I found this very interesting. They were talking about health care plans on KGO Newstalk in San Francisco. The guest speaker made a comparison regarding health care bills when the program host stated he had to take his son to a prompt care, with insurance, and received multiple bills in the mail afterward. The guest speak stated imagine buying a car. Then six months later you get ten bills in the mail telling you what you will pay for the car! He said this is what we have with healthcare right now. I just thought, wow! This guy is right on. This is how billing works. You go in for something big or small and have no idea what you will pay. Will your insurance or health coverage pay it all or not? It's like some kind of racket.
That's good to know. My health insurance I had a few years ago was good. Then they switched to a much lesser plan when new owners took over. Then mystery bills arrived post going to the prompt care for example. I know when I had my gall bladder out over 10 years ago I went through this. Not covered. Not in network. I ended up paying about 1,200 out of pocket which I guess could have been worse. And yet I had no idea of any of this prior to surgery. You think you have insurance, you know you have a 500 dollar deductible for example and you think that's it. But it's NOT!
Yes, it can work like that. Although everything seems as if it is all worked out with the hospital and the surgeon, you get bills from any doctors that the surgeon may have consulted, and from laboratories which have processed lab work, and other health professionals you've never heard of before. It's not so bad now that I am on Medicare, with an Advantage plan. I still get billed by people I've never heard of before but my insurance takes care of the bulk of it, but this was a big problem when I was paying my medical expenses as they accumulated.
Maybe I don't have a problem because I have Medicare now and a supplemental and haven't had any surgeries yet. I always ask before I have something done what I have to pay out of pocket ...don't agree to anything until I know how much it is. I guess with surgery there are unknowns.
With our Medicare Advantage plans you can email them before having surgery, etc. and ask them what your out of pocket costs are going to be and they will let you know. If you aren't on Medicare yet...you can still call your Plan (or possibly email) and find out what your costs should be too...and if there will be separate bills from others involved in your medical care. Some insurance plans are more helpful than others in this...which is just part of the problems with the health care industry.