Can this be right?

They said today that if the doc finds a hernia they will fix it but that ins won't cover it?

I'm thinking they were talking about if you are self-pay. I asked, "even if your insurance is covering the surgery" and they said it's possible they won't cover it.

Does that make sense?

I was told that insurance will only cover one surgery at a time.... that's what's wrong with the world.... instead of fixing everything while you are in there.... they / the hospitals / etc...have an agreement:

only one surgery at a time.
that way... the hospital gets paid two times, anethesia gets paid both times,  etc...

So wrong... but that's what I was told

My insurance paid both. A lot of insurance companies do. Maybe some won't, and maybe they know about your insurance, but it should be submitted to be sure.

I'll certainly ask what my personal insurance says about it, that seems crazy!

I am thinking the phrasing was a CYA move on the dr's end. You could call your insurance company directly and find out.

i self-paid for my sleeve and they billed the insurance company for the hernia repair....  but the insurance company is populated by idiots, and they denied the surgeon's and anesthesiologist's charges because they couldn't manage to separate them from the WLS part of it...  my surgeon ended up writing off his bill, and to get them to pay the other one i had to write them a letter spelling out in detail how it was a separate procedure from the sleeve that just happened to take place at the same time... 

i had to remind them that had i gone in just for the hernia repair, they would cover it, so there was no reason to deny coverage just because it took place at the same time as a procedure they didn't cover...    and i had to include copies of the cashier's check receipts to prove i paid cash for the WLS portion...

morons.


jeris

I'll let you all know what I find out!

Mine was covered. Call your ins. company. Mine said nothing would be covered without pre-auth - EXCEPT things they might normally fix while they're in there. I asked about gall bladder, and they said yes - if it needed to come out that would be covered - that was common.

I had a large hernia repaired at the time of my sleeve.  We didn't know it was a problem prior to surgery, so it definitely wasn't included on my pre-authorization.  It was paid for right along with my sleeve, no questions asked.  If you're worried, I'd call and ask just to be sure!