01/08/2025
Health insurance.
So I agreed to take this lab test and this was the cost results. This is one expensive ASF lab. It's a genetics test, and those are apparently $$$$$. So opt out! In my situation, I was curious and I trusted health insurance. This is a good and bad story to share, about the bill, not me, lol!
Provider responsibility means what my insurance and I are responsible for. However, and thankfully, there is an "allowed amount." SO even though this bill is $10,505, my insurance and I owe $8,056.44. But even more thankfully, my provider has an agreement with this company/these specific labs that my insurance and I only have to pay the maximum of the "allowed amount" of $2,448.56. My insurance covered $252.28, which means I'm stuck with the remaining $2,196.28.
The bad thing could be that I have to fork that the $2.2k.
The good thing out of this situation is that this bill has "helped" me reach my deductible of $3300 as an individual.
What does deductible in health insurance mean?
Like car insurance, it's the amount you have to lose/fork up from your own pocket before your insurance gives a crap, I mean, starts going in their own pocket.
What does meeting my deductible mean for me?
It means, on my next appointment that will cost me $500 out of pocket, I don't have to pay. Why? Because I already paid my deductible. Think of deductible as the MAX amount of money you'll spend on your health/medical appointment. Of course, this might not be 100% for all appointments, so always check first, which is my next point.
Wherever you need to go for medical/health needs, you can have those offices reach out to your insurance with the billing codes to find out in advance what it will cost you. Health insurance doesn't have to be a complete mystery anymore. It just requires you to be in the middle to bring the two together.
What this really means for me is that my big bill I'm expecting later will not cost me that much. So I'm not sure if this is a win or a loss.
In addition, I reached out to the lab to reverse this bill, whic means I pay the original $349 and they retract $10.7k they billed to my insurance. I won't go into details about that call right now, but later when I have more time or if someone is really curious about it.
