I was a cash pay my total surgery was 13,658. I was very sick in the hospital after surgery so I just assumed the extra charges were billed to the insurance that I had to purchase bc I was a private pay. I got a bill in the mail this afternoon for 33,000. 9,000 was deducted bc that is what I actually paid the hospital, the other 4,658 was the surgeon fee, ins and anesthesia, which I paid directly to them. The remainder of the balance is 24,124 and it says this is a bill. So my question is...... Do I have to submit this to the ins company and they pick it up...... or do I submit the ins info to the hospital? I am freaking out! There is no way I could pay 24k to this hospital. Does anyone have experience with this or know what I should do? please help....

Do you have private insurance at all? Talk to your surgeon and ask why all the extra when you were quote a price. Yikes, I would be freaking out too. Good luck and keep us in loop as to your resolution.

no private ins. I did have to pay for an ins called blis which was supposed to cover any post surgery complications. That fee was compiled into what my surgery was though. The nurse coordinator said this..."here is your policy number for you blis." "You will use this if you have any complications after surgery just give the hopital this paper". so I didn't give it to them bc when I had the complications I was in the hospital for the surgery itself. So I am hoping I just have to bring them the form.

You should definitely talk to your doctor right away.... tell him (or her) that the extra fees were never explained to you, and you were told one firm price. The next thing you should do is call your insurance company and tell them the same thing.... in my case, my procedure cost $15,000, and my insurance company negotiated a "rate" (small percentage of that), which the hospital agreed to accept since they took my insurance.

So now, when the hospital starting billing me with "add ons," the insurance company said NO WAY, so I said NO WAY as well. But, be aware, you probably had to sign a paper when you checked in that said you woudl be financially responsible for all the costs. They just don't tell you how high they can be.

You should still let your displeasure know, and try to negotiate the bill down. People do this all the time... it's just business. Hospitals write off bills that people can't pay every day.... they can adjust or write off, yours too.

Some doctor recently tried to charge my M-I-L $7,000 for a spinal arthritis injection, which the insurance rejected. My husband raised Hell, and the hospital "disappeared" that bill.

As a last resort, if you look on the back... or at the bottom... of your bill, it will tell you something about "if you cannot afford to pay this bill, call this number to applly for financial aid..." Do it. Beats paying that kind of money.... the charges are outrageous. Just don't accept it as the last word.... argue them down.

Good luck with it!

Cinderella

I am really thinking this is what the ins is for. These fees are all for complications that I had and 20k of it is sterile supplies, so I guess it was my fault that the nurses were not skilled enough to get an IV in me and it only took 12 trys. Not kidding either it took them 4 before surgery 6 when it infiltrated and two more when the 2nd Iv infiltrated...........

So sorry you are going through this now... not a great time to feel stressed about money. I still don't know for sure how much my surgery will be... hope its not a surprise like yours!

I agree with you that this is what you purchased BLIS for. The hospital probably doesn't know (or care) about your insurance. Submit your bill to BLIS and please try to stop worrying. I'm sure everything will turn out fine.

I did not have Bliss Insurance, but it sounds like you purchased it. I would talk directly with the nurse who gave you your Bliss Insurance number. I'm sure she's dealt with all this before & will be able to help you submit the claim or provide information to the hospital so they can submitt the claims.

But first of all ... breathe. Sounds like you covered yourself well ... it's just a matter of proper paperwork at this point.

I was a cash pay my total surgery was 13,658. I was very sick in the hospital after surgery so I just assumed the extra charges were billed to the insurance that I had to purchase bc I was a private pay. I got a bill in the mail this afternoon for 33,000. 9,000 was deducted bc that is what I actually paid the hospital, the other 4,658 was the surgeon fee, ins and anesthesia, which I paid directly to them. The remainder of the balance is 24,124 and it says this is a bill. So my question is...... Do I have to submit this to the ins company and they pick it up...... or do I submit the ins info to the hospital? I am freaking out! There is no way I could pay 24k to this hospital. Does anyone have experience with this or know what I should do? please help....

Depending on which private insurance you picked up. The rest of the cost should be covered by them.. I would call insurance and explain to them what is going on and what you have already paid for this surgery. If the private insurance you picked up before surgery is anything like most peoples private insurance 20% of the remaining cost is what you would owe if anything. Unless you met all deductables before surgery "$13, 658" I'm pretty sure you met all out of pocket expences. Try not to stress over the whole situation it could cause major problems for you. Call who you need to call "insurance, hospital, etc." and figure out whats going on..

My husband had back surgery over a year ago, we had paid all of our out of pocket for the year so it was covered 100%. 3 months later we recieved a bill for $129, 000.. We called insurance and explained to them we had met all out of pocket and couldn't understand why in the world we were recieving a bill for any cost. They fixed the problem and just like that we owed nothing to anybody. Mistakes happen call around and see what can be done to fix it.. Best of Luck!!