Wife just went into surgery literally 5 minutes ago. While waiting we had several doctors and nurses check in and ask basically the same questions. While this was happening I was thinking about how we're at the mercy of the hospital and doctors to use providers that our insurance will actually cover. We have NO (very little if any) control over those. What if between scheduling the surgery several months ago and now our insurance and the providers no longer have contracts with each other? What if the surgeon only uses anesthesiologist and nurse anesthetists that don't belong to our insurance providers network?
Thankfully reversed, but took a lot more effort than it should...
I had a kidney stone, and had to be transferred from Hospital A to Hospital B for a procedure, as A didn't have a urologist available.
I was transported by ambulance.
At the destination hospital, a transporter (person with a gurney) was waiting at the ambulance bay and I was moved from ambulance gurney to hospital gurney and wheeled into surgery. I did not go through registration or admission in the ER. I did not speak to a provider in the ER. I was not put in a room, nor was a room allocated for me. But because the physical transfer happened (in the -hallway-, mind you) of the ER, they tried to bill my insurance for a $3,800 ER incident, on top of the OR and procedure costs.
And I won't know how much I'll have to pay out of pocket for this for a least 6 months... I won't be able to recall or have the knowledge if they billed for things not provided too.
