$1,014,771.28
That's what the Explanation of Benefits that came in the mail yesterday said Seattle Children's billed our insurance for Zoe's transplant and related services.
Regence negotiated the fees down to $906,199.58--and paid the whopping sum of $248,057.29.
$658,142.29.
That's what the EOB said we owe. (Hello, heart--would you mind beating again?)
But.
We are given to understand that we will be okay--we have been assured up and down that Medicaid will pay for anything not covered by the insurance, that this will be the case through the end of the year.
Jeff called financial services at Children's just to be reassured of this after that gem came in the mail. Gary from the financial department (a very sweet man with the most stunning comb-over I have ever witnessed. Seriously. It stunned me when I saw it.) calmly reaffirmed that everything will be taken care of.
Again, I find myself being grateful for not being an "overly" successful couple in our business in the last couple years. Not that we've been floundering by any means, but I'm thankful that we didn't make one dollar more than the cut-off for aid.
The margin between making too much to qualify for financial aid--and making enough to actually afford over $650K of medical bills is astronomically wide. Anecdotally I know of a local family who found themselves within this margin--and it is crushing them. AND, they still have a chronically sick kid to have to manage as well.
What is wrong with our country? This medical monetary hemoraging has got to be fixed. Maybe pluck a billion or two from TARP...
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This week we saw Zoe's new pediatrician for the first time. Blythe Thompson works at the Hemo-Oncology department at Seattle Children's and is very familiar with post transplant children. We liked her.
Mainly things have been continuing to hold steady with Miss Z--with little tweakings here and there: her NG tube had to be pulled out an inch and a half as an X-ray showed it was going beyond her stomach and into the intestine (not good); her topical steroid for stomach GVHD got increased back to its original, larger dose (here comes Crazy Baby!) as her stools were not improving.
We're moving forward with PT and eating help for Zoe. I've posted a new vid on YouTube of Zoe relishing a cracker--the likes of which we haven't seen since. It was a brief burst of interest in food, and now she's back to resisting attempts to put edibles into her mouth.
Honestly, it seems easier to just fill up her formula bag at this point and set the feed pump going than wrestling food into her mouth.
I mean really, what mother wouldn't agree with me on that?
1 comment:
Moms know you gotta pick your battles...too many wrestling matches at once isn't good for anybody. :)
Thank goodness true healthcare reform is being discussed. It was a miracle we were able to recover financially, and I feel a great deal for those who don't have it so easy.
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