How to Insurance and Doctors

First the story

At his 36 week ultrasound, Michael had a kidney at 7cm which was resolved and the other at 10.2cm which was slightly larger but still mild. It indicated a narrowing of the tube from the kidney to the bladder and we were told we needed to see a Nephrologist for more information. 

At 4 months old I do. Firstly, the co pay for a specialist costs more money. in our case, twice as much. 

Secondly, we had to go this appointment to schedule the appointment to get the ultrasound. Yes, they tested his urine and blood pressure, but it was still one of those things where we had to do an appt to get an appt. 

Dealing with Insurance 

At the hospital for the utlrasound, they said it would cost 1800 dollars, then after adjustments 500, then after deductible 423. I've learned from the past, you never pay all. Always pay the minimum allowable, which in our case is half the responsibility at 212. We learned this from my thyroid biopsy, when we paid them, and the insurance company paid them, and the hospital had both payments for several months and many phone calls before we got our money back. 

Getting Results

Always ask the tech what the results/ readings/ numbers are. You will get an answer right away instead of having to wait a whole week for them to call you. and then if you want the actually results on paper it's a real bureaucratic run around and takes awhile. 

Then when we received the phone call that all results were normal, the nurse kept us scheduled for a follow up. Always ask, what is the medical reason. the reason was just normal checkups. No I said, we have a regular pediatrician for that. I canceled the appointment. Otherwise we could be doing followups forever. 

I don't want follow ups for no reason.