I got wonderful news today. The letter from the Pre-Existing Insurance Plan (PCIP) came today. And I’m APPROVED! As of August 1st, I will have medical insurance which WILL work on my pre-existing gynecological problems and which WILL be able to be used toward my surgery.
As you can see, I need to immediately pay the $237 premium for August in order to ensure it starts August 1st. (It will continue to be $237/month in premiums which is expensive but my money goes a lot further this way.) I also have a $1,000 deductible so I still need to raise enough money to pay the premiums for the next several months, satisfy the deductible and pay my co-pays. So I’m not out of the woods financially yet. Here are the coverage details of the plan:
There is a prescription deductible as well which will come to effect for medication I may need. The good news is that my OB/GYN is IN-NETWORK for the plan.
Please note, this is NOT retroactive so the $10,000+ in hospital bills and ER bills I owe are NOT covered. I still have no clue how I’m ever going to pay those off. It also doesn’t matter that I’ve already spent $836 in office payments to my OB/GYN because they’re before the effective date of the insurance on August 1st. But moving forward, I will be able to have coverage for visits and the surgery including the hospital, the anesthesiologist, radiology, etc. so I won’t get another bill that’s tens of thousands of dollars.
This is a HUGE relief moving forward. Doesn’t solve everything but makes it all a little bit easier to ensure I can actually get my surgery.
Does having the insurance change the amount you need upfront to pay the OB/GYN now? I know it doesn’t change paying the Memorial Day weekend bill, but does this mean the doctor no longer needs a pre-payment amount? 😀
PS: when I logged in, wordpress said you have 400 posts. Woo.
No because it still works out to be the same unfortunately. Just changes where the money goes. And I get more for my money.
– $1,000 deductible
– $588 due to my OB/GYN for past services (account must be current before surgery)
– $237/month premiums (Minimum 4 months, probably more = $948)
______________
Total: $2536
I guess technically BEFORE surgery is $1,000 + $588 + September $237 premium but I’ll also need October’s $237 premium and November’s $237 premium, etc.
Right. Plus that 8k bill 🙁
I’ll post an update on my blog tomorrow about you since I’m headed away for most of August. See if we can continue to get the signal out there.
Yup and it’s the $8,008 ER bill, the $1,200 for the ER physicians, $248 for the radiologists and $200 total for two lab bills. So it’s really just shy of $10k total in hospital bills all told. 🙁