The money merry-go-round before surgery (Also - I finally went to Nocturna!)
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I'm at 2 weeks and 6 days after the big surgery.
My aversion to pregnancy and birth has actually gotten so bad that, last weekend, when we walked past the baby clothing section at Meijer and I got a whiff of powdery baby smell, my body rebelled. I quietly retched a couple of times and had to get the hell out of there. Clearly, getting the ol' tubes tied was the right decision. I wonder how long before that particular anxiety finally starts to die.
Y'all, surgery fucking sucks, just for the record. I only just got back to the gym on Monday, and I'm feeling particularly round and soft. I'm finally back to the point where I can do heavy cleaning activities like running a vacuum, and the chicka-bow-ow action (y'know, the reason I needed the surgery in the first place) is quite tentative at this time. I'm limited in clothing options because there is STILL a little bit of swelling, and the nerve endings in my lower abdomen hate me if I wear jeans that fit. Leggings are OK now. Pantyhose are iffy.
I did manage to find clothes for goth clubbing Saturday, though! We went to Nocturna. It was lovely. Scary Lady Sarah is always fantastic. The lady knows how to weave a fantasy world with her musical selections. And my God, Metro is a perfectly aesthetic venue for a goth club night. And everyone was so damn gorgeous.
I especially enjoyed chatting it up with some babygoths age 18 to 22. We have THREE generations of goths now. My cockles are warmed by this.
Here's your fashion tax - don't judge too hard, OK? I'm still not at 100%.
I'll talk more about the surgery day itself and recovery in a future post. For now, it's time to bitch about insurance runaround.
Two months before the big day, I checked my insurance website and called to verify coverage. I printed out the coverage summary, wrote notes on it about my talk with the insurance rep, all that good stuff. "Birth control - Covered At 100%. Permanent birth control covered in full."
Narrator voice: This was not how things would go.
Dr. Young was booked a month out for consults. We had our nice little consult, she told me to call when I wanted to schedule, and I went on my merry way. I didn't know what my paid-time-off situation was, so I needed to figure that out. Turns out, I had several days left to burn for 2018. Fantastic! Scheduled for November 29. I'd get the surgery, take a long weekend, and go back to work December 1.
And then I got a bill for $25 for the consult. No problem, I used to work in insurance - just get the procedure and call for them to re-run the claim. Make sure they were billing with the right CPT and ICD-10 codes.
But this niggling doubt remained in the back of my head. Having worked in insurance claims at one point, I have seen way too many patients think they were covered in a certain way, only to find that their claim was denied or didn't pay out how they thought it would, or the anesthesiologist was out of network. Tens of thousands of dollars in some cases. I saw lives ruined, and I was sometimes powerless to help. I was determined that this would not happen to me.
Then, I couldn't find my paper with my notes on it. No big deal, I'll print it off again and call insurance again. Except now, the "Permanent birth control covered in full" was nowhere to be found in the coverage summary. My deductible is $500 and my out-of-pocket max is $3,000. That's a big jump from covered in full. I was not pleased. They were not going to screw me, damn it.
I called my insurance to get a quote again. The rep quoted me my deductible and co-insurance. I asked her why it was different this time. She said that yes, birth control is covered in full if done in-office. Doing the procedure in an ambulatory surgical center would be subject to the surgical benefits, not contraceptive.
I asked her what scrupulous doctor would do a laparoscopic salpingectomy, under full anesthesia, in-office. Because the answer is none, zero. Then, the lightbulb went off in my head.
Essure was done in-office. But it's off the market now, because a lot of women were having bad complications - the blockage of the Fallopian tube failed, or they suffered chronic pain, and so on. It wasn't my first choice anyway, because it takes 3 months to take effect, whereas if they just take your tubes right out, obviously that's going to fix the problem pretty damn quick. That difference in cost, though. That would have been a motivator. Especially when I was poor as fuck, but lucky enough to have insurance.
I wasn't going to just not go through with the sterilization, but um, what the shit, people? Bayer announced they were taking this stuff off the market in July. I checked my benefits and scheduled my appointments back in October. The coverage on the website was most definitely not updated until several months after Essure would have been available. Nice due diligence there, Blue Cross/Blue Shield! Good job!
On the upside, everything processed fine. Dr. Young's office charged me about $350. Without insurance, the surgical facility charges alone would have been almost $11,000. (Jesus fucking Christ and God bless insurance.) With insurance... Not much higher than a second-trimester abortion, and definitely cheaper than a baby.
Not to mention my increased quality of mental health in these recent weeks. I have so much relief. I will take the cost with all that good.
I'm at 2 weeks and 6 days after the big surgery.
My aversion to pregnancy and birth has actually gotten so bad that, last weekend, when we walked past the baby clothing section at Meijer and I got a whiff of powdery baby smell, my body rebelled. I quietly retched a couple of times and had to get the hell out of there. Clearly, getting the ol' tubes tied was the right decision. I wonder how long before that particular anxiety finally starts to die.
Y'all, surgery fucking sucks, just for the record. I only just got back to the gym on Monday, and I'm feeling particularly round and soft. I'm finally back to the point where I can do heavy cleaning activities like running a vacuum, and the chicka-bow-ow action (y'know, the reason I needed the surgery in the first place) is quite tentative at this time. I'm limited in clothing options because there is STILL a little bit of swelling, and the nerve endings in my lower abdomen hate me if I wear jeans that fit. Leggings are OK now. Pantyhose are iffy.
I did manage to find clothes for goth clubbing Saturday, though! We went to Nocturna. It was lovely. Scary Lady Sarah is always fantastic. The lady knows how to weave a fantasy world with her musical selections. And my God, Metro is a perfectly aesthetic venue for a goth club night. And everyone was so damn gorgeous.
I especially enjoyed chatting it up with some babygoths age 18 to 22. We have THREE generations of goths now. My cockles are warmed by this.
Here's your fashion tax - don't judge too hard, OK? I'm still not at 100%.
 |
| (Yes, that's a cat sticker on David's forehead LOL) Eyeball hair bows: Meijer (similar) T-shirt: United State of Indiana Halloween collection (similar) Skirt: Ragstock (similar) Tights: Walmart Halloween clearance. (similar) Boots: Wish (similar) Glasses: America's Best (similar) Faux fur backpack - Target (similar) |
I'll talk more about the surgery day itself and recovery in a future post. For now, it's time to bitch about insurance runaround.
Two months before the big day, I checked my insurance website and called to verify coverage. I printed out the coverage summary, wrote notes on it about my talk with the insurance rep, all that good stuff. "Birth control - Covered At 100%. Permanent birth control covered in full."
Narrator voice: This was not how things would go.
Dr. Young was booked a month out for consults. We had our nice little consult, she told me to call when I wanted to schedule, and I went on my merry way. I didn't know what my paid-time-off situation was, so I needed to figure that out. Turns out, I had several days left to burn for 2018. Fantastic! Scheduled for November 29. I'd get the surgery, take a long weekend, and go back to work December 1.
And then I got a bill for $25 for the consult. No problem, I used to work in insurance - just get the procedure and call for them to re-run the claim. Make sure they were billing with the right CPT and ICD-10 codes.
But this niggling doubt remained in the back of my head. Having worked in insurance claims at one point, I have seen way too many patients think they were covered in a certain way, only to find that their claim was denied or didn't pay out how they thought it would, or the anesthesiologist was out of network. Tens of thousands of dollars in some cases. I saw lives ruined, and I was sometimes powerless to help. I was determined that this would not happen to me.
Then, I couldn't find my paper with my notes on it. No big deal, I'll print it off again and call insurance again. Except now, the "Permanent birth control covered in full" was nowhere to be found in the coverage summary. My deductible is $500 and my out-of-pocket max is $3,000. That's a big jump from covered in full. I was not pleased. They were not going to screw me, damn it.
I called my insurance to get a quote again. The rep quoted me my deductible and co-insurance. I asked her why it was different this time. She said that yes, birth control is covered in full if done in-office. Doing the procedure in an ambulatory surgical center would be subject to the surgical benefits, not contraceptive.
I asked her what scrupulous doctor would do a laparoscopic salpingectomy, under full anesthesia, in-office. Because the answer is none, zero. Then, the lightbulb went off in my head.
Essure was done in-office. But it's off the market now, because a lot of women were having bad complications - the blockage of the Fallopian tube failed, or they suffered chronic pain, and so on. It wasn't my first choice anyway, because it takes 3 months to take effect, whereas if they just take your tubes right out, obviously that's going to fix the problem pretty damn quick. That difference in cost, though. That would have been a motivator. Especially when I was poor as fuck, but lucky enough to have insurance.
I wasn't going to just not go through with the sterilization, but um, what the shit, people? Bayer announced they were taking this stuff off the market in July. I checked my benefits and scheduled my appointments back in October. The coverage on the website was most definitely not updated until several months after Essure would have been available. Nice due diligence there, Blue Cross/Blue Shield! Good job!
On the upside, everything processed fine. Dr. Young's office charged me about $350. Without insurance, the surgical facility charges alone would have been almost $11,000. (Jesus fucking Christ and God bless insurance.) With insurance... Not much higher than a second-trimester abortion, and definitely cheaper than a baby.
Not to mention my increased quality of mental health in these recent weeks. I have so much relief. I will take the cost with all that good.
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