Millionaires don’t have to worry about dentist bills. If Warren Buffet gets a tooth pain I’m sure he goes to Dr. RichDentist and gets his tooth filled without worrying about a $30 co pay and then a $286 follow up bill for the remainder. And you don’t work two jobs if you’re a millionaire. So, you could guess I’m not like Warren Buffet.
Over this summer I had to go to the doctor several times and the dentist twice. Overall I believe I racked up around $2000 in bills, but with insurance I owed only about $350. However, my insurance tried to smack me with a $630 bill for blood work that my doctor ordered.
The old doc thought I had an ulcer earlier this year, but it turns out my stomach produces too much acid. And not cool face-melting acid either but the kind that hurts when you are hungry, or after you just ate. So then the doctor had me undergo a series of blood draws to test if I was anemic, thalassemic (which I already knew that I was), my lead levels, etc, etc. I went into his office another five times just for blood work. They sent me two or three bills for $20 which I paid without batting an eye, because you know, I have that kind of money. Then, I believe in August, my insurance said, “Hang on there kid, we’re not paying for any genetic testing.”
I then underwent the quest for financial vindication with help from my dad for I asked for no genetic testing my friends. I made phone call after phone call back and forth from the insurance to the doctor, to the actual lab that bills the tests and round and round we went. I played the infamous insurance game that not many win. And I can tell you this, I won. With my dad’s experience in dealing with these companies for my mom, he seems to know all the tricks. Although technically, in the end, the doctor lost the game because they took the bill and wrote it off. But get this, to a certain insurance company, testing for some types of anemia is considered a genetic test and they refuse to cover that. It’s not like my dad and mom had to come with to the lab and get blood drawn, so that really is a steaming load.
The majority of my $350 came from dental work for 4 cavities. Yes, children, mommy likes her sugar. And I foolishly went to a dentist on my own. The red flags were thrown when she introduced me to her financial expert that gave me the rundown on costs for simple cavities. This “expert” told me my dental insurance company is difficult and getting an accurate price for anything is like, pulling teeth, yuck yuck! I called my parent’s dentist after that and got in on the fact that I was related, since this guy is no longer taking new patients. So, really, I’m sure these expenses, weren’t too bad.
Now I am mostly stomach-pain free and cavity free and you are probably wondering why this falls into my horrible year category. Two reasons: First, I am in credit card debt so spending money is hard for me to do. I decided that I needed to get all this work done for my health so that I can work two jobs to make money. And second, this is the first year that I realized dealing with insurance companies is ridiculous and not in a cutesy way when your little brother tells you his Nintendo Wii skills are ridiculous but actually ridiculously hard! Jumping through insurance hoops is one more way the healthcare industry has an utter stranglehold on the people.
If you take anything away from this entry, take this: fuck insurance, let’s do it Canada-style!
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