To add insult to injury....

I found out today when I went to check my claims online that my obgyn's office has now charged me for each prenatal visit that I had. I was first seen on 12/26 to confirm pregnancy and paid my "one time" copay of $15 for pregnancy. I was seen again at 8 1/2 weeks on 1/18, 12 1/2 weeks on 2/15, and to discuss options on 2/21 where we scheduled the D&C. Going through insurance has been futile. They say that I should have ONE copay of $15 regardless if the pregnancy lasted 5 weeks or 40 weeks. They told me to call the billing clerk. Let's put it this way, she is not an easy person to deal with. I have had to get two referrals through her (my obgyn ok'd it) for a perinatologist and endometriosis specialist. It was like pulling teeth. I actually had to have my insurance company do a 3 way to get her to do the referrals. She kept saying I didn't need them and insurance was telling me that I did.

So I call the billing clerk. They don't count my first appt because it was for amnoreah. Whatever. I made the appt because I had about 20 positive pregnancy tests, not because I missed a period. The other two appts count as prenatal, however, she says that there is no code to charge for that. So what they do is charge you for EVERY OB APPT that you had (in my case that would be 4), so they can be paid. Now how is this fair. I already lost a baby. Now I get the additional punishment of paying out MORE money for something that was supposed to be covered??? Somehow this is not right. The billing clerk said that the minimum ob appts are 4 that are covered. So you have to be what 20 weeks along before your care is covered in full?????

I tried looking up CPT codes. However, could not find one that is for 1-3 appts. I can understand paying for the last appt as a preop because we did discuss surgery and my ob did schedule it. I think it is TOTALLY unfair to charge a woman that has just lost her baby for all ob appts (I don't really care what the billing clerk says about the first appt) when it was supposed to be covered under one fee of $15. I totally think my ob should get what he deserves. If I was supposed to pay $15 for each visit, I would. However, these are ob appts and now I get to pay an additional $45 because there is not a code. The clerk's reaction (who I now loathe more than anything in the world) is any questions???? I said no and hung up. Is it alot of money? Absolutely not. Can I afford to pay it? Absolutely. It is just the point of it. I pay my premiums for insurance. Which I can say have DOUBLED this year. My ob's office says there is not a code for the first three prenatal appts I had, I get charged for all of it. Totally unfair and a slap in the face.

I posted about it on the miscarriage board to see if others had the same problem. Most of the women except one said no, their ob's office coded it as prenatal. So I am going to talk with my ob on the 14th. It probably won't change anything, but it will make me feel better. I am just so angry that not only do you deal with the emotional and physical pain. You have to deal with this crap as well.

The good news is that I started bleeding heavier today. Which means the clots and old blood are finally breaking up in my uterus. It is just as disgusting as my ob said it would be. It hasn't been a dam bursting though. It means one more step closer ttc. I am going to try to conceive before AF. I doubt that it will work. I have to try. I feel so empty and sad. We decided that this one's name is Peyton. We don't know if it was a boy or girl. That name was one we were tossing around for both options. I don't know if my ob sent the baby to pathology. I hope he did. I did ask if he would and he kind of hedged on it. He said oh yeah. I guess I'll find out in another 2 weeks. I do know that that appt will be covered under post op global coverage. Or wait, will they try and charge for that one too?