Zigner
Well-Known Member
Insertion of a port is surgery. Sure, it's not a full-blown "surgery" where they cut you open and reach into your body for some reason, but it is surgery.
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Pre-Tax Flex Spending Acct & Hospital Bill
- Thread Starter Anon-e-Mouse
- Start date
Anon-e-Mouse
Member
Okay, it might be surgery, but is it really $4000 dollar surgery? For something one person did at my bedside in my room that took only 15 minutes? That seems awfully high to me.
Zigner
Well-Known Member
That I cannot answer except to say that I agree that it is a lot of money.
PayrollHRGuy
Well-Known Member
Have you not heard mention of the high cost of health care? Well, now you have.
army judge
Super Moderator
A $4,000 procedure is cheap, if it helps save your life, ease your pain, return you to full health.
People will eagerly, happily drop $5,000, even $10,000 to go on vacation or a cruise.
Yet, the eager vacationer whines about a $4,000 procedure that leads to restored health and vitality.
People will eagerly, happily drop $5,000, even $10,000 to go on vacation or a cruise.
Yet, the eager vacationer whines about a $4,000 procedure that leads to restored health and vitality.
commentator
Member
OP, unlike some of the posters here, I do not spend my worklife dealing with benefits and such, but I can tell you this. Having had at least four or five major surgeries in my adult life (heart, breast cancer, brain tumor, etc.) I will tell you that what you are thinking about, post trauma, is very unproductive and frustrating. In the first place, I suspect that you will be able to get someone to take that $1500 off your hands to pay a medical bill before the time to use it is up. If not the hospital, then one of the other service providers. Keep trailing that billing department, talk to the other service providers, and I suspect that you will be able to give it away to someone it will apply for.
Second issue, you are trying to micromanage a situation and things that you do not understand and will have great frustration with. Like "they charged me for the ICU and I wasn't in the ICU!" And "they charged $4000 for surgery and all I had was a port installed!" (I have had a couple of these, they are considered surgery, no matter if you are anesthetized or how long it took. They like,cut you open and insert a device into your blood vessel.) And besides, your opinion on how much this is worth is sort of irrelevant. Arguing with the people in the billing department accomplishes nothing much.
In all my dealings with surgery, I have seen hospital bills that supposedly were in the neighborhood of $45,000. The shock value of that bill was somewhat priceless! I found that my insurance had an upper out of pocket maximum. I ended up paying much less than this. Ask your HR or your insurance provider about this.
With almost all my procedures, such as MRI's and scans and Home Health services, they have a pretty good idea how much they are going to charge and about how much of that will be covered by insurance. In many cases I was able to pre-pay (for a discount) from my own funds, sometimes more than $1500, and they were certainly billing separately from the ultimate hospital bill. Somebody should be able to come up with a bill for you and be willing to take this money fairly quickly.
You need to talk to your company's HR and your insurance company about this issue. And stop trying to micromanage your hospital bills at this point. It will only increase your stress levels and you won't be able to obtain sensible answers to your satisfaction. You have been through a traumatic event in your life, and now your business is to recover. Take care of your business to the best of your abilities, concentrate on getting this FSA money spent, and then concentrate on getting better.
Second issue, you are trying to micromanage a situation and things that you do not understand and will have great frustration with. Like "they charged me for the ICU and I wasn't in the ICU!" And "they charged $4000 for surgery and all I had was a port installed!" (I have had a couple of these, they are considered surgery, no matter if you are anesthetized or how long it took. They like,cut you open and insert a device into your blood vessel.) And besides, your opinion on how much this is worth is sort of irrelevant. Arguing with the people in the billing department accomplishes nothing much.
In all my dealings with surgery, I have seen hospital bills that supposedly were in the neighborhood of $45,000. The shock value of that bill was somewhat priceless! I found that my insurance had an upper out of pocket maximum. I ended up paying much less than this. Ask your HR or your insurance provider about this.
With almost all my procedures, such as MRI's and scans and Home Health services, they have a pretty good idea how much they are going to charge and about how much of that will be covered by insurance. In many cases I was able to pre-pay (for a discount) from my own funds, sometimes more than $1500, and they were certainly billing separately from the ultimate hospital bill. Somebody should be able to come up with a bill for you and be willing to take this money fairly quickly.
You need to talk to your company's HR and your insurance company about this issue. And stop trying to micromanage your hospital bills at this point. It will only increase your stress levels and you won't be able to obtain sensible answers to your satisfaction. You have been through a traumatic event in your life, and now your business is to recover. Take care of your business to the best of your abilities, concentrate on getting this FSA money spent, and then concentrate on getting better.
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