Atrial Fibrillation (AFib) Support Group
Atrial fibrillation (AF or afib) is an abnormal heart rhythm (cardiac arrhythmia) which involves the two small, upper heart chambers (the atria). Heart beats in a normal heart begin after electricity generated in the atria by the sinoatrial node spread through the heart and cause contraction of the heart muscle and pumping of blood.
Up until now, and for the last 40 years or so, I had nothing but god things to say about my health insurance. After all I had worked for the State of New York for 23 years now retired, and the coverage is far more extensive than anything I had seen in the 20 years I latter worked in private industry. There's one insurance company for hospitals, another for doctors, and a third for drugs (lucky me).
I am now convinced that the insurance companies are trying to kill me.
This started last Friday when I tried to renew some prescriptions. Seems we have a new drug plan administrator who likes to make up new rules without telling anybody!
Next comes approvals for my ablation and pre surgical tests. The insurance woman at the EP's practice assures me the ablation pre approval is fine (of course, you always get the bit from the insurance company either via paper or their automated attendant phone system saying that just because you got a pre-approval, doesn't mean they will pay for anything - my lawyer gets a copy of this). Nothing like getting a $100k billing the mail
Next comes the blood work. We were planning to have the pre-op blood work done at the class 'A' hospital the EP's are in instead of the usual Labcorp that the insurance company insists on. Now you know at in an ordinary lab a suite of blood tests run just under $1000 (my copay would ordinarily be $20.00). However, with anything in a hospital the sky is the limit (like $89.00 for a box oft issues -- a mucous recovery system). So I wanted to make sure the insurance company would pay for blood work prior to surgery in the hospital. After four hours yesterday, and whiplash from all the bouncing around I got, I finally gave up (it's an ugly story). I will go to Labcorp for my blood work instead of the class 'A' hospital!
Next comes the preapproval for the CT Angiography to be done one week before the surgery. The EP's insurance person is now up to 15 phone calls, and I'm up to 4. This is insane! You must have a preapproval but you can't get through their system! God knows how much this would cost me without a preapproval. As of now, I do not have the preapproval for this test.
I always helps to rant ... thanks for listening. Yes, I know my paranoid side is showing. Next stop is the NY state senators office which is fortunately 2 miles up the road. I guess the insurance companies figure they got your money a long time ago, so now you should just die and stop taking THEIR money! Hope I don't get arrested or carted off to the Looney bin.
I am now convinced that the insurance companies are trying to kill me.
This started last Friday when I tried to renew some prescriptions. Seems we have a new drug plan administrator who likes to make up new rules without telling anybody!
Next comes approvals for my ablation and pre surgical tests. The insurance woman at the EP's practice assures me the ablation pre approval is fine (of course, you always get the bit from the insurance company either via paper or their automated attendant phone system saying that just because you got a pre-approval, doesn't mean they will pay for anything - my lawyer gets a copy of this). Nothing like getting a $100k billing the mail
Next comes the blood work. We were planning to have the pre-op blood work done at the class 'A' hospital the EP's are in instead of the usual Labcorp that the insurance company insists on. Now you know at in an ordinary lab a suite of blood tests run just under $1000 (my copay would ordinarily be $20.00). However, with anything in a hospital the sky is the limit (like $89.00 for a box oft issues -- a mucous recovery system). So I wanted to make sure the insurance company would pay for blood work prior to surgery in the hospital. After four hours yesterday, and whiplash from all the bouncing around I got, I finally gave up (it's an ugly story). I will go to Labcorp for my blood work instead of the class 'A' hospital!
Next comes the preapproval for the CT Angiography to be done one week before the surgery. The EP's insurance person is now up to 15 phone calls, and I'm up to 4. This is insane! You must have a preapproval but you can't get through their system! God knows how much this would cost me without a preapproval. As of now, I do not have the preapproval for this test.
I always helps to rant ... thanks for listening. Yes, I know my paranoid side is showing. Next stop is the NY state senators office which is fortunately 2 miles up the road. I guess the insurance companies figure they got your money a long time ago, so now you should just die and stop taking THEIR money! Hope I don't get arrested or carted off to the Looney bin.
Well, I suspect the same thing is going to happen with the ablation, Some anesthesiologist who is strolling down the hall will pop in and hit me up for 5 grand (like I said the paranoid side is taking over). And there's probably not a damn thing I can do about it. So Monday I will track this down, however, I'm not optimistic.