budget Buster- Gallbladder surgery

[jmartinez1895]

I need to vent so please bare with me. On March 28 I was over come with the worst pain I have ever had. Once I could catch my breath and move I called my husband and he took me to he doctor ( $35.00 co pay). The doc said it sounded like my gallbladder. He gave me some prescriptions ( 20.00) to help with the pain and nausea over night and wanted me to go to have an ultra sound the next day and then come back to his office ( another $35.00 co pay)and go over the result. He said the ultra sound was ok and he made an appointment with a surgeon for Thursday March 31. I go see the surgeon ( $35.00 co pay) at the hospital and he sends me to have a HIDA scan. He them calls my cell phone before I can even leave the testing area and tells me to go get preadmitted because he is going to take out my gallbladder the next morning. I go to do that and get charged a $100.00 deductible. Surgery went great and of course I had more prescriptions to have filled ( $ 14.00).
For those of you who have kindly followed my sob story that is so far a grand total of $ 239.00. I then go to the mail today and found 2 bills. One for the ultra sound and one for the HIDA scan. It appears my insurance company considers them both " out patient" procedures and I get to pay a $100.00 co pay EACH. So now my total is $ 439.00 . I was not planning on this at all and I had to put some of it on a credit card ( we are trying very hard to pay off all our cards and be debt free ). I know that it could have been a lot worse and I am very thankful that I have insurance, but this was so sudden and such a surprise. Thanks for letting me vent.

 

[littlefoots]

Sorry you have to go through the money aspect.. but I know you will be alot happier wihtout the galbladder. I went through the same when I was 21..right after having my daughter.. not fun!! But life has been great since I had it removed. Good Luck.. and feel better....

 

[cinjam]

I am so sorry you were hit with unexpected expenses - vent away!!

I can tell you from experience, you are better off having it removed. I lived with the agony for months (too long of a story to bore you with now). You are sort-of lucky that the diagnosis and removal all happened so quickly! At the end of my torturous ordeal I would have paid almost anything to end the awful, awful pain.

I wish you a speedy recovery!!

 

[princess barbara]

Can you petition the insurance co. to consider the scan and u/s in-pt. procedures as it resulted in your admission to the hospital? When I was brought to my knees by my sudden pain-not knowing what it was- I called my primary doc and he said that it sounded like my gallbladder and he had me admitted to hospital for my Hida scan sight unseen and the next morning I had surgery.

 

[cvjw]

Not to minimize what you are going thru, but sounds like you are very fortunate to have great insurance. A surgery only cost you $439? That is unbelievable. I just paid more than that for my DS to have an ingrown toenail removed. Dh's company has changed insurance companies to "save" money, and we get to pay alot more for things now.

 

[ssawka]

You are sort-of lucky that the diagnosis and removal all happened so quickly! At the end of my torturous ordeal I would have paid almost anything to end the awful, awful pain.

ITA, I am a 38 year old man and I had my gallbladder removed a few years ago. However I went through about 5 years misdiagnosis and 2 emergency room visits before they figured out what it was. The reason it took them so long... "Realtively young males usually do not have issues with their gallbladder."

Since I've had my gallbladder removed, I have never felt better in my life. Unfortunately I've also put on more weight since foods don't bother me anymore.

Anyway I wish you a speedy recovery, and if that is the worse surgery you ever have to have, consider yourself very lucky.

 

[ccgirl]

I need to vent so please bare with me. On March 28 I was over come with the worst pain I have ever had. Once I could catch my breath and move I called my husband and he took me to he doctor ( $35.00 co pay). The doc said it sounded like my gallbladder. He gave me some prescriptions ( 20.00) to help with the pain and nausea over night and wanted me to go to have an ultra sound the next day and then come back to his office ( another $35.00 co pay)and go over the result. He said the ultra sound was ok and he made an appointment with a surgeon for Thursday March 31. I go see the surgeon ( $35.00 co pay) at the hospital and he sends me to have a HIDA scan. He them calls my cell phone before I can even leave the testing area and tells me to go get preadmitted because he is going to take out my gallbladder the next morning. I go to do that and get charged a $100.00 deductible. Surgery went great and of course I had more prescriptions to have filled ( $ 14.00).
For those of you who have kindly followed my sob story that is so far a grand total of $ 239.00. I then go to the mail today and found 2 bills. One for the ultra sound and one for the HIDA scan. It appears my insurance company considers them both " out patient" procedures and I get to pay a $100.00 co pay EACH. So now my total is $ 439.00 . I was not planning on this at all and I had to put some of it on a credit card ( we are trying very hard to pay off all our cards and be debt free ). I know that it could have been a lot worse and I am very thankful that I have insurance, but this was so sudden and such a surprise. Thanks for letting me vent.

I hear you. Those unplanned things STINK! From reading here, I have learned to find a rainy day fund first before paying down those credit cards. Otherwise, the unexpected always comes up and you keep putting more and more on the card. Like you said, be glad you have insurance. This would have cost me a lot more as I am only covered at 80% of the hospital stay.

 

[Sparkleshine]

You should try to contest the ultrasound amount as they have to do that anyway and it's what got you admitted to the hospital. It's worth a shot!

 

[Poohforyou]

You might want to start building an unexpected expense line into your monthly budget. If it isn't used one month it can just get rolled into the next one.

I know all about unexpected medical expenses. Last year I got hit with a mystery illness that resulted in countless scans, blood work and surgery to the tune of about $3500 out of pocket. We actually hit our yearly max.

I hopd you're feeling better.

 

[dawnball]

I just got an EOB (explanation of benefits) that says I'm going to pay $700 for my daughter's broken elbow to be splinted. Not the X-rays, not the cast, not the two orthopedist's visits. Just the splint. It's "surgery".

I nearly choked when I realized that's what it was for, but given the alternative of her elbow not having full range of motion from the bone knitting together wrong? It's cheap. Medical expenses suck, and somehow the imp of the perverse knew that I just had my appendix out, and was trying to sell my house and my car and move cross-country. It was a -very- expensive month in my household.

 

[honeydiane1953]

I need to vent so please bare with me. On March 28 I was over come with the worst pain I have ever had. Once I could catch my breath and move I called my husband and he took me to he doctor ( $35.00 co pay). The doc said it sounded like my gallbladder. He gave me some prescriptions ( 20.00) to help with the pain and nausea over night and wanted me to go to have an ultra sound the next day and then come back to his office ( another $35.00 co pay)and go over the result. He said the ultra sound was ok and he made an appointment with a surgeon for Thursday March 31. I go see the surgeon ( $35.00 co pay) at the hospital and he sends me to have a HIDA scan. He them calls my cell phone before I can even leave the testing area and tells me to go get preadmitted because he is going to take out my gallbladder the next morning. I go to do that and get charged a $100.00 deductible. Surgery went great and of course I had more prescriptions to have filled ( $ 14.00).
For those of you who have kindly followed my sob story that is so far a grand total of $ 239.00. I then go to the mail today and found 2 bills. One for the ultra sound and one for the HIDA scan. It appears my insurance company considers them both " out patient" procedures and I get to pay a $100.00 co pay EACH. So now my total is $ 439.00 . I was not planning on this at all and I had to put some of it on a credit card ( we are trying very hard to pay off all our cards and be debt free ). I know that it could have been a lot worse and I am very thankful that I have insurance, but this was so sudden and such a surprise. Thanks for letting me vent.

Yes I feel your pain no pun intended. Look at it this way WDW will be there next yr. That's the way I dealt with it one yr. when we had to cancel. Sure enough it was there the next time.

 

[Chelley00]

Will it make you feel better if I tell you that I had my gallbladder out January 12th, and we had to pay $750 for my deductible and then our portions up to my out of pocket max of $4,250?

And it didn't work and I'm still sick.

 

[ms_missy66]

Awww, OP, I'm sorry that you had that happen. I've been down the galbladder road and I comiserate that it just hits you out of nowhere. Have you spoken to the hospital about either a payment plan or reducing the charges if you pay in full now? When I had my younger daughter, I called to talk to the financial office when the bill came in and they offered me 20% off if I paid in full right then with a credit card. And when that same daughter was hospitalized (in a different hospital) I called their financial office, and before I got "The bill is really high and..." they offered a $75 a month payment plan.

I'm hopeful that you get to feeling better soon and this unexpected expense looks like a small bump in the road in a few months. *hugs*

Chelley00, *hugs* for you. We, too, have AWFUL insurance with insanely high co-pays, deductibles and co-insurances. I'm sad that you went through all of that, both physically and financially, only to still be sick. May you find an answer that gets you feeling better very soon!

 

[E-P-C-O-T]

I suffered for months, before I had the surgery, the pain was so severe that it inmobilized me for days. I tried cleansing, low fat diets, pretty much everything that I could do to avoid surgery, but, the attacks kept getting worst and worst. I know it's a lot of $$$, but, please have the surgery ASAP! Best decision ever!

 

[tar heel]

It always hurts to have unexpected expenses, but I'll admit I kept waiting for the big one. It's amazing you can have surgery and pay under $500. My co-pays have been over $3,000 just since the middle of February and I've not had surgery, just outpatient procedures. We don't have the bill yet on something DH had a couple weeks ago, but it will be more than your total here.

 

[scrapquitler]

For those of you who have kindly followed my sob story that is so far a grand total of $ 239.00. I then go to the mail today and found 2 bills. One for the ultra sound and one for the HIDA scan. It appears my insurance company considers them both " out patient" procedures and I get to pay a $100.00 co pay EACH. So now my total is $ 439.00 . I was not planning on this at all and I had to put some of it on a credit card ( we are trying very hard to pay off all our cards and be debt free ). I know that it could have been a lot worse and I am very thankful that I have insurance, but this was so sudden and such a surprise. Thanks for letting me vent.

Resubmit them to your insurance. In my experience, most things that my insurance (Blue Cross) denies the first time, they will pay the second time it gets submitted. When you get the bill, call the provider, tell them it was denied and ask them what they can do to help, they usually can change a code or something before they resubmit it.

If you still have to pay, call the providers and ask if you can work out a payment plan. They sometimes will agree to set up a payment plan with low or no interest IF you ask.

 

[Piecey]

Medical expenses are the worst. my husband just found he needs surgery (his first).. No idea what we are going to end up paying.

DS8months is proabably going in for a brain shunt...

I'm just grateful we have a catastrophic family max of $5k out of pocket per year. which we met last year. Guessing we will again this year too.

I had my gallbladder out in between having my boys. I hope you're feeling better!

 

[indimom]

If you end up with more bills to pay following your surgery, look into a payment plan with the hospital. I've never had a problem with this and they work with you on the monthly payment so its a managable amount. It's a better option than putting the bill on your CC and paying interest.

Hope this helps.

 

[Conway733]

This happened to me with my gallbladder surgery. I just called the insurance, and they straightened everything out. I didn't have to pay the out of network fees...but if I wouldn't have called, nothing would have been done.

 

[AmberHeartsDisney]

Id call them and explain maybe its coded wrong?