First and foremost, my insurance is through my father. He is a full-time firefighter, has been for 20+ years. For those of you who don't know this, firefighting is not exactly a lucrative industry. You don't get into is for the paycheck. My dad has been saving people's lives for twenty years at his full-time department, as well as working two other jobs on top of it. He makes $16 an hour,and our insurance is OUTRAGEOUSLY priced. The entire department has gone without a pay raise for five years, yet the cost of insurance has increased 30% in the past two years.
I have had a slew of crappy health the past few years. First was a blown disc in my back for which I had to attend twice-weekly physical therapy sessions. I ultimately opted to have surgery to have the discs shaved down, because I was in so much physical pain (even after attempting the therapy, massage therapy, and cortisone shots) that I didn't know what to do anymore. Surgery was in January of 2011. I received a bill for $35,000 in the mail a few short weeks later. My insurance refused to pay a dime. A single &%(&ing dime. Commence a flurry of phone calls between the insurance company and I, the insurance company and my dad, and a LOT of swearing. (It's an inherited thing, I suppose :]) They finally decided to pay their portion in May. Five months later. After the hospital had already sent me to collections, despite me calling four times to explain the situation.
Enter Narcolepsy. I had my sleep study done in November. Granted, this isn't the first sleep study I have had done, I had another in December of 2010. The one I had most recently was prescribed by a sleep specialist, who strongly suspected Narcolepsy, but wanted to confirm his diagnosis. I was diagnosed in December, got my Nuvigil, and have been happily trying to figure out all this Narcolepsy business all alone (and with you all :])
I go downstairs today to find a bill from my insurance company for over $7,500. Because apparently I needed a pre-certification? Although I didn't need a pre-cert for my last test, and it was covered in full. (Same insurance, same company, everything.) Even though their rates increased dramatically? I asked my dad about it and he said that he hasn't received any information about benefits changing, and if they were, they should be increasing, not decreasing, due to the affordable care act.
I can't forget to mention the cute little note about how I can make convenient monthly payments of ONLY $351!! Well guess what, I work in fast food. I have other bills. I am paying for a college education. I have to pay $40 a month for the medication that allows me to work, which allows me to pay for the college education. I am on a tight budget, the economy sucks, I don't have $351 mothereffing extra dollars a month!!
So here is my question for all you beautiful people:
Do I fight this? Do I make them pay up? What experiences do you have with it?
I need advice please
