Tuesday, July 26, 2011

So Unhappy...

Last Thursday afternoon, I got a bill from our fertility clinic. It was for a little over $2200. Hello! So on Friday, I called the billing department to find out what these charges were for, and I was informed that $1000 was for our copay for our cycle, and one was for $1250 for the cryopreservation for our embryos. Do you remember this post where they had told me that I wouldn't have the full $1000 copay because our insurance doesn't cover thawing of the embryos and so I would only be responsible for the $530 for that???? Yeah. I also was told before we did our first cycle of the year that cryopreservation was covered which I thought was odd, but I had the financial coordinator double check and she assured me they cover it.

So, I got on the phone with the financial coordinator who had taken over for the one who told me that the insurance covered cryopreservation and asked her to look back in her records for what was actually said. She found that it was covered 80% and we'd be responsible for 20%. This takes that part of the bill down to $250 we should owe. I forgot to ask her about the copay, and called back again yesterday, and finally heard from her today. She was the one who had told me that we wouldn't have the copay and on the phone today she told me that was correct because our insurance doesn't cover thawing. I explained to her that they were telling me that I did in fact owe this money, and they'd already appealed it twice to the insurance company. She called their managed care department and called me back and told me that they consider it to be just like an IVF cycle because one of the billing codes was for embryo transfer. So, I owe this $1000. Shouldn't she have known this before our cycle? We asked specifically for them to double check so that we wouldn't have any surprise bills. And the bill for the cryopreservation, yeah, that happened back on March 2nd, so what's the hold up? Anyway, I guess we're going to be out some money.

Disney is cancelled. It was cancelled before this, but there is no way it could happen now. And I have to call the guy in charge of billing for cryo and embryo storage tomorrow to get him to resolve the other $1000 of the cryo bill. Ugh. Wish people would get their stuff straight the first and second time you ask them to make sure the info is right.

Thanks for letting me vent! I will say that while these bills coming in flat out suck, Archie put a good spin on it. At least we have something to show for these bills coming in, it's not like we're getting these bills unexpectedly and it being a slap in the face when the cycle failed. He's so right. I'm done venting, and will get on it with it now!

6 comments:

  1. Boy, do I know the feeling Jen! I love my doctor and all of the employees EXCEPT the billing department....they suck! They tell you one thing only to bill you something different later! It is SO frustrating! I know I've written similar posts as this one...I can relate! But, yes....I am glad we have something to show for it...it makes it a little more bearable!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. of all the bills we've had the LARGEST is for the time i was laying in the hospital on a morphine drip with OHSS. it is so hard t opay that thig every single month...and theres still a lot left.

    ReplyDelete
  3. You are an SG patient, right? I love them, but not all of their financial coordinators were created equal. My first one was beyond rude and unhelpful. Sorry that this ended up being such a mess.

    ReplyDelete
  4. What a nightmare! Hope you get it straightened out and end up owing very little, or even better, nothing. I've heard of people having trouble with the billing offices at their clinics and it makes me *almost* glad to be OOP. Notice I said almost ;) We have to pay upfront, but no surprise bills, either. So sorry about the Disney trip :(

    Good luck getting this sorted!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Ugh. FInances. I just got the bill for the labor/delivery. Not pretty.

    ReplyDelete