31 May, 2021 → by ClaimboUser479060
Coding for a procedure
1
I had to have a cystoscopy because the doctor found blood in my urine on two consecutive tests. My primary doctor sent me to a urologist who sent me for a CT scan and scheduled me for the cystoscopy. He explained to me that it was a simple procedure where they go up through the urethra into the bladder with a camera. You are wide awake no anesthesia possibly a local in the area but that was all. I pay $170 a month for my health insurance. When I arrived at the doctors office for this procedure I was charged a $40 co-pay. That led me to believe that that was my responsibility for this procedure. I then received a statement from federal Blue Cross Blue Shield advising me of what they paid. Their portion of the bill was $79.87. That's it! that's all they paid out of over $400. My responsibility is the $170 I pay for this insurance monthly plus the $40 co-pay plus another bill of a $110 making my total contribution $320 Blue Cross Blue Shield paid less than $80. When I called the billing department about the bill they sent me I was told it's because of the coding that is set by the American medical Association. They have this procedure coded as a SURGERY!! This procedure is no more than a Pap smear done in a regular doctors office with no anesthesia no utensils other than the camera no knives no cutting no incisions nothing that even remotely resembles a surgery!!! And I am FURIOUS! This is nothing more than an attempt to blatantly rip off the American people. THERE IS ZERO JUSTIFICATION FOR CONSIDERING THIS SIMPLE PROCEDURE A SURGERY!! This coding needs to be changed and it needs to be changed now, yesterday, immediately!! I am not paying this bill you people can pay this bill the American medical Association can pay this bill because I'm not. How do you even consider it remotely fair that I would pay three times more than the insurance that I pay for every single month? The AMA is nothing but another government organization that takes advantage of poor people. Who gives the AMA the authority to make these decisions clearly the money isn't coming out of their pocket! I am a senior citizen on a fixed income and I do not have the money to spend $170 a month for an insurance policy and then get hit with a bill for an extremely simple procedure that's three times as much as the insurance covers. the American medical Association is a disgrace to this nation and this authority needs to be taken away from them!! They are not suited to make these decisions. Please I want someone to justify to me how you consider this even remotely close to a surgery because it there is not one single thing about this procedure that you could remotely say resembles a surgery. This is nothing more than robbery!! Entire government should be ashamed of themselves you do not care about the American people you only care about stuffing your own disgustingly greedy pockets. And you think the American people are stupid trust me we're not we can see what Obamacare did to our healthcare we can see that Obama care was nothing more than a way to get the working people to pay for every single person who doesn't work and I am sick to death of it! I worked my entire life and I can't enjoy retirement because I can't afford the [censored]ing medical bills!! Change the coding on all and every single medical procedure that you are trying to rip off the American people with. If it's not done in a place that does surgery if it doesn't require anesthesia if there are no knives no cutting no stitches involved it's not a [censored]ing surgery!!! FIX IT!