It has been a rough year for us financially (and everyone else too, right?), particularly due to some health "care" costs. I use the term "care" lightly... and am getting so stressed about dealing with this!
I have two separate billing issues. The first is pregnancy related: because I switched from my regular doctor, who is a 45 minute drive, to a midwife in my same town, after getting pregnancy confirmation, and THEN we switched insurance to a much better plan, I have seen three providers during this pregnancy. Not ideal in any situation! But the problem I'm having is with the second provider, the midwife through my old insurance. Since the insurance plan I was on (through Blue Shield) basically sucked, almost nothing was covered and I had to pay a huge out of pocket for every visit. My midwife, who I knew socially before this, was really accommodating in doing whatever she could to avoid racking up big bills for us - at least I thought she was.
But because I switched from one service to another, I ended up having to pay for a "pregnancy confirmation" appointment twice ($175 per visit). I thought that the first visit at the new midwife's office was going to be my first regular OB visit since I had already had preg. confirmation and all of my bloodwork done elsewhere - and I brought all of that information to the midwife's office - but chalked it up to my mistake/ their policy and paid for it.
Well, now I am no longer seeing this midwife, and am at a completely different medical office, but I have a medical bill for her service that I am contesting. This charge is for a Chlamydia test and a Gonorrhea test that I in no way authorized or needed - not only have I been a one man woman for over 10 years, but I had those tests done elsewhere only a few weeks before. At first I was calling saying, "how could they charge me for these tests when I never went to the lab, never gave permission, never gave blood?!". Now they're telling me that the charges ($205!) are for "pathology work", not blood... when I asked what that means, they said it was from the urine test I provided. I was under the impression that my urine was only being tested for proteins and sugars or whatever they normally do, and if anyone had indicated otherwise, I would've refused the tests. But I didn't know they were going to do them, assuming that since I provided them with paperwork from another doctor saying I had JUST had all of these tests that would be enough - and now I am being stuck with this $205 charge I can really not afford.
So, they're checking with the midwife again, but I have no way of contacting her directly anymore since I'm not with her service and would have to go through an advice nurse even if I was. And basically the answer they seem to be giving me is "that's the standard of care." I don't know why the standard of care includes unnecessary/ duplicate tests done without permission, and I don't feel that it's right that I should have to pay for them.
But I don't know what to do. I've talked to medical billing and the accounting woman in the OB/ midwife's offices and seem to be getting nowhere. I've sent a letter. I suppose if I decide to not pay for it I shouldn't let it get to me but... it is. It's just another way I feel unheard and disrespected as a pregnant woman in our medical system. Even when I gave blood the first time, at the doctor's office that I like, I had to ask what all of the blood was being tested for, and barely got a straight answer. Isn't there a law saying I have to sign off for being testing for STDs?!
I won't go into so much detail on the other bill, which is from an ER visit 4/09 for dehydration. This had never happened to me before, but the stomach flu or something like it led to agonizing dehydration (before I was pregnant) and after many hours of not being able to stop being violently ill and not keeping any liquids in anywhere, DH took me to the ER. I was there for maybe 3 hours and was charged $3500. I have paid off half but still owe $1700, which I just cannot afford to pay. I've tried applying for financial aid but have been rejected. I'm self employed and won't be working much in the next 6 months but apparently being pregnant and about to have a baby doesn't count as needing financial aid.
I've never had anything go to collections before, and it hurts my heart and pride to think that I will have to. I hate the idea of getting threatening notes and calls when we are trying to enjoy our new baby's life! But I don't have the money and can't get anyone to talk to me in a helpful way.
I guess a much, much shorter answer here would be: has anyone ever been sent to collections for medical bills before? And, how scary is it?
I have two separate billing issues. The first is pregnancy related: because I switched from my regular doctor, who is a 45 minute drive, to a midwife in my same town, after getting pregnancy confirmation, and THEN we switched insurance to a much better plan, I have seen three providers during this pregnancy. Not ideal in any situation! But the problem I'm having is with the second provider, the midwife through my old insurance. Since the insurance plan I was on (through Blue Shield) basically sucked, almost nothing was covered and I had to pay a huge out of pocket for every visit. My midwife, who I knew socially before this, was really accommodating in doing whatever she could to avoid racking up big bills for us - at least I thought she was.
But because I switched from one service to another, I ended up having to pay for a "pregnancy confirmation" appointment twice ($175 per visit). I thought that the first visit at the new midwife's office was going to be my first regular OB visit since I had already had preg. confirmation and all of my bloodwork done elsewhere - and I brought all of that information to the midwife's office - but chalked it up to my mistake/ their policy and paid for it.
Well, now I am no longer seeing this midwife, and am at a completely different medical office, but I have a medical bill for her service that I am contesting. This charge is for a Chlamydia test and a Gonorrhea test that I in no way authorized or needed - not only have I been a one man woman for over 10 years, but I had those tests done elsewhere only a few weeks before. At first I was calling saying, "how could they charge me for these tests when I never went to the lab, never gave permission, never gave blood?!". Now they're telling me that the charges ($205!) are for "pathology work", not blood... when I asked what that means, they said it was from the urine test I provided. I was under the impression that my urine was only being tested for proteins and sugars or whatever they normally do, and if anyone had indicated otherwise, I would've refused the tests. But I didn't know they were going to do them, assuming that since I provided them with paperwork from another doctor saying I had JUST had all of these tests that would be enough - and now I am being stuck with this $205 charge I can really not afford.
So, they're checking with the midwife again, but I have no way of contacting her directly anymore since I'm not with her service and would have to go through an advice nurse even if I was. And basically the answer they seem to be giving me is "that's the standard of care." I don't know why the standard of care includes unnecessary/ duplicate tests done without permission, and I don't feel that it's right that I should have to pay for them.
But I don't know what to do. I've talked to medical billing and the accounting woman in the OB/ midwife's offices and seem to be getting nowhere. I've sent a letter. I suppose if I decide to not pay for it I shouldn't let it get to me but... it is. It's just another way I feel unheard and disrespected as a pregnant woman in our medical system. Even when I gave blood the first time, at the doctor's office that I like, I had to ask what all of the blood was being tested for, and barely got a straight answer. Isn't there a law saying I have to sign off for being testing for STDs?!
I won't go into so much detail on the other bill, which is from an ER visit 4/09 for dehydration. This had never happened to me before, but the stomach flu or something like it led to agonizing dehydration (before I was pregnant) and after many hours of not being able to stop being violently ill and not keeping any liquids in anywhere, DH took me to the ER. I was there for maybe 3 hours and was charged $3500. I have paid off half but still owe $1700, which I just cannot afford to pay. I've tried applying for financial aid but have been rejected. I'm self employed and won't be working much in the next 6 months but apparently being pregnant and about to have a baby doesn't count as needing financial aid.
I've never had anything go to collections before, and it hurts my heart and pride to think that I will have to. I hate the idea of getting threatening notes and calls when we are trying to enjoy our new baby's life! But I don't have the money and can't get anyone to talk to me in a helpful way.
I guess a much, much shorter answer here would be: has anyone ever been sent to collections for medical bills before? And, how scary is it?
