"administration fee"

[lml32937 65]

Did your doctor charge an "administration" fee?? If you had insurance that covered your care did you have to pay it??

[Indymom 132]

I had to pay a $150 fee that covers lifetime access to the nutritionists and the pre-op nutrition class I took. My insurance didn't cover that but they covered everything else.

[420gal 1]

I have to pay $600 out of pocket. It covers the pre-op shakes, the fee for the office submitting my info to the insurance company, and some other stuff that I can't remember right now (sorry). The surgeon's office lets you break it up into 3 payments. With hubby and I both pursuing WLS, we've got to come up with double the moo-lah.

[uromanager72 0]

Hi!! My surgeon requires $500.00 upfront before surgery and I have insurance. Hope this helps!!

Did your doctor charge an "administration" fee?? If you had insurance that covered your care did you have to pay it??

[AnneG 7]

I had to pay a $500 administration fee out of pocket as well. It was due on my initial consult with the Surgeon.

[lml32937 65]

Thanks. I'm just pissed cuz my ins pays 100% for everything and the ofc staff described the fee as "administrative" I was like break that down for me- You know she says all the books, papers, literature, dietician, scale etc.. I was like the dietician is 70 buck- paid by insurance, scale is 35 on ebay (could have gotten 1 cheaper on my own) PLUS they collect a copay each visit- So all in all he is making MORE on me with insurance then someone without insurance- Don't get me wrong I'm totally grateful and all but still- being an employee IN the medical field it sounds like double dipping which is why i'm not paying a DIME until I talk personally to him. Not that I want special treatment or anything but there are exceptions to the rules and I think this should be 1 of them. Thanks.. I feel better gettin that out

[RickM 1,747]

My doc doesn't charge a program or admin fee, but he also doesn't supply any hardware - scales, Protein powders, etc. His initial consult was $300, covered by insurance. The cost of his support group program is buried in his surgeon's fee and as a result, he doesn't generally participate in insurance networks (though he does do DS's for Kaiser, so he probably does have some kind of deal with them) so we pay somewhat more than a network doc. There are some docs that charge a "program" fee of some $5k or more, covering the support groups and follow-up appointments - not the most financially patient friendly practice as the follow-up is generally covered by insurance if it were billed separately. I guess it does inspire patient compliance though - incentive to get your money's worth.

[former_vbg 198]

You are right to be upset about their "administrative fee". Most Dr.'s call it a program fee. To be honest, all it is is a way for the docs to collect more $ for their time. They are allowed to charge it because they will say it covers all kinds of STUPID JUNK that they aren't allowed to bill the insurance company.

By contract, they are required to bill the insurance company for any charges they know they are contracted to perform. So, they come up with silly things like support groups, access to their NUT, processing insurance, etc, etc... I had to pay $325. I did it under protest but felt I had know choice. There is a Dr. out in southern CA that charges a $2,000 program fee. It's INSANE!!! It should be illegal IMO.

[Missnurse 9]

I called around and had person references for a few wls surgeons in my area. One surgeon was $5,700 for their program fee and another was around $4,500. I called one more office and spoke to the receptionist at length and found out this surgeon did not charge a program fee. I couldn't believe how different it was from surgeon to surgeon. The surgeon I went with was the one who did not charge a program fee of course and they follow us for life with on staff nutritionists.

[sr910 55]

I have..

-- attended the information seminar

-- had 6 months of supervised dieting

-- had a consult with my surgeon

-- gotten all my bloodwork and medical clearance w/ my primary

-- had my paperwork submitted to insurance

I got some paperwork in the mail today about attending a full-day seminar where they will discuss the surgery, the hospital stay, the diet after surgery, etc etc... On my paperwork it says to bring a mandatory CASH ONLY payment of $300 for their "Administrative Fee."

I'm annoyed because 1) I've never heard of this and wish they would have mentioned it earlier... and 2) Why "CASH ONLY"?? I'm used to people saying cash only when they don't want to have to claim monies for sneaky tax purposes.

I have cash, I'll pay it -- it just seems a little shady to me...

Thoughts?

[lth11 43]

My Administration fee was $500