The Most Annoying People Ever

Cigna has not approved my surgery fees yet. With that being said, I've paid out of pocket in the hopes of them covering it at the last minute. Last week the woman who works at Dr. Franco's office in the business office tells me that the estimate for out of pocket without insurance paying is $28,000. It's a hospital so I can set up a payment plan, etc. I've already paid for the surgery separately. It's kind of generally understood that hospitals will work with you on payment plans and negotiating the bills. Yesterday I got a call from the woman at Baylor Hospital in their business office. She tells me that the estimate is $61,000! And that I owe 60% at the time of services. That's kind of a huge bomb to drop on someone a few days before their surgery!

It was late so I wrote an email to the woman (Rachel) at Dr. Franco's office who is his business manager, she tells me that when she got the estimate from Baylor they told her if insurance doesn't pay, it's $28,000. She calls them and they tell her "whoops, we coded the surgery wrong". Now, I am really in a bind because I'm expected to show up on Wed. with about $15,000 cash. $61,000 - 35% (no insurance discount)= 39,000 they want 20,000 but will take no less than 15,000. Rachel also tells me that Cigna doesn't even have my X-Rays yet! She faxed them and they received them solid black so she mailed them and they haven't seen them. She set up a peer to peer review with Dr. Franco for Tuesday. Ha! So, I guess I won't know until Tuesday afternoon whether or not I'm having surgery Wed. morning. On a side note I'm finished with work. They brought in another person to fill my position for the next month. This is ridiculous.