My girlfriend went to the ER a few weeks ago with stomach pain. Turns out it was appendicitis. She was admitted to the ER on Friday night around midnight, had the surgery on Saturday morning, and was discharged on Sunday afternoon.
When we were in the ER, we just went with the flow. She was admitted and was told she would be in surgery the next morning (turned out her surgery was not until 2pm). On Saturday afternoon, she had her appendix removed via laparoscopic surgery. Following doctor's orders, she stayed the night on Saturday and was seen by the doctor on Sunday. On Sunday morning, she was told she could be discharged. She was out of the hospital, barely able to walk, on Sunday afternoon. We just got a letter from her health care provider saying that the procedure was not medically necessary and should have been an outpatient procedure. "The admission is not covered. The procedure not covered."
I had my appendix removed a few years ago, and was in the hospital for about 3 days. I never realized that it was even eligible to be an outpatient procedure. We haven't yet received a bill from either the insurance company nor hospital.
I'm very worried that we'll have a bill for tens of thousands incoming in a few weeks. Did we just lose all of our life savings?
update: Here's a snap of the letter with personal details removed: http://ift.tt/2nTuya3 (also, even though the letter says March 13, we didn't get it until last Friday... we're not being lazy about this!)
Also, I don't expect this care to be free for us. Her healthcare has a deductible of $1,000, then covers 80% up to an out of pocket max of $4,000 per person. I fully expected to pay $4,000 for this procedure, which we're in a financial position to do. However, I've seen hospitals charge upwards of $50,000 for appendectomies with 2-day inpatient care, and that we are absolutely NOT in a financial position to pay.
Submitted April 03, 2017 at 01:51PM by DyslexicHobo http://ift.tt/2oRjYxQ
