Hospital Bills and Insurance (Vent)

[Princess_Aurora]

Well, we all know having a baby is expensive, but the bills are SO frustrating. The hospital apparently can't put everything all on one bill. We've gotten several different bills and the insurance isn't paying very much. My poor DH is so stressed out about it. He's affraid to spend any money on our trip because when we come home we could have another huge medical bill waiting. The insurance is suppose to pay 90% and so far we've had to pay a couple of thousand dollars. Yesterday I got another bill for just over $300 and today we got another one for over $400. Get this...on the last one you know how much the insurace paid? Only $8.60! There's no way that's 90% of $300. And I had a simple deliver too. No drugs...just the pitocin they gave me to start my contractions. And I was only in the hospital for two days and three nights and the first night it was just me since I didn't have a baby yet.

So why can't the hospital just put everything all on one bill and why does it seem like the insurance isn't paying their 90%? It's so frustrating!

Anyway, I just had to get that off my chest. Thanks to anyone who "listened".

 

[worm761]

{{HUGS}} babies are expensive! i had no insurance when i had DS. although i didnt think it was that expensive. only $5000! he was almost premature. was supposed to be but weighed in at 6lbs exactly and scored a 9 on his apgar. they let him be. thank God. i couldnt have afforded neo-natal!! LOL

hope it gets better! have fun at disney!!!

 

[kejoda]

I would not pay a bill until you talk to the ins. company and the hospital as to why they are not paying the 90%. Sometimes the hospital has to submit a couple of times to get the ins. to pay. Or if they are like our old ins. co. they don't realize they need to pay for a year or so. We have had one bill that was not paid for 19 months. Just tell the hospital that you do not want to pay until you know exactly what the ins. co. is paying. Good luck.

 

[Kermit]

Hospital bills are confusing. I think it's because they bill everything to different cost centers, so you end up with a different bill from each one. But it makes it hard to figure out if you have a legitimate bill or an accounting error. The last time I was in the hospital, I actually got 2 different bills from 2 different places for the exact same amount of money. At first I thought I didn't have to pay one of them, but then I realized that one was from my OB and the other was from the anesthesiologist.

 

[Princess_Aurora]

Well, I had to pay my Dr BEFORE I had the baby. They wanted payment in full by the 6th month. So I had to pay my $200 deductble plus my 10% which came out to be $410. I know one of the bills is from the lab...I think that's the $400. That one was confusing b/c when I first got pg I was on a different insurance plan and when I went in for my first round of tests I was on a different insurance. Then I switched to a different insurance and I guess they waited until later to bill my insurance company and they tried to bill it to the second one and they wouldn't pay it. I thought we finally had it taken care of and sent it off to the first one but now we're being charged again. And apparently it's been turned over to a collection agency since we haven't paid it.

It's just SOOOOOOOO confusing and it puts so much stress on DH. He's the only one that works so he has to get it all paid on one income. I feel so bad for him and I wish I could make him feel better about. Unfortunatly the only thing that will make him feel better would be winning the lottery or something.

 

[EROS]

One of the few positive things that I can say about HMO care is that you DON'T get multiple bills with hospitalization. It drives people crazy getting bills from the hospital, doctors, radiology, etc. with indemnity insurance.

I had some major neurosurgery 2 years ago and got ZERO bills

 

[janette]

Take the time to understand the bills and keep asking the insurance company and the hospital until you are satisfied. There maybe some additional charges for beyond customary charges. The hospital usually agrees to the price set by the insurance company. You don't have to pay the extra but the hospital might bill you for it.

I had one hospital bill turned over to collections from one of my kid's ER visits (and it was when I was with an HMO) . The insurance company was kicking it back because they wanted verification that my kids were not covered on my DH's insurance plan. There was no way I was going to pay it, I knew I'd never see that money again. Especially since HMO's are set up to pay the hospital directly not to the insured.

 

[Lars624]

About 5 years ago at the age of 32 my DH had to have open heart surgery to fix a congenital defect. I kept getting billed for things that my HMO should have covered & I kept going back & forth with them for 1-1/2 years until finally they paid it.
The HMO was great with my deliveries though, not one bill. With my first pregnancy I spent 5 days in the hospital & delivered twins by c-section & second delivery was natural following 2 days on pitocin.
Just make sure before you pay that the insurance company isn't really respnsible for it.

 

[minnie56]

I live in Canada so we are fortunate enough to have medical coverage and mostly all medical needs are covered with the exception of plastic surgery procedures and elective treatments that are not vital. I had 2 children and never saw a bill, so it's interesting to see how it is on the 'other side'!

However, we did have an 'incident' in WDW during our visit last December which ended up costing over $12,000 and of course Canadian health insurance covered very little due to it happening out of country and no additional insurance being in place. But apart from the 'shock' of the bill, I was totally bewildered by all the separate bills. One for the hospital, one for the lab, one for the Dr and guess what!! They're still coming! We received another 2 weeks ago from a Dr who claims he also attended my husband and another from another lab. This is 9 months after the fact!! My gosh, it is such a confusing system!

 

[Serena]

It is a royal pain.

I'm sorry.

 

[Eeyore2U]

One point I'd like to make is that what you see billed to your insurance is not the reality of it. Hospitals and Doctors have contracts with insurers. In their contracts it states what the allowable or usual and customary rate is. Just because someone bills a certain amount doesn't mean they get it.

Your portion should be based on what was allowed, not what was billed.