Medical paid by insurance?

[wtrav 34]

I will schedule a medical exam for my GC interview that’s coming soon and have insurance. Is it okay to use it to cover the cost of the medical? Somebody told me it’s illegal to do so and need to pay it myself (not to bill the insurance company) but that doesn’t make much sense to me if I am covered. Would appreciate any experience you share.

[payxibka 10,044]

5 minutes ago, wtrav said:

I will schedule a medical exam for my GC interview that’s coming soon and have insurance. Is it okay to use it to cover the cost of the medical? Somebody told me it’s illegal to do so and need to pay it myself (not to bill the insurance company) but that doesn’t make much sense to me if I am covered. Would appreciate any experience you share.

If you can get it covered then go for it 

[USS_Voyager 1,971]

12 minutes ago, wtrav said:

I will schedule a medical exam for my GC interview that’s coming soon and have insurance. Is it okay to use it to cover the cost of the medical? Somebody told me it’s illegal to do so and need to pay it myself (not to bill the insurance company) but that doesn’t make much sense to me if I am covered. Would appreciate any experience you share.

Whoever told you that is wrong. Of course you can get it covered if your insurance company covers it, and the doctor accepts your insurance (that's the other issue). 

 

What happened to me and my medical (and take this with 2 kilos of salt, because this is like 6-7 years ago) is that the closest "USCIS-approved" doctor to me did not take any insurance. He was cash only for "immigration cases". I didn't want to drive further so I paid him cash. Then I submit a claim to my insurance. They ended reimburse me for about 80-90% of it. All the vaccines should be preventative and should be covered 100% by all insurance.  

[Waboss 0]

I can give you our experience since we just went through this process a couple of months ago for my wife.

 

First, two things to note:

-Every place I called that had a Civil Surgeon available, would NOT cover the immigration medical under insurance, even if they accepted my health insurance.

-Most places had the immigration "physical" separated from the other tests (blood tests and such) and immunizations (if needed).....I think there was a reason for that now.  However, I did find a place that wrapped it all up into one fee, so I went there, which based on hindsight, was probably a mistake.

 

Now, what I have found out, with a LOT of phone calls to my health insurance provider, is that they would cover it, IF the doctor's office would provide the proper information (procedure codes, diagnosis codes, tax id, etc.) on the actual itemized receipt (of course I would have to file the claim myself to get reimbursed for what I paid the Dr's office).  Well, the Dr's office we went to would NOT do that for the immigration physical, or anything that "was a result of the requirements from it".  It doesn't matter that ALL the tests and immunizations she still needed are covered under our insurance policy.  My insurance provider even called the Dr's office directly, and they would not provide the information for them.

 

So, my take away and advice is this:

Get your medical, or the "immigration physical" part of it completed either at a separate office or on a separate visit from the tests and immunizations that they will require.  Then get the tests and/or immunizations done at any office that accepts your insurance (so they file it for you with your insurance and you don't have to pay in advance and then file the claim yourself).  Even if you have to go back and pay the fee for the physical again to get the information added in (here it was $109), it's still cheaper than paying for all the tests/immunizations.

 

Of course, if you get lucky, and find a Dr's office that will accept insurance for everything (or even part of it), then you're lucky and I would suggest going with them.

 

[wtrav 34]

On 11/6/2019 at 5:31 PM, Waboss said:

I can give you our experience since we just went through this process a couple of months ago for my wife.

 

First, two things to note:

-Every place I called that had a Civil Surgeon available, would NOT cover the immigration medical under insurance, even if they accepted my health insurance.

-Most places had the immigration "physical" separated from the other tests (blood tests and such) and immunizations (if needed).....I think there was a reason for that now.  However, I did find a place that wrapped it all up into one fee, so I went there, which based on hindsight, was probably a mistake.

 

Now, what I have found out, with a LOT of phone calls to my health insurance provider, is that they would cover it, IF the doctor's office would provide the proper information (procedure codes, diagnosis codes, tax id, etc.) on the actual itemized receipt (of course I would have to file the claim myself to get reimbursed for what I paid the Dr's office).  Well, the Dr's office we went to would NOT do that for the immigration physical, or anything that "was a result of the requirements from it".  It doesn't matter that ALL the tests and immunizations she still needed are covered under our insurance policy.  My insurance provider even called the Dr's office directly, and they would not provide the information for them.

 

So, my take away and advice is this:

Get your medical, or the "immigration physical" part of it completed either at a separate office or on a separate visit from the tests and immunizations that they will require.  Then get the tests and/or immunizations done at any office that accepts your insurance (so they file it for you with your insurance and you don't have to pay in advance and then file the claim yourself).  Even if you have to go back and pay the fee for the physical again to get the information added in (here it was $109), it's still cheaper than paying for all the tests/immunizations.

 

Of course, if you get lucky, and find a Dr's office that will accept insurance for everything (or even part of it), then you're lucky and I would suggest going with them.

 

Thanks for the input. I found a place that had a flat fee for the physical and blood work. They gave me a referral for the missing vaccines, which were covered by my insurance anyways. After I got what was needed they completed my medical on the spor. 

 

I was surprised how variable the price was. Some places asked for $2k whereas the place I visited charged $250 for everything.