the billing department will be more cooperative if they haven't gotten their money yet.
Good luck with your daughter!
Me too (bolded). I just recently pre-paid for something (I was caught totally offguard and they asked me when I checked in for the appt, it will be xyz right now!). I paid...and then it was the biggest PITA to get reimbursed after the fact...like months. I will never "pre-pay" anything medically now. Bill me the actuals after...if you need a "good faith" deposit or something I can see that (although strange when talking in terms of medical procedures) but I want to see the bill and will pay after the fact.
The really crazy thing about Lysisugal is that her posts on MM are actually semi-normal and sometimes even helpful. And then she's just a total dickwad over here.
I'd offer to adopt you so you could have free care up here, but you'd probably be on a giant waiting list (unless its an emergency in which case your treatment would be timely)....you win some, you lose some when it comes to health care
Post by EloiseWeenie on Aug 29, 2012 12:58:06 GMT -5
Once you get the bill, call and ask for a lower price. For my 1st kid, the hospital said that they'd already used up their allotment for that month but that made me realize that they do have wiggle room.
With my 2nd, my insurance was trying to deny all of my claims (even though I had a maternity rider), and the girl that worked in billing was awesome. She kept resubmitting my claims, and told me if in the end they deny them, that she would give me a significant discount. This was at a different hospital than where I had my 1st.
I once had a billing person tell me they didn't do payment plans so "just put it on a credit card."
This is what we were told by Blue Cross after H was mugged. They didn't want to cover his ambulance ride because he was only half a mile from the hospital. Forget about the fact that he had just had his glasses bashed into the side of his face by a baseball bat and had an almost broken jaw. Yeah, just walk, buddy!
They told us to put $10k on a credit card.
Daria, I am sorry that your daughter has to have surgery, and I hope that she heals quickly I also hope that the payment plan works out for you guys.
My husband was in a serious bike accident and was lying unconscious on a street and taken to a trauma hospital by ambulance. When we got the ambulance bill we discovered that the ambulance wasn't in network for BCBS (or any insurance provider in GA). I asked the person what we should have done, should I have told the police not to take my husband until we called around and found an ambulance that was in network? Especially since when we called 911 this is who they sent? We had to pay it in full. In total we paid a lot, probably close to $15k in bills for his accident but did it all on a payment plan, even though we could have paid it at once.
I've had surgery this summer and my youngest had surgery in January. For both, at different surgery centers, we received calls like this. I think it's just standard practice lately.
I declined to prepay either time. I prefer to have them bill insurance first, who negotiates it down, then I pay the remainder (broken up, if possible).
I believe part of the intent of this practice is good--informing you of cost ahead of time. However, I think for most people, prepaying is a bad idea in case of overpayment.
Me too (bolded). I just recently pre-paid for something (I was caught totally offguard and they asked me when I checked in for the appt, it will be xyz right now!). I paid...and then it was the biggest PITA to get reimbursed after the fact...like months. I will never "pre-pay" anything medically now. Bill me the actuals after...if you need a "good faith" deposit or something I can see that (although strange when talking in terms of medical procedures) but I want to see the bill and will pay after the fact.
I was told my surgery would be cancelled if I didn't pre-pay my 20% 'out of network' estimate day of (minus the deposit). Turns out I overpaid. On top of that, I'm appealing the out-of-network status.
I'm not holding my breath I'm ever going to see that money again. I feel 150% like an ass for paying it.
Post by basilosaurus on Aug 29, 2012 14:34:29 GMT -5
Since getting socialized medicine I have yet to have to fight a bill. Even going to an out of network ER was totally covered without a debate. The only issue I had was with my dental insurance which is contracted out to a private insurer.
Anecdotes! Socialism!
Daria, sorry you're dealing with the suck. I hope the healing time doesn't make you lose your sanity. I can't imagine dealing with a toddler in a spica.
We just got the itemized billing statement for my husband's chemotherapy. He had two days of treatment. Total cost: $42,489.18.
We have insurance and don't have to pay it, but my God, what if we didn't??
I'm still freaking out over this.
Yea. Good god. They told me that JUST the hospital stay- so not including ANYTHING medically related- would be $13,000 approx. We'll be there for 48 hours, max. :-|
Since getting socialized medicine I have yet to have to fight a bill. Even going to an out of network ER was totally covered without a debate. The only issue I had was with my dental insurance which is contracted out to a private insurer.
Anecdotes! Socialism!
Daria, sorry you're dealing with the suck. I hope the healing time doesn't make you lose your sanity. I can't imagine dealing with a toddler in a spica.
I love that you casually refer to tricare as socialized medicine. I mean...it is. It just tickles me.
Daria, that sucks.
Add me to the list of people who paid up front for the OOP portion of something and ended up overpaying.
I love that you casually refer to tricare as socialized medicine. I mean...it is. It just tickles me.
For some reason, the H and his coworkers get into political discussions all the time. Some of them are basically Glenn Beck in a uniform, all ranty about socialized medicine. He loves to point out that they have tricare and generally like it.
I love that you casually refer to tricare as socialized medicine. I mean...it is. It just tickles me.
For some reason, the H and his coworkers get into political discussions all the time. Some of them are basically Glenn Beck in a uniform, all ranty about socialized medicine. He loves to point out that they have tricare and generally like it.
my grandmother gets into similar discussions with her fellow olds and she loves to point out that they're all on medicare.
Since getting socialized medicine I have yet to have to fight a bill. Even going to an out of network ER was totally covered without a debate. The only issue I had was with my dental insurance which is contracted out to a private insurer.
Anecdotes! Socialism!
Daria, sorry you're dealing with the suck. I hope the healing time doesn't make you lose your sanity. I can't imagine dealing with a toddler in a spica.
Another anecdote!!1!1: my dad (who lives in Canada) recently met an American who had gotten the exact same surgery as he did last year. The American cost? $7K OOP, with insurance. My dad's cost? $3.50 to park his car at the hospital. The guy started to cry...he was working full-time plus another 2 minimum wage jobs to pay it off.
Post by cattledogkisses on Aug 29, 2012 15:33:55 GMT -5
I adore Tricare. Not long after we were married I had to have major surgery, a multi-day hospital stay, pre- and post-surgery MRIs and x-rays, genetic counseling, etc. etc... OOP cost for everything? $0. In fact, they reimbursed me mileage for my appointment with the geneticist because I had to travel more than 100 miles.
OP, I hope everything goes well. I can't imagine having an already stressful event like that compounded by huge medical bills. Insurance companies can suck it.
We just got the itemized billing statement for my husband's chemotherapy. He had two days of treatment. Total cost: $42,489.18.
We have insurance and don't have to pay it, but my God, what if we didn't??
I'm still freaking out over this.
BTDT. Not to mention the freak out over lifetime limits. Thank FSM that my carrier just dropped them. Because yeah, 12 cycles of chemo, annual colonoscopies and thrice annual CT scans turns out to be fuckignexpensive.
I am not sure I am getting what your point is. You do not want to pay your part of the cost? You do not have the money to pay? You were surprised at the amount for which you were responsible? You did not like to be informed ahead of time of the amount that would come out of your pocket? You did not like to be asked for pre-payment? You have no emergency savings for such things and this is a hardship?
Interestingly enough, this is almost exactly what Jesus Christ said to the people who brought their sick to him.
"Dost thou not have an emergency fund? Dost thou expect the LORD to heal without a prepayment?" Capitalists 10:7
THIS was a full win response.
I'm sorry about your daughter, and I hope it all works out just fine.
Post by lyssbobiss, Command, B613 on Aug 29, 2012 20:34:17 GMT -5
I'm appalled, both at the OOP costs for these kinds of things, and that Lys is an affront to those three letters we share. Let's say you do have an emergency fund. You worked and bootstrapped your way up the ladder and have a terrific emergency fund. And then you lose your job and your health insurance. And then you're diagnosed with cancer. The emergency fund is there to help with this event. And you piss it all away on your health care. And then 3 weeks later with still no health insurance and no emergency fund, you have a car accident. A damn lot of good your "emergency fund" is going to do you now, you've already used it. The point is, life happens and even YOU could be susceptible to ruin. Don't sit on your fucking high horse and act like you are above it all. Maybe it's careful planning, but it's also luck.
"This prick is asking for someone here to bring him to task Somebody give me some dirt on this vacuous mass so we can at last unmask him I'll pull the trigger on it, someone load the gun and cock it While we were all watching, he got Washington in his pocket."
Post by decemberwedding07 on Aug 30, 2012 10:49:52 GMT -5
I'm so sorry, Daria. And Lys' comments are quite uncalled for. We were once told that we needed to replace a major beam in our house's foundation, due to the destructive effects of wood ants and rot. It was $5k. We didn't have a choice but to pay it. We had the savings, but it still majorly sucked. I totally complained about that. And that was a fucking HOUSE. It wasn't a HUMAN, let alone my child. There was no fear or stress involved and I was still totally bummed. Complain away.
Post by copzgirl1171 on Aug 30, 2012 11:02:10 GMT -5
You know this reminds me of how great our healthcare system is *rolls eyes*
My FIL suffered a stroke and was comatose after open heart surgery. He was touch and go for 15 days and then insurance mandated that he get moved to a re-hab facility before he was ready (thankfully adjacent to the hospital) where he suffered another cardiac event at that rehab center where he coded twice upon being readmitted to the heart hospital.
His grand total just stopped shy of a million dollars. Where at that point his insurance would have stopped paying anything. We are so grateful because we will always believe that OSU saw the max out coming and deliberately released him prior to the cut off of his insurance and allowed him to return home where the policy had to pick up for home care.
My IL's ended up paying little more than 3k and that was for ambulance trips that weren't covered.
How sad is it when you have to fuck over the fucker overers?
We just got the itemized billing statement for my husband's chemotherapy. He had two days of treatment. Total cost: $42,489.18.
We have insurance and don't have to pay it, but my God, what if we didn't??
I'm still freaking out over this.
DD's second heart surgery was $170,000. Yeah.
Ooh ooh, our total bill for L&D thru NICU was $175k. I'm a topper Yes, they broke it down, and it turns out those isolation rooms in the NICU are bank. My poor company keeps trying to negotiate better rates and I think I single handedly screwed their efforts.
Post by Daria Morgandorffer on Aug 30, 2012 11:18:37 GMT -5
One of the saddest things I remember about my mothers entire ordeal with cancer was walking in on my Dad crying at his office desk. I ducked right back out without him noticing, thinking he was crying about my mom (well, I'm sure that was part of it), but later I went in there to grab something and realized that he was looking at a gigantic stack of hospital bills and his checkbook. And then I cried. He had fantastic insurance through General Motors at the time and it still really, really hurt us financially (she was sick for nearly 5 total years before she died).
One of the saddest things I remember about my mothers entire ordeal with cancer was walking in on my Dad crying at his office desk. I ducked right back out without him noticing, thinking he was crying about my mom (well, I'm sure that was part of it), but later I went in there to grab something and realized that he was looking at a gigantic stack of hospital bills and his checkbook. And then I cried. He had fantastic insurance through General Motors at the time and it still really, really hurt us financially (she was sick for nearly 5 total years before she died).
This is absolutely heartbreaking. I'm so very sorry for your loss and for what your family had to go through.