Question

[DeeDee_82 0]

Question?? I was talking to this lady at the Information desk at the hospital yesterday and she mentioned that she had the sleeve. She also stated she had to after they deducted what the insurance company paid, she had to pay a doctor fee and the rest she had the charity at the hospital pay the rest. Did anyone else have to pay anything once the insurance portion was deducted? If so, how much you had to pay?

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[thereselynne 5]

Good luck!! You got this

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[blizair09 3,250]

It depends on your insurance. My policy has an in-network out of pocket maximum of $2000 per year. By the time the surgery came around (September 28), I had already spent $600 over the previous almost 10 months in co-pays and a couple of other items that my PCP asked me to do (abdominal ultrasound, chest x-ray, etc.). So, I had to pay about $1400 for everything. (The hospital submitted their claim to insurance first, so that money went to them. Insurance covered everything else at 100%.)

My doctor didn't have any "doctor fees." My parents had bariatric surgery over the past few years in Alabama, and their surgeon charged a $300 administrative fee per patient. I personally think that is kind of dirty, but apparently a lot of them do it.

[QueenOfTheTamazons 634]

$300 fee is nothing. Drs do have costs associated with submitting your case to insurance company. People like me, who required 3 full submissions and 2 peer to peer appointments cost more than easier patients/insurance companies so the fees balance out.

My first surgeon had a $2500 "lifestyle management fee" that had to be paid in advance of the surgery being scheduled. And that was on top of all the other costs that insurance was covering 100%. Supposedly that was to cover support groups/classes and the doctor coming out to visit you in cases of extreme need, but considering we lived 50 miles away and the support programs were all during business hours we would never have used any. Plus, if we coukd afford $5000 we wouldnt be on medical. The surgeon also refused to work with us on the fee.

The surgeon who did my sleeve (and who i recommend if in CA) is Dr. Richard Nguyen of Lifetime Surgical. He charges $300 and i didnt find out until after I paid it that that fee also includes the bariatric diet food for the 2 weeks preop. That makes the portion that goes to them more like $150-200. I find that very reasonable for all they did.

HW 385 SW 359 CW 344 Sleeved 10/5/16

Edited October 25, 2016 by QueenOfTheTamazons