Question:
$$$ paid for anesthesiologists for surgery
I posted a few days ago, but didn't get response as to dollars paid. The anesthesiologists were out of network, none of them at the hospital have a contract with my insurance. I have argued with the insurance, the anesthesiologists, and told the hospital I wasn't happy they have a group that doesn't work with Ins. But the bottom line is they want another $1400 over the $2400 they have already received. What I want to send them is the amount that others have paid either by self pay or what the insurance paid. THANKS SO MUCH. I am going to send all of your responces to the collection co. — Gail O. (posted on August 16, 2004)
August 15, 2004
Im sorry I cant give an exact amount I paid. But this is a COMMON problem.
In fact, when I had my surgery, the anestologist actually made MORE money
than the surgeon; BUT our insurance if in a NETWORK hospital will pay the
same amount for an out of network anesologist as an in one.. The ONLY
difference is the above U&C. which as you can see can be alot :( I
think its totally unfair... This also happened to a few in our support
group; what THEY did was pay the anestologist - but ONLY $1.00 a month.
— star .
August 16, 2004
I know that I am paying roughly $500 out of my pocket as like you the
anesthesiologist was not in network. I swear it's a racket! Sounds like a
bit much that you are being asked to pay though, at least in my opinion.
My insurance paid about $2500 and I was left with the remaining $500. Good
luck to you!
Tiff (Lap RNY 2/17/04; 245lbs down 71 lbs. to 174lbs.)
— Tiffany B.
August 17, 2004
When I had my WLS in Feb of 2003 my total anesthesia bill was around $1800.
All ended up being covered but $101. I did not have an insurance that had
in-network providers so it was a crap shoot from the beginning. At first
BCBS didn't cover about $180 but I complained and found out it wasn't
processed quite right and then got it reduced. Considering that is all I
had to pay for my WLS, after the deductible and co-pays were met for the
year I was very pleased. I do not count the ded and co-pays in as I would
have had to pay them anyway no matter what the services are that I would
have received. With all the pre-op testing etc. I had already reached
those max's so the WLS itself was pretty much no cost to me. I had open
and my surgery was just under 2 hours.
<p>$3800 for a normal length open RNY surgery is way out of line. If
you had complications and were in surgery a lot longer then it might be
possible but to give you a comparison, my first PS was 10.5 hours and the
anesthesia bill was $4200. So unless you were in surgery for 8-9 hours it
would seem it's ridiculously high.
— zoedogcbr
August 17, 2004
I can't remember the exact amount I ended up paying the anesthesiologists,
but I believe it was in the neighborhood of $200 from me. My insurance
covered some of it. But I have had another experience similar to yours
with my surgery. I have received an insurance explanation of benefits
(EOB) regarding my surgery for a surgeon I have never heard of. I even
called my surgeons office who told me they didn't have any idea who that
person was. After getting 3 more EOB's asking for more information, I
talked to the surgeons office and was told this would be taken care of.
Now, 7 1/2 months after my surgery, I got an EOB yesterday that says this
surgeon was an assistant to my surgeon (no one EVER mentioned to me he had
a helper) and she was charging $1700 and they were going to pay 60% of the
balance after I paid my deductible which was $500 dollars, leaving me with
almost $400 left to pay her. She's not in our network although some of the
other doctors (x-ray, lab, respiratory, etc) aren't either. I have ended
up paying quite a lot of money out of pocket. I paid the surgeon with a
credit card because he had to have the money before the surgery...the rest,
I've been paying each month as well as the hospital. I had my surgery on
1/5/04 so I hadn't met any of my deductible and that's why I had to pay the
surgeon so much after insurance. Hope you can get this resolved, but try
not to sweat it. Pay it off in payments. They can't refuse your money
even if it's not as much as they want. They can turn you over to a
collector, but I don't pay them. I usually send them a letter telling them
I'll pay only the person I owe the money to and I always make out the check
and mail it to the person who billed me...NOT THE COLLECTOR. Good luck.
— Katherine F.
August 17, 2004
First, were you aware before the surgery that the anesthesiaologists were
out-of-network? Did you sign anything indicating you would be responsible
for the payment? Seems to me if you were not aware of it up-front it was
someone's responsbility to advise you beforehand and not afterwards. If
you did know up-front I do not see that there is much that you can do
except pay. Sorry.
Christine
— Christine C.
August 18, 2004
I work in the dept of anesthesiology clinical and research and that price
is a bargain, however, had you known he/she was out of network - they
generally try to price down or take whatever the insurance company gives
you as payment. Most of them are understanding and caring - however, if
you are know dealing with their billing dept. or collections - they won't
budge. Try to find the anesthesiologists who treated you - and explain
your situation to him/her I would be surprised if they won't settle for the
$1400.00.
— Anna M.
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