Yesterday, I made the phone call to my dr's office to find out a "ballpark" dollar figure/amt so my husband and I can plan financially for the upcoming surgery. Have I gotten an answer? Nope. I called my ins. co. and they told me that we will be paying 10% plus a deductible. That is fine...but my hubby wants to know what that 10% could be. He's a budgeter and he really does like to know. Can any of you give me a estimate of what you paid for lap and hys.stercopy??? We do realize there can be complications, yada, yada, yada...however we just need an idea. We will be getting bills from the surg center, dr, and anesthesiologist(?)...my hubby gulped. Oh goshh...where is our money tree when we need one. We have to pay whatever but who likes the unexpected med bills? Not us.
Besides that....what is going on with nasty people writing nasty things on our blogs? We are just trying to support each other on this IF journey. I don't get why the "devil" can't leave us alone. If someone can't say anything nice...don't say it at all. This is not a place for that!! Soon... we'll all be making our blogs private and that is going to make it hard for other women to join who are struggling with IF and be a part of this wonderful outlet. Just my thoughts....it's saddening to me. I read a blog of a mother whose baby died soon after birth and some Moran wrote her a nasty response on her blog. This mom totally responded with grace...I was moved but why did someone feel that was okay to be so downright mean? Gosh....That floors me! OH well....we all know we get nasty comments from ignoramuses to our face about IF so I guess why not here. The truth...is I'm not feeling like this is a safe place anymore. Maybe I just need to go back to my private journal writing or make my blog private too. And I've been told that I couldn't 't be part of a private blog...not sure why...but whatever! I don't know what to do. Tears. Tears. :) I know I have the Lord and prayer but I really do enjoy blog.ging...it has helped me. Thanks!
I'm sorry, I don't know how much it is but I will pray that the numbers work out just right for you! :)
ReplyDeleteOhhh, don't go private! I'm sorry for all the hatred that's been out there lately. I'm think you're right in recognizing it as the devil at play... don't let him beat you!
ReplyDeleteAs for an estimate on your lap and hysteroscopy, I can tell you what my estimate was for those 2 procedures, PLUS an ovarian wedge resection (requiring a laparotomy), and a selective HSG... that estimate was $15,000 to $20,000. The totaly billed amount ended up at just over $22,000, and then the insurance only allowed some insanely low portion of that... I forget what it was they allowed... and our subscriber responsibility ended up at under $1,000!! (This is hospital cost only, not Dr costs.) God really took care of us in that. The Dr's cost was just under $5,000 for everything, and the allowed amount was $1,400 and change... we are currently STILL in appeal over that, because originally they told us the Dr's fees were covered in full (we have it in writing).
So, taking into account you are having only 1/2 of what I had done, AND the fact that insurance will work that total figure down (so that THEY don't have to pay as much, either) - - I'd say it'll most likely be a lot less than what you think. God has a way of providing for these surgeries, it's amazing! (AYWH had a similar experience, I believe.)
TCIE,,,,thanks for the info...I did get in touch with the dr...and his fees (plus an assistant) is going to be over $8,000 (The lady in the billing office said that the dr will have an assistant if he forsee's complications..what? I'm going to ask about that when I have my preop. I wonder if my thyroid issues is a complication?). Anyway, the surgery center is about $4,000 - $5,000 and I have no idea about the anethe.siologist fees. Our insurance will cover a good amt, plus there's discounts, etc...so we are figuring our out of pocket to be about $1,500 max. Considering I'm cramping today and all....I'm looking forward to the surgery. You are right...God has a way of providing. It will be okay as long as we have an idea and are not blindsided like we've been before. Why are fees secrets? When they tell us we need surgery we should all get a piece of paper with the services and fees listed. We shouldn't have to make phone calls and wait for calls back. Right?
ReplyDeleteI know we paid for my lap out of pocket. The center charged somewhere near $11,000 but we only paid about $4,500 out of pocket. Those were just the cost for the endo removal. Not the bowel resection or the hospital stay etc...
ReplyDeleteAll I can say is that you can prepare as much as you want and there will only be so much they can tell you. The surgery assitant fee was $4,500. I received that bill about 5 months after surgery and I had just been laid off. I freaked out. I called the place to work it out. They accepted what the insurance company sent to me in the total of $331.00! The other $4,200 was wiped clean.
All I can tell if you we were still up in our eyeballs in debt with the surgery cost, every single penny was totally and completely worth it. :) Sorry it took me so long to respond to your email! ;)
I also wanted to say the anestelogist (SP?) fees and all of that, they are tiny enough you can swallow them as they come in. :) I promise, it stings a little but it's doable. :)