I'm leaning toward not having the surgery done. Not because I don't want it, but because I don't have any support. I can't even get my patient advocate to return my calls or emails and my insurance company won't talk to me. I'm not sure where to go or what to do next. I guess I'll just move on with my life - or what I have of it.

Seriously, try to find out the IP of any emails you received from the OM and email the mods here about having them check it against usedtbfat's IP. If it doesn't match, you haven't lost anything. If it does, you have a bargaining chip.

Thanks PC. My friend who called the office told me the same thing. She is the one who is guilty of slander. She told my friends thing that are "illegal" for a medical person to tell. Give her enough rope and she'll hand herself. Thanks again for figuring her out. The Dr. did say it was a "new policy". One I think she had a lot to do with. I've cried every day since walking out of his office but even then I was nice about it. I told him that I was sorry but I just couldn't go along with his policy. His practice must be doing very well.. he seemed to care less. I'm sure Er... I mean the OM had a lot to do with this. There is no telling what she told the Dr. The bright spot in all this is that for once I finally stood up for my self. That tastes really good. I may even take it a step further and take legal action against OM for giving out personal information.

PC...

Did you read the post I wrote on R&R? That tells you step by step how to handle this.

opps, I meant Thanks Laurend and wasa.

What usetbfat and Dr. Mejias don't realize is I have done nothing wrong and have nothing to lose here. He already stripped me down to nothing by allowing me to go thorugh 8 months of preband stuff and then pulling what he did. I could have paid him but my trust for him was gone. Why does he put patients through a psy.? The true psy. testing was done by him.. and I guess I didn't pass that one.

yes, about filing with HIPA? I will. Thanks so much for that info.

I'm sure you passed the psych testing, it's the wallet test you didn't pass.

I don't blame them for requesting extra fees be paid up front, but waiting a week before surgery is less than ethical. But, docs are people too and they aren't always ethical.

yes, about filing with HIPA? I will. Thanks so much for that info.

HIPAA AND the Medical Board.

its apost she did on 10/07/2007 at 905 am,,i am not surprised you missed it,it gets boring reading the same posts about the same thing.there are no holes just truth,and sometimes the truth is hard to face ,its much easier to blame someonelse for our troubles isnt it.?

if it gets boring then why did you read it? Could it be you have a personal interest?

Program fees are one thing. That's acceptable, in my mind. But requiring the portion that insurance doesn't pay before the future patient has even received the medical care? To me, that's unethical. How would they even know how much insurance would pay? Every time I've had something expensive done, insurance discounts what the doctor initially charged, and doesn't pay the whole fee. I mean, yeah, I've had to pay my deductible and my portion of the bill, but the actual cost of the surgery was reduced from what the doctor originally billed insurance.

Case in point, my band surgery. The hospital/surgeon billed my insurance for close to $50k. My insurance took off more than $18k off that, basically said, "no, this is what the charge is."

I'm sure you passed the psych testing, it's the wallet test you didn't pass.

I don't blame them for requesting extra fees be paid up front, but waiting a week before surgery is less than ethical. But, docs are people too and they aren't always ethical.

Thank you SO much for getting my point. It was never the money up front... it was waiting until 7 days before surgery to tell me that got me. I had already taken off work, made arrangements for my kids to be taken care of the night I'd be in the hospital.... plus gotten my hopes up after waiting 8 longs months for the surgery.

Case in point, my band surgery. The hospital/surgeon billed my insurance for close to $50k. My insurance took off more than $18k off that, basically said, "no, this is what the charge is."

But that is a contractual agreement between each and every individual doc and the insurance co. The doc knows full well what insurance will pay and what the patient will need to pay before the procedure is even done.

Thank you SO much for getting my point. It was never the money up front... it was waiting until 7 days before surgery to tell me that got me. I had already taken off work, made arrangements for my kids to be taken care of the night I'd be in the hospital.... plus gotten my hopes up after waiting 8 longs months for the surgery.

Find a new doc, get the band. My doc is in Mexico, 3.5 hours away. Best decision I ever made!

Case in point, my band surgery. The hospital/surgeon billed my insurance for close to $50k. My insurance took off more than $18k off that, basically said, "no, this is what the charge is."

By the way.... Laurend. My weight and BMI are higher that what you started with, so I really needed the band. My deductable had been paid for this year and I don't think I'll be able to get surgery in this year.

But that is a contractual agreement between each and every individual doc and the insurance co. The doc knows full well what insurance will pay and what the patient will need to pay before the procedure is even done.

But wouldn't it vary, based on which insurance it was and which policy? If they knew my insurance wouldn't pay $50k, why did they send them the bill for $50k?