Confused..need advice. Re: Hospital Bill

[TatTot 7]

Hello everyone! I need advice on my situation...

I am the beneficiary, came here Feb of this year as K1, scheduled to get married april 19th...april 13th I had a surgery for the removal of my appendix then was able to recover for 6 days for our wedding. I was not on my husband's insurance yet that time but I was enrolled right after marriage. The bill came recently and it came out close to $25,000 which is pretty big for me and my husband since I am not working yet. I got my working permit approved this August, still looking for a job and my AOS got approved this past monday. My husband called Kaiser and explained our situation and if it's possible to lower down the bill since I am now on his insurance under kaiser as well. The customer service told us we could apply for financial support on kaiser and it is possible to waive all the bill or cut it to a certain percentage since it was my first major operation and I am now a Kaiser member. They sent us a financial support form and it is directly from Kaiser Permanente as labeled. Now my question is, am I allowed to do that? Am I allowed to ask for that kind of financial support? I am truly confused on what to do right now since I realized how hard life is here if there's only one of you who works. Thank you so much and have a great day!!!

Leoni

[Shiobhan 235]

Cant give exact answer about Kaiser, but I know you can apply to

hospital you had surgery for reduction and payment plans

[LuImee 0]

Hi TatTot! I would suggest you fill out the forms that Kaiser sent out to you. You will be informed whether or not you are qualified for a financial support but you'll never know until you get those papers sent out to them. You are now a member, they would rather have you than loose you and Kaiser is pretty good at helping out their members in dire straits. Try it first and worry less. You wouldn't want to go back to the hospital, right? Stress wouldn't do you any good. God bless!

[dwinge 34]

You should be fine, "Medicaid and other health insurance and health services (including public assistance for immunizations and for testing and treatment of symptoms of communicable diseases, use of health clinics, short-term rehabilitation services, prenatal care and emergency medical services) other than support for long-term institutional care" Is not considered a public charge.

Link: http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f35e66f614176543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=775d23cbea6bf210VgnVCM100000082ca60aRCRD&vgnextchannel=8a2f6d26d17df110VgnVCM1000004718190aRCRD

[NickD 203]

Just for comparison purposes, if that hospital accepts Medicare patients, they would only receive $2,000.00 for an appendicitis.

A study done at a group of California hospitals showed this surgery can run anywhere from $1,500.00 to over $187,000.00, just depends on which hospital you select. But is an emergency type of surgery, so you really cannot shop around.

Did have time to shop around for that I-693 USCIS health form from USCIS approved doctors, like a couple of hours. Received quotes from anywhere around $700 to over $5,500.00 per person. Would try to negotiate this price for your surgery, but I feel they should be happy with what Medicare pays They still can make a nice profit with this amount.

[TatTot 7]

You should be fine, "Medicaid and other health insurance and health services (including public assistance for immunizations and for testing and treatment of symptoms of communicable diseases, use of health clinics, short-term rehabilitation services, prenatal care and emergency medical services) other than support for long-term institutional care" Is not considered a public charge.

Link: http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f35e66f614176543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=775d23cbea6bf210VgnVCM100000082ca60aRCRD&vgnextchannel=8a2f6d26d17df110VgnVCM1000004718190aRCRD

Thank you so much for your very helpful input! Now I'm relieved..

Hi TatTot! I would suggest you fill out the forms that Kaiser sent out to you. You will be informed whether or not you are qualified for a financial support but you'll never know until you get those papers sent out to them. You are now a member, they would rather have you than loose you and Kaiser is pretty good at helping out their members in dire straits. Try it first and worry less. You wouldn't want to go back to the hospital, right? Stress wouldn't do you any good. God bless!

Thank you Lulmee! Yes, filled out the forms and will mail it on Tuesday.. I got relieved...and true, Kaiser is really good. #saynotostress God bless!

Cant give exact answer about Kaiser, but I know you can apply to

hospital you had surgery for reduction and payment plans

Thanks Jihana! Will do that

[TatTot 7]

Just for comparison purposes, if that hospital accepts Medicare patients, they would only receive $2,000.00 for an appendicitis.

A study done at a group of California hospitals showed this surgery can run anywhere from $1,500.00 to over $187,000.00, just depends on which hospital you select. But is an emergency type of surgery, so you really cannot shop around.

Did have time to shop around for that I-693 USCIS health form from USCIS approved doctors, like a couple of hours. Received quotes from anywhere around $700 to over $5,500.00 per person. Would try to negotiate this price for your surgery, but I feel they should be happy with what Medicare pays They still can make a nice profit with this amount.

Thank you for your response! We are trying our luck for whatever discount they can give...whatever it is, we'll take it. Then we will go from there to negotiate for a payment plan. Hopefully we can get a good deal since it's just my husband who's working for now.

[NickD 203]

Thank you for your response! We are trying our luck for whatever discount they can give...whatever it is, we'll take it. Then we will go from there to negotiate for a payment plan. Hopefully we can get a good deal since it's just my husband who's working for now.

My wife use to work at patient assistance at our local hospital and helped many people in your situation, can try that at your hospital. Last thing you want to do is to ignore that bill and have it turned over to a collection agency.