I talked to the billing lady at
PPVI and got the cost for the various procedures. Dr.
Hilgers and the hospital are in network, so we only have 20% to pay. I don't know the hospital cost, but I'm guessing a minimum total cost with all procedures/labs it will be at least $17,000. That means we have at least $4,000 to pay out of pocket. However, I'm not sure if we are going to be able to ever afford to actually do anything, since we aren't going to go into debt again to do it. D has basketball tonight, and of course he wouldn't give me a time frame other than 10 years (which I think is a joke...maybe). If he wasn't joking, then we are totally screwed. I'm actually thinking that it's going to be around fall 2011 (around my 31st birthday) based on looking at our finances. That means that I can't replace my computer which is
continuously saying that the hard drive is full is, runs pretty slowly, and the case is physically broken. I don't know if we are ever going to be able to afford adoption either if we can't have biological children.
I am 8 DPO/Peak+7 and I've had some spotting/bleeding so there's a 99% chance that I'm already out for this cycle. I might be able to do the hormone series, which is supposedly covered under my insurance at 100%, the next cycle or the one after but I'll believe it when I see it. There's a good chance that I have almost 3 more years of this crap to deal with. I think I need to get a weekend job. The problem is finding one where I could work 8 hours on Saturday and Sunday, plus be able to go to church. I'm really in a freak out mode right now. I need to pray about this when I do my evening prayer tonight.
D is talking to me again since Sunday.
Oh Hon!! Sounds like things are very stressful. Pray! I wish I had the answers for you.
ReplyDeleteYou may have already done this, so I apologize if I'm stating the obvious! I was freaked out at the cost of surgery as well. But the Creighton Med. Center billing staff is very helpful, and I bet they could give you an accurate estimate. Also, keep in mind that the hospital contracts with the insurance company for a certain percentage of the costs. So, for instance, my insurance has a contract with their hospital (or maybe it's the whole network) so that they only have to pay 37% of the billed charges from the hospital. Since I had to pay 20%, as required by my insurance, I actually only paid 20% of the 37% specified by my insurance contract, which works out to 7.4% of the total hospital charges. The amount you owe may also be limited by your deductible and/or out-of-pocket maximum in your insurance plan. If you give the billing office your insurance info, they may be able to tell you how much your insurance company is contracted to pay.
ReplyDeleteAs I said, you may already know all this, but if you didn't, I'd really check it out in advance because it could make a huge difference in how much you have to pay out of pocket. I was pleasantly surprised at how little we had to pay for my surgeries!
Don't freak out! We can come up with a plan!!
ReplyDeleteI agree with ANBS!! Okay so for my in network surgery the hospital was covered, bowel resection etc...We ended up only paying roughly $2000. That was including extra co insurances and deductibles. It was the out of network that hurt us and for that we are on a payment plan. So yes it sucks but it was needed right.
So I completely understand about the not going into debt for. We are the same way but for us surgery was a loop hole. :) IT SUCKS! I don't know how we made it through those bills that were piling high but somehow we are all paid up except for my out of network endo removal. :) The big chunk of change!
I envy your insurance! I wish I had it, it sounds great. But unfortunately you never know until you are billed what you will actually have to pay. I say fly by the seat of your pants and go for it!!!!
My total hospital bills were way over $60,000! We only had to pay roughly about $10,000 (but remember my endo removal was $8,0000) That was not in network and we had to pay cash. So we are resubmitting etc...etc...So with yours being in network you are probably better off!!!
Just wanted to say that we just had surgery in Omaha last year and Hilgers was NOT in-network for us. (The hospital was, thankfully.) We just got the final bill last week. Total costs were over $30,000, but we had to pay $3000 out-of-pocket, most of that was for Hilgers fees (which, as I said, were out-of-network for us). I think you stand a good chance of getting by with paying less, but definitely call and talk with the billing depts of both PPVI and CMC. Good luck!
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