We have medical insurance through Kasier. I've had Kaiser for a long time, and I love it for the most part. It's like a nice one stop shop where I can get everything I need done.
I've had really good experiences with Doctors there too. With the exception of the one who basically called me fat and told me I need to "watch it" when I gained like 7lbs when I was 4 months pregnant with Brynlee. Don't even get me started on that guy. Word of advice, don't ever call a pregnant woman fat.
And then there was Dr Been, the pediatrician who literally saved Brynlee's life. I LOVED him, and am still sad that he moved away.
Before and during my D&C my gynecologist Dr Sandborn was amazing as well. He was really helpful, really honest and I felt he truly cared about my well being. He was the one who basically told me I needed to get a D&C as any other option would have been detrimental to my mental and physical health. I have no doubt that was the right choice.
Before I got that procedure done, I needed to figure out how much insurance would cover. I was quoted an out of pocket price of around $360 or so. High yes. But you can't put a price on mental health. When we check into the hospital I was again told the price of $360. The procedure went off without a hitch and I'm fully recovered as far as I can see.
Until we got a bill for this procedure in the mail. Long story short, instead of the $360 ish price I was quoted we are being charged $1000 ish. My eye balls popped out of my head when I saw that one. Turns out the "estimate" I got didn't include a ton of hidden fees, ie recovery room usage (wtf?), etc. I promptly called Kaiser to tell them I only opted to get this procedure done because I was told it would be $360 ish. Maybe $500 at most. Not double that. What is the point of an estimate if the actual cost is more than double the cost? Maybe you can put a price on mental health after all!?
So now I do have a doubt that that procedure was the right choice...I'm glad I got it done. But if I'd known it was that expensive I probably would not have done it. I wrote a scathing letter to Kaiser. I'm not holding my breath for any kind of retribution. Luckily they have a payment plan that is interest free.
The saddest part about this is when I had Brynlee it cost $500. That's it. Now I'm having to pay double that and I don't even get a baby out of it!
Looking at the bill, the D&C procedure was $10,000. About $9000 of that my insurance covered. Maybe it's not the best insurance, but at least I have insurance at all!
Lesson learned here. You better believe I'm going to think twice the next time I get a "estimate" on a medical procedure!
Waiting for James to arrive!
9 years ago
3 comments:
That is SO frustrating!
Ouch! It amazes me how much things cost! There was some mix up with my insurance when I had Ryan and we were sent a bill for somewhere around $25,000 (give or take a few thousand). Talk about shocking because I thought I only had a $500 copay for maternity hospital stays. Thankfully, things were figured out and we only had to pay the $500. Hopefully things will work out in your favor and the "estimated" cost will be a whole heck of a lot closer to the amount you were quoted!!!
What you should ask them is what kind of a discount they'll give you if you pay it off all at once. A lady in our ward was offered 60% off to pay hers all at once. I was offered %25 off but still no way in heck I can pay mine off. Right now I have around $7k in medical bills and I have no idea how I'm going to pay them. Especially when the furthest out most places will go is 12 or 18 mos. I'm kinda freaking out right now. So I'm pretty sure I'll be using all of our tax return toward those bills and hopefully be able to negotiate a deal after that. If there are any more children in our future they better not come until we're out of debt! :)
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