sounds impossible but really it's not.
The first time I was in for my Crohn's I didn't bring anything but my self... when I went over the bill with a fine tooth comb I immediately packed a hospital bag for the next time...with Crohn's there is always a next time.
This time I brought , tooth brush, tooth paste, floss. Diapers (diarrhea is a guarantee with Crohn's) kleenex, soap that can be also used as shampoo and a comb.... this alone saved me $200. I also ordered a bit more for my meals as I found ordering a snack ( as I am not use to the times they serve) cost more money than ordering extra with my meal and saving it. I drink water (that's the only freebie LOL) outside of meals.
This hospital allows me to bring my own BP meds as it has to be specially ordered to be without blue dye. A lot of hospitals won't, so if you take a special ordered med you should call your local hospital office and ask for their rules on that.. or just take it with you and they will tell you when you get there.
I needed extra blood work for further testing about the surgery so I asked the doctor to order it now so I didn't have a 4 hr round trip for just blood work. He was/is very supportive of my trying to take care of myself and yet not end up with no money to live on. Said it was one of the biggest things he was dealing with was those that can't afford the testing, blood work , meds or just don't come to the doctor until it's too late and they are in the ER because of finances.
I have contacted my insurance to see if biologics are covered with my prescription plan and what ones are covered for Crohn's. I was already warned by my doctor that they are picky about which ones would be covered and to ask what my copay would be since if can vary.
As for the hospital bill, my share is 20%. Payment plans are available if I can't pay in full especially since we know there is more to come. It takes about a month for the bill to run through my insurance but I can see what the total is in claims in a week so I will know what our share will be so we can put the money aside for when the bill comes.
Hubby has ate from home using the single packages I had put in the freezer for his lunches for his dinner also. He packed an extra sandwich to eat on the way down to pick me up as I will have already ate my supper. Since he goes to nights next week until he finishes out his seasonal (we think the 29th) he can just take what ever we had at supper before he goes to work or a sandwich.
Blessed be
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1 week ago
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I'm so impressed with your efforts to be careful with expenses in your medical care. So many people throw their hands up and give up rather than trying to think things through. Some pharmaceutical companies will even kick in for free meds when they get a personal phone call from a patient who can't afford them.
ReplyDeleteHaving worked in the medical field for a decade I know that one must constantly advocate for oneself. It's difficult to do, but then life is difficult.
It is so expensive to have an autoimmune disease. My meds run about $5,000 a month. Praying for you everyday my friend.
ReplyDeleteYou are smart to be prepared. The hospital has let me bring my asthma inhalers which I don't need anymore. But, that saved a ton of money. Two years ago when Hubby was in the coma and we had a $200,000 hospital bill it took 3 months to get the bill from the hospital. A few weeks after we were home we got a bill offering us a discount if we paid our part immediately. My Aunt who worked in hospital billing told us not to do it and I am so glad we didn't. By the time we got their bill we had met the deductible and they were paid in full. If we had handed over thousands of dollars we could still be waiting to get that back.
ReplyDeleteFinancial services asked to me to check where I was with my deductible and if I had catastrophic on my plan, if I did only pay half until they could see where my deductible actually was and she would still give me a discount. I just had my back injections and that hasn't ran all the way through the system so I know my deductible is down more than they told the hospital.
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