I recently got an IUD placed at a local women’s clinic. I searched in my online portal for my health insurance provider (Atena), and through the portal is how I found the clinic I went to. Several providers were listed as “maximum savings”, and “in network”. I called this clinic to ask some questions and potentially schedule an appointment. Over the phone they asked, “Have you checked with your insurance provider to make sure we are in network.” I replied telling this person that I had, this is how I found the clinic in the first place, and that before scheduling I had to check the list of providers who are listed as “in network” on my portal so that I schedule the right person. She said, “everyone here accepts the same insurance, so you should be able to be scheduled with anyone”. I went ahead and scheduled the IUD placement with the next available provider, and that was that. I even called my insurance company to see how much this particular IUD would cost, and they said $0. I really thought I was doing my homework here.
Now, one month later I get a bill on my patient portal telling me the provider was out of network (under the name of someone who was not the provider I saw), and I have nearly a one thousand dollar bill for an IUD I had been led to believe was going to be in my network, at little to no cost. Addition/Edit: An NP placed the IUD. The person listed in my bill is the name of an MD who did not provide my service. I don’t know if this was a mistake, or if the MD listed is the person who oversees the NP doing the procedure. Either way, I was told that all providers at the facility accept the same insurance.
Do I have ANY leverage in this situation? I’m reeling here, and am not prepared to fork over quite this much money. What can I do about this?
This is in Colorado if it makes a difference. Remarkably, I had better health insurance at a grocery store before I became a healthcare worker.
submitted by /u/SuchAFour
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I recently got an IUD placed at a local women’s clinic. I searched in my online portal for my health insurance provider (Atena), and through the portal is how I found the clinic I went to. Several providers were listed as “maximum savings”, and “in network”. I called this clinic to ask some questions and potentially schedule an appointment. Over the phone they asked, “Have you checked with your insurance provider to make sure we are in network.” I replied telling this person that I had, this is how I found the clinic in the first place, and that before scheduling I had to check the list of providers who are listed as “in network” on my portal so that I schedule the right person. She said, “everyone here accepts the same insurance, so you should be able to be scheduled with anyone”. I went ahead and scheduled the IUD placement with the next available provider, and that was that. I even called my insurance company to see how much this particular IUD would cost, and they said $0. I really thought I was doing my homework here. Now, one month later I get a bill on my patient portal telling me the provider was out of network (under the name of someone who was not the provider I saw), and I have nearly a one thousand dollar bill for an IUD I had been led to believe was going to be in my network, at little to no cost. Addition/Edit: An NP placed the IUD. The person listed in my bill is the name of an MD who did not provide my service. I don’t know if this was a mistake, or if the MD listed is the person who oversees the NP doing the procedure. Either way, I was told that all providers at the facility accept the same insurance. Do I have ANY leverage in this situation? I’m reeling here, and am not prepared to fork over quite this much money. What can I do about this? This is in Colorado if it makes a difference. Remarkably, I had better health insurance at a grocery store before I became a healthcare worker.
submitted by /u/SuchAFour [link] [comments]Read Morer/HealthInsurance