Doctors office will say anything to get your money!

[momof3boys]

I spent alot of my time today having to deal with the stupid medical people about my husband's surgery coming up on May 29th. I cant believe a damn word anyone says. We found out he had a brain tumor in september 2011, and it was affecting his hormone levels. Its too risky to remove it, so they are treating with medication that our insurance will not cover. Its been so stressful having to deal with one income, and finding ways to still be able to pay for this medication. In the meantime, he was covered for medical treatment at a hospital we were going to. He had bad carpel tunnel in his hands, but his left hand is the worst. So he went to see a doctor about it. Turned out even though this doctor is in the same hospital that he has coverage, and his name comes up on the hospitals website, he is not affilated with the hospital at all. So he wont have any coverage for us after our insurance goes through. I had to talk with the billing lady who said two weeks ago to send her a copy of the paper from the hospital saying he got 100% coverage til October of this year and they will match it. Did that two weeks ago, and didnt hear back. So today we call and finally talk to her and she tells us she wont match it. They said they will only cover a portion, and we dont have the money right now to pay for this surgery. She tells us one thing, then says another. Last thing we heard from her today, was that she went from saying we would be paying $489 to $49.80 Seems abit odd to me. I told her we want this in writing. Thats a huge difference and I dont want to take her word for it. Id rather have it in writing so when the surgery is over and she bills us, we have this to back us up. So were waiting on that to be delivered by mail to us.

Another thing I didnt care for is how the nurse at the doctors office spoke to me. I told her exacly what is going on. How we found out about his brain tumor and how its been a huge expense for us and right now the only reason we were wanting to get his carpel tunnel surgery done is because we were looking for a doctor in the same hospital he has his coverage at. We just were not notifyed til after seeing this doctor that he's not with the hospital at all, his practice is just in located there. OK..... talk about wanting to strangle these people! This nurse has the guts to tell me.... "Im not here to listen to your sabby little sad story Kristin". OMG. Seriously? What was she thinking? Im a person that if I tell a nurse a sad story about my husband having a brain tumor that that they were going to give us this surgery for nothing? NO. I just told her the reason we went to this dr and no one told us he wasnt with the hospital til we found out after going there, and finding it out from a nurse. She then has the guts to tell me if we dont have the funds to pay for the surgery, to ask a friend or family member for the money, or open a credit card account! Seriously? All of this coming out of a nurses mouth? Then she tells me they have payment plans, and we would only have to pay $50 a month. I ask her how am I suppose to pay them $50 a month, when I have a $500 credit card bill Im behind on, for the brain tumor medication that I cant pay? If I cant pay the credit card, where the heck am I goign to get the money to pay them?

I swear these people are stupid! I hate people like them. Sorry, hate is a strong word. I shouldnt be saying that. I just needed to vent.

 

[rich956]

Hugs
That Nurse seemed to be very rude.:twocents:

 

[momof3boys]

Thats exacly how I see it too. For her to tell me what to do in order to get them paid their money after the surgery is done, was wrong. It was very unprofessional. It wasnt any of her business why we cant afford the surgery, but to tell her why it is we cant due to the medication that our insurance wont cover, that alone has caused us a huge dent in our credit cards. I wish I could say something to their office without getting myself or my husband in trouble.

 

[acpollard2010]

U can just respectfully me n my wife have called and battled with my neuro and in person when his nurse called me a liar so u have all right to say something

 

[momof3boys]

If I say anything, I will do it a proffessional manner and tell the head person, or whoever it may be that this nurse had no right to tell me how I was to go about paying for my husband's surgery. Then to make the comment that she didnt want to hear my sobbing sad story. Just to hear those words come out of a nurses mouth, made my jaw hit the floor. I replied back to her, saying I wasnt in no way trying to make it sound like I wanted her to feel sorry for us. I was trying to point out that the whole reasoning for us going to the hospital was because of his financial assistance coverage. Why would a person not want to go to a hospital that has provided them 100% financial assistance for 12 months. Thats stupid for her to think we will want to go to a doctor who doesnt cover this help we were given. Then to keep making remarks about their payment plan, and how it will only be $50 a month... and all while making these remarks, Ive told her over and over again about how were still struggling to pay off his medications on our credit card which we are behind on. She made it sound like we can just grow money on a tree in our back yard and give it to them that way!

 

[CQ:)]

Hi Kristin

You sure are having a rough time at the moment, I hope all the stress you have had lately doesn't bring on too many seizures.

The way the nurse spoke to you was very rude & she had no right to speak to you the way she did.
Have you thought of sending a written complaint to the dr or the head of the department the nurse works in about her attitude towards you?

Sending some hugs your way

 

[valeriedl]

Good thing it wasn't me and that nurse or my kepprage would have went off on her - lol! I actually went off on my neuro's seceratary in a waiting room full of people once because his nurse practioner wouldn't listen to what I was telling her. She kept saying that I wasn't taking my meds and that's why I was having seizures. Haven't had to see her since.

I know what you mean about dr's taking your money for anything too. I've got back problems and went to see my dr about it. He gave me meds and sent me to therapy. After two months of laying on a table doing stretches twice a week while someone sat in the waiting room for an hour I stopped that. I started to see another dr who gave me shots in my back and gave me meds. After two months of telling him that it wasn't working, and him saying "It just hasn't kicked in yet, you should see some results after your next visit", I stopped that. I went to see a chiropractor and after the first visit I could move without hurting!!!! That was the place to spend the money!

 

[momof3boys]

Thank you CQ. I havnt thought about writing a written reply to them. But I will for sure be replying to them about this. As long as we recieve the form explaining how much coverage they will give us, and we can get this done and over with, I will be saying something to them.

All this stress and worrying is not good for me. My doctor's nurse had warned me several times that when I went from being on two seizure medications down to one, my chances of having seizures will increase if I have alot of stresses in my life, or lack of sleep. I had to change alot of things. But one thing I did tell my husband was that for the past four years Ive been the one responsible for making sure all the bills were paid, the duties at home were done, the kids were taken care of, and everything was just done. Since the start of the school year, around september, is when the stresses has finally taken over me. having to hear the news of his tumor being there in October of last year, freaking me out. Then our son having issues with his school, and going through a rollercoaster of a ride with the prinicipal, teachers and doctors. Now, Im dealing with the tumor again, and my husband's carpel tunnel issues. Its just all so much for me to handle. And that doesnt include the bills getting paid, or making sure the kids have food, clothes, medications, etc. Its so overwhelming for one person to care for 5 people. Ive put myself on the back burner for months now, and over the past few weeks Ive really seen a huge drop in my health. I had three seizures last tuesday that scared the crap out of me. Ive had simple partial seizures where I recall everything, but this time I only recall what happened before, and then waking up to finding my mom and husband at my side. I had a terriable headache for the rest of the day and felt horriable. Knowing I had seizures and not being able to recall anything my husband was saying I did, scared the crap out of me. It was like a wake up call for me. I certainly dont want to be put on a second medication. Im going to have to take control of these stresses and hand somethings over to my husband to take care of. I need to focus on myself so I can feel better.

 

[momof3boys]

Good thing it wasn't me and that nurse or my kepprage would have went off on her - lol! I actually went off on my neuro's seceratary in a waiting room full of people once because his nurse practioner wouldn't listen to what I was telling her. She kept saying that I wasn't taking my meds and that's why I was having seizures. Haven't had to see her since.

I know what you mean about dr's taking your money for anything too. I've got back problems and went to see my dr about it. He gave me meds and sent me to therapy. After two months of laying on a table doing stretches twice a week while someone sat in the waiting room for an hour I stopped that. I started to see another dr who gave me shots in my back and gave me meds. After two months of telling him that it wasn't working, and him saying "It just hasn't kicked in yet, you should see some results after your next visit", I stopped that. I went to see a chiropractor and after the first visit I could move without hurting!!!! That was the place to spend the money!

OMG! If I were in that room when a nurse would accuse me of saying I wasnt taking my medications, I would have let her had it too! I hate when people accuse others of things they have no proof of. I dont go for that stuff. I had my primary care doctors office try the same thing last year with me too. instead of seeing the dr, I got put with the PA, and when I went in, complaining of arm pain, he had another doctor come in, and stretch back my arm to tell me I had a strained muscle and I needed to do physical therapy. :roflmao:But it turned out, at the time I was using Hydroco to help with the pain in my chest from Broncitis, and it was making me have seizures at night, which had me stiffening up, and I would be waking up with sore muscles. Once I quit taking the Hydroco, it all stopped and I finally healed up. But talk about being told one thing and expecting me to go to physical therapy for seizure! :roflmao:

 

[Nakamova]

Wow Kristin, just wow. What's wrong with people that they behave that way? And in a doctor's office, where folks theoretically go to feel better. If you aren't sick before you deal with health insurance rules, regulations, and runarounds, then you will be by the time they're done with you and you're done with them.

 

[momof3boys]

I know what you mean Nakamova. I was just in total shock. To hear those words come out of a nurses mouth, and just thinking after I got off the phone, why would a person in a doctors office, tell me to stop telling her my sobbing sad story, and then give me her opinion on how I should pay for his surgery, it made me sick to my stomach. Then came the anger. At the time my husband had the kids at the park, so I had no one here to talk about it with. Once my husband returned home, he was floored by what he heard. I would in no way even have the guts to say something like that to a patients spouse. I would be as kind as I could be and let them know if they had any questions, they could contact the office at anytime. I just want to get this stupid surgery done and over with!

 

[travel bug]

Hi momof3boys,

First of all, {{hugs}} it sounds like you've had a really rough go lately.

Second, that "nurse" should be ashamed, she sounds like a real b*&%h. Of all people, a nurse should be compassionate.

As for your husband's tumor and the financial difficulty that has come with it, I'd suggest checking to see if there's a local brain tumor support group. They can sometimes (depending on the group) not only offer moral support, but they can offer medical and financial advice, sometimes they can offer financial help directly. My local brain tumor group tries to help tumor patients with medical and associated expenses as well as other financial support such as help with rent, etc. Fortunately, I've not needed their help so I'm not sure what the procedure is or how they decide who they can help and with what expenses, but it might be worth looking into.

Take care, momof3boys, and best wishes to your husband.