I'm not a happy camper. I just returned home from a week long trip to St. Louis and in my stack of mail, I recieved a bill from Dr. Richard Benevides office. Interestingly, I saw this man one time in June when I had a slippage and was seeking help. Before seeing him, I spoke with his office and others and was assured that he took my insurance. I showed my insurance card at the desk and they took my co-pay. Never to be heard from again. Today, I get a bill for this consultation for $180. Merry frickin Christmas!

I know how you feel, I just got a bill from my doctor for an additional $4300.00 for the hernia repair he did! Not good timing at all!

Wow, hopefully both of you can refile those bills with your health insurance company! I guess the drs. are trying to clear out the 2004 bills. Bad timing!

How awful! I just got an e-mail from my girlfriend. Her grandmother passed away leaving mountains of medical bills, so 2 years ago my friend made agreements to pay off all the bills at reduced rates. She just got a one-penny paycheck and learned that one of the doctors garnished her entire paycheck. She hadn't heard from anyone in 2 years, and now she can't find her proof of payment. I guess this kind of thing is typical for year-end? Betty, hernia repair isn't even band related, so why isn't insurance covering that?

I ask them to file it when I went in the other day for my fill. I still have a $2500.00 deductible, and they don't pay jack s#it on anything, so I doubt it will be much!

The only good news is that we can write all these medical bills off on our taxes. I don't know how much that will save us though. Is anyone familiar with taxes?

Nope, but I am certainly going to find out! I have more than enough medical bill to file this year! lol

Lisa, how did your meeting with Greg go? Is he as full of the devil as he sounds?

I got an additional bill from the hospital too, for $733.16, for all the medications, anesthesia, drugs (hey, I didn't get any of those), recovery room, supplies etc. I'm glad they told me this was going to be separate! Not one word saying that there would be additional charges!

Soooo sorry guys! I am just praying that our newly aquired Aetna will cover my last fill... if not... my next hope is that Dr. CHua's office will reduce the cost to that of a private pay fill. My previous insurance paid for the assist for the banding but would not pay for the assist on the gallbladder removal... luckily my surgeon's office didn't require that I pay for his surgical assist for that procedure.

Again... sorry... what a bummer before the holidays! (((hugs)))

Darcy

Betty, I'm almost sure that you can write off medical bills if you spent over $750.00 out of pocket in one year. But don't quote me on the amount. Any H&R Block office should be able to answer that question really easily. And they told me last year that even cosmetic surgery counts. I'll be writing off a whopper myself.

My meeting with Greg went fast and furious. I should have asked him to meet me closer to work, cuz I flew like Batwoman through traffic to meet him at Harrah's. I had to eat really fast, then fly back to work. He seems just as nice in person. I brought Erin with me (see my "sabotage" post) because up until yesterday we were daily lunch buddies.

I really want to look into that new law they passed on the weight loss deduction. I wonder if it is more of a deduction than regular medical expenses or is it all grouped together. I have an accountant that does the stuff here at work, and he did my taxes the first couple of years I came here. I might have to have him do them again this year. I'll have to check out the laws and see.

The figure may have changed, but it was $7500 in unreimbursed medical expenses. I'm not sure if elective surgery can be claimed. Please check with a CPA to be sure.

Thanks Darcy, I just would have felt much better if I had known about these charges, and the one on the hernia could have waited till after the holidays! Just like Leatha's, it's not a good freaking Christmas present!

We'll find a way to take care of these I'm sure, I always say " Where there's a will, there's a way".

I have a pretty big mouth... and I wasn't afraid to use it when it came to charges that were not covered... the charge for the procedure far surpassed my sister's Gastric Bypass and 3 day hospital stay and I saw know reason that I should be reponsible for the charges that were not covered. I know... I'm a booger butt. I spread love and joy everywhere I go...LOLOLOL.

I have to pay 10% of everything, so I got a bill for the anesthesiologist for $128, then the bill from the hospital (with that huge detailed list of all the things I can't remember if I got or not) for almost $1400. I have to go back to the hospital next Monday for my first fill (fills are supposed to be included with my surgery fee, according to the seminar my dr had on July 31), I was told I would have to go to the hospital early so I could get registered. This means they are planning to charge my insurance again and another 10% will come out of my pocket. DH is not happy...

Please be sure that you get an itemized statement on everything. I have a friend charged for a pregnancy test (before surgery) and she'd had a hysterectomy 20 years before.