Dodging the bullet

Or the $4738 hospital payment.

I have found that when going through any medical proceedure that requires you to go to the hospital it is so very nice to have insurance. I learned this first when we went through cancer with Kevin and a $17,000 bill came to us saying that it had all been paid by our insurance. Those are the kind of bills that stop your heart and then get it started again in a leap of joy.

So when I received my first bill for the egg extraction I had a similar reaction. 4738 dollars? Oh, wait, it is covered entirely by the insurance company, and I only have a $200 co-pay. Whew!

So imagine my surprise when I got a letter yesterday saying the following:
"The claim for this patient was reviewed based on additional information received. We have completed an adjustment, and have determined that an additional payment is not available.

*Your total responsibility to the provider of services is $4,738.18.* This total includes any amount you may have previously paid your provider for these services."

This is not the kind of letter you want to receive, especially when you have already jumped through all the necessary hoops. Done all the unpleasant tests that the insurance company required to cover you, and used the referal just like they required you to. When you have done every little thing the insurance company asked you to this is not what you want to see.

So I called the number they listed for questions. And got a lady who looked into it for me. I ended up sitting on hold for about 30 minutes while she looked at things and got things taken care of, but at the end of it all she said that it was covered, and that we didn't have to worry about it after all. Another big whew! My only worry now is that this bill was only for the egg extraction. The bill for the embryo implantation was another $3000. Hopefully I will not have to go through the same thing with that one.