Oregon Public Broadcasting

1st congressional district 2012 election 2012 session agriculture art arts author beer births books budget business central oregon college congress crime culture death penalty eastern oregon economy education employment energy environment eugene fishing food gangs gay rights health health care high school history homeless housing jobs law legislature literature living media mental health military movies music native americans obama occupy portland occupy wall street onthejob oregon our town outdoors parenting police politics portland portland business journal portland mayor pregnancy prison public health race rebroadcast recess recession religion republicans rural schools science shooting sports supreme court talking business technology teen theater unemployment union university of oregon washington water weekend women youth

My husband found out he had colon cancer so he started looking for a doctor in network. When he found a Doctor he checked with our insurance and the doctors office checked as well.  Everything seemed kosher.  Then right before he was about to go through surgery we found out that the doctor was not in-network.  The doctor urged us to proceed with the surgery as time was of the essence and told us that he would deal with the insurance agency to make a deal and work things out.  He told us starting from scratch with another doctor would take several months as they would have to review the case and do their own analysis before even getting to the point where they could do surgery. We agreed if insurance confirmed it would be approved so the doctor sent in letters and we did too. We received an approval confirmation from our insurance that had the doctors name, hospital and procedure that was to be done listed on it.   So we went ahead with the procedure only to find out afterward that the insurance would not be covering the doctor.  When we faxed them the approval they gave to us they said that the approval was only for the hospital and the procedure not for the doctor.  We said we were confused as his name was listed right there on the paper they said read the bottom.  There in tiny print was a waiver that all of the above was subject to change.  To me this says that they can back out of anything they approve at anytime and it is very misleading.  This now meant that we owed eight thousand dollars.  With the economy the way it is and with people losing their jobs do people have eight thousand to spare?  It seems unfair to me that we took every precaution to make sure we did things correctly and that they can change their mind at anytime.   

I think health care is a huge issue. I think that they should be held accountable.  We pay for our health insurance and had never needed or used it before other than regular doctor visits.  So when we needed them to pay for what we have been paying them for I think they should have been there. I am tired of the changes they make without advising their clients.  Would any other company be able to do business like that?  I do really hope that we start fixing health care for everyone's benefit because as I know it to be there are some major flaws.

posted 2 years, 2 months ago
view in context