Jayrod
Footballguy
Dear friends of the FFA, I have a situation I would welcome any and all advice on.
My son is 17 and a handsome young lad. He's grown to 6'2" and is athletic. However, he has a large lump behind his right ear over the bone that sits there that protrudes. It is unsightly and though not as big as a ping pong ball, it is noticeable and he is embarrassed about it, choosing to let his hair grow out to cover it.
So we have told him we are going to have it removed. We go to his doctor who recommends an ENT specialist. We go to the doctor who looks at him for a grand total of like 3 minutes, says it is a lipoma and it is a simple surgery to remove it. The plan is to do general anesthesia and the whole process is supposed to take around 4-5 hours and was scheduled for this coming Monday.
Then today I get a call from the surgery center asking me how I would like to pay to cover our $9,000 bill. The total bill is over $28K and the insurance will cover over $19K leaving us with just over $9K. We do have a high deductible plan and I have an HSA, but it doesn't have that much in it...more like $1,500.
I said, uhhh.....we won't be paying that today and can I please get an itemized bill for that? She says she can provide that AFTER the surgery and that this is all just an estimate.
What in the heck should I do here? On the one hand I really want to do this for my son before his senior year. On the other hand, I don't even want to pay this bill or have it done just on the princpal of the matter. How in the world have we gotten here where it costs as much as a good used car to have a small outpatient surgery done? I can imagine I can work out the payment situation, but this is a big ole' gut punch I wasn't expecting. I was thinking we would have to shell out maybe $2-4K, but $9K just feels outrageous.
Any advice on ways to do this cheaper, better, negotiate, pull a John Q or whatever is welcome.
My son is 17 and a handsome young lad. He's grown to 6'2" and is athletic. However, he has a large lump behind his right ear over the bone that sits there that protrudes. It is unsightly and though not as big as a ping pong ball, it is noticeable and he is embarrassed about it, choosing to let his hair grow out to cover it.
So we have told him we are going to have it removed. We go to his doctor who recommends an ENT specialist. We go to the doctor who looks at him for a grand total of like 3 minutes, says it is a lipoma and it is a simple surgery to remove it. The plan is to do general anesthesia and the whole process is supposed to take around 4-5 hours and was scheduled for this coming Monday.
Then today I get a call from the surgery center asking me how I would like to pay to cover our $9,000 bill. The total bill is over $28K and the insurance will cover over $19K leaving us with just over $9K. We do have a high deductible plan and I have an HSA, but it doesn't have that much in it...more like $1,500.
I said, uhhh.....we won't be paying that today and can I please get an itemized bill for that? She says she can provide that AFTER the surgery and that this is all just an estimate.
What in the heck should I do here? On the one hand I really want to do this for my son before his senior year. On the other hand, I don't even want to pay this bill or have it done just on the princpal of the matter. How in the world have we gotten here where it costs as much as a good used car to have a small outpatient surgery done? I can imagine I can work out the payment situation, but this is a big ole' gut punch I wasn't expecting. I was thinking we would have to shell out maybe $2-4K, but $9K just feels outrageous.
Any advice on ways to do this cheaper, better, negotiate, pull a John Q or whatever is welcome.