Re: Deposit on surgery question (doctor your opinion please) Attn: Kristy
From: Anon (anonymous@obgyn.net)
Tue, 30 Apr 2002 13:53:58 -0500 (CDT)
At Mon, 29 Apr 2002, Nadia wrote:
>Nadia,
Do you mind if I ask which insurance company this is? Did they send you
the insurance contract when you first enrolled? The co-pay for surgery
and other services is listed in the policy, as well as any caps for
services, so I'm not sure where the confusion lies. I'm not exactly
sure of the sequence of events, but it seems to me that your doctor's
office should have called your insurer if they weren't familiar with
your plan so that there would be no surprises. Why is the doctor so mad
at you? Did the insurance clerk say why they are not billing you? I
would think he should be mad at his clerk.
>This is an interesting thread. I am self-employed, and I thought I had
>adequate insurance. I pay more than $500 per month for it.
>
>My co-pay for an endometrial ablation was supposed to be $2,000. The
>hospital charged $9,400. The insurance company approved $794 and I paid
>it. The surgeon charged $3500. The insurance company approved $380 and
>I would pay it, but the doctor hasn't sent me the bill.
>
>Some insurance, huh? They don't actually pay anything. They just
>approve 10% of the charges and then apply it to the deductible.
>
>The insurance clerk in the doctors office told me the doctor is real mad
>about it and now I don't want to go see him again even though I have
>unusual pain from the surgery. I mean, if he is too mad to even bill
>me? Do I want to deal with that?
>
>Personally, I think $3500 is rather a lot to charge for a 30 minute
>operation. But that is just my opinion.
>
>Anyway, when a doctor asks for a co-pay up front, don't be surprised if
>it is more than $25 or $100. In my case, the doctor should have
>negotiated with me up front. I might have been willing to pay, oh,
>let's say $1200 or something. But the way things are now, we are not
>even talking to each other.
>
>--
>Nadia
>
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