Paying your portion of the bill...,

[pookybear 284]

I have UHC and from what I've read of other people's posts on here I'm starting to get a little nervous. No one has mentioned anything to me about a required 6month dr monitored diet, no ones told me anything about possibly having to pay my portion of the costs upfront. Do you really have to pay upfront before surgery? I've never had any kind of surgery or procedure before, so I never even thought of this as a possibility. If that's the case, I may not be having surgery after all.

[pookybear 284]

They did tell me I needed a 5 year weight history, which was an issue but should now be solved.

[OleHippieGal 275]

yes first your PCP should have your 5 year weight loss if you been going to the same one, UHC doesnt make you go 6 months diet, at least they didnt make me, it wasnt required. I did have to have the psych, evaluation to make sure I was prepared, the blood test that the surgeon orders should have your thyroid test included cause you do have to have it done. UHC is paying 80 % of mine, but yes I had to pay my co pay up front, it cost me $520.00 for surgeon, $75.00 for a year of nutrional counseling, $180.00 for anthesiologist, $1,341.00 for hospital. I had to pay for all this at my pre op visit.

[pookybear 284]

Thanks. Not the answer I was hoping for, now I need to call my surgeons office this week and if they confirm that I'll need to tell them not to bother even submitting me for approval.

[Stephanie 49]

I have UHC. I needed a 2 year history of my weight. 6 month diet lifestyle class. I had my surgery on Nov. 2nd and finally just got all my bills!

Stephanie

[pookybear 284]

Thanks! I cat find anything out until Wednesday, but at least I have a little hope

[snow25 188]

Okay, freaking out... I just got a bill from the hospital for $60,000!! I know that s before insurance, but that is way more than I thought it should be. I swear it must be a misprint, right? I stayed 2 nights and everything went smoothly.

[pookybear 284]

That definitely sounds wrong. I'd call the billing department at the hospital tomorrow. Also call your insurance. The average cost is $20000 I think. Does it have a breakdown of the charges?

[lessoflittlebit 8]

$60,000 can't be right. I'm anxious to hear the outcome of this! I have Humana and will also pay 20%. I use Norton Healthcare for everything, and have already called and checked with them about pre-pay since I've read so many folks having to pay upfront. She said I wouldn't owe a dime the day of surgery, and they would bill me and start a payment plan. I'm so grateful because I could not do this without help!

Louisville, KY ~ RNY June 2013 ~ Sent from my iPad using RNYTalk

[Kurstin 72]

Okay' date=' freaking out... I just got a bill from the hospital for 60,000!! I know that s before insurance, but that is way more than I thought it should be. I swear it must be a misprint, right? I stayed 2 nights and everything went smoothly.[/quote']

Get an itemized statement sent to you. If you think that it's not right contact your Dr's office to check into the coding.

[nairali 48]

yes first your PCP should have your 5 year weight loss if you been going to the same one' date=' UHC doesnt make you go 6 months diet, at least they didnt make me, it wasnt required. I did have to have the psych, evaluation to make sure I was prepared, the blood test that the surgeon orders should have your thyroid test included cause you do have to have it done. UHC is paying 80 % of mine, but yes I had to pay my co pay up front, it cost me 520.00 for surgeon, 75.00 for a year of nutrional counseling, 180.00 for anthesiologist, 1,341.00 for hospital. I had to pay for all this at my pre op visit.[/quote']

I have Medicare. Mine was almost all the Exact same costs as yours. But the lifetime bariatric center was $300. I had to pay surgeon $565 up front. That was all I've paid so far.

Average cost is $25 to $30k. Hospitals hike up the bill before insurance pays bc they only get a percentage and/or contacted rates.

[padlrd 183]

My first bill when I had surgery was $43,000 but I was there 6 days and some was in ICU interment care The second was $39,000 also 6 days in emergency ICU the interment ICU and had 5 pints blood Haven't got my 3rd yet. I was to pay $1984 I have Medicare but finally got medicade spin down

[snow25 188]

I have BC/BS and my portion of the bill was about $4500. Whew! I'm chipping away at that. The original $60,000 bill scared the crap out of me!

[Nel 189]

I have crap insurance that only covered 50% UP TO 4000. So I had to pay 12k out of pocket. Up front.

[Jacqueline K 93]

I'm working on coming up with mine. I have UHC too and they only pay 80% and I have to pay copay too. All told deductible and hospital portion will be about $2950. $625 for program fee and surgeon fee. Then $130 for the pre op diet - they give us shakes and such that they order.