Donor's insurance was billed? Is that right?

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spankey
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Donor's insurance was billed? Is that right?

Postby spankey » Sat Mar 19, 2016 8:02 am

Good morning. I am new here and am looking for some advice on anyone else that might have ran into this senario?

A little background. My mother in law has been for about 4 years, suffering from Bone marrow cancer. She's doing great on that. almost in remission. However she ended up coming down with Cdiff. After much antibiotic treatments that failed. They opted to do the fecal transplant. They selected my wife (obviously her daughter) to be the donor.

The transplant so far seems to be working.

My issue of concern or real question is. When the hospital was doing the testing and screening on my wife they billed "MY" insurance? Is this normal? Doesn't seem right or fair? Why would our insurance pay for a procedure a doctor ordered and a donor transplant at that? Wouldn't my mother in law's insurance pay for the screening and such?

Anyone else run into this and if so, did you argue it, was it correct? Not trying to be stingy, or negative. My wife does NOT remember them saying anything to her about our insurance being billed, however I'm sure she signed some forms with micro fine print stating it could be. Ugh......Just seems like they were very sheepish about coming out and saying, all this screening and such will be billed to YOUR insurance which would have raised a flag for her to question them or the doctor.

Again, just curious what the policy is around donor's and such? Doesn't seem very fair. Imagine what a Kidney or bone marrow transplant would cost....Not good.
Sadly many of us today live with not so great healthcare coverage and have deductibles to meet. This was quite a surprise to me they did this. Again, novice so not sure on if this is common practice or not.

Thanks
Spankey

Lisa33
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Re: Donor's insurance was billed? Is that right?

Postby Lisa33 » Sat Mar 19, 2016 9:21 am

STANDARD INTRODUCTION:
Welcome to the site. Read the first forum “All Users Read This First” and subtopics “Site History” and “Information and Guidelines for Posting to our Discussion Boards.” (Note limits on posting.) This will guide you in using the site and answer some of your questions. Read Dr. Borody's articles. Also see the topics under “CDI” – particularly Recent CDC Report, C. diff. Bible, Tests, Antibiotics, Hygiene, and Nutrition.
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Help us make others aware of C. difficle – which will lead to further advances in treating and/or preventing the infection. If antibiotics contributed to your C. diff, be careful about taking them. Some people tolerate them; some develop C. diff again. Don’t take medications for C. diff. unless you are tested.
For more information, see other support groups including http://www.peggyfoundation.org, Clostridium Difficile Infection (CDI) Support Group, FMT Discussion, Fecal Transplant Foundation, C Diff Foundation, and the UK Support Site. There is also information on some of the better medical sites like Mayo's, Medscape, and WebMD, and the CDC website. Don't use "Dr. Google" to diagnose yourself.
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Hi Spankey - This is the official welcome letter. So sorry that your mother in law has had to endure cancer and c-diff on top of it. I was lucky that I didn't get to the point of needing an FMT, so I don't know how the insurance works. The best thing to do is call your insurance company and probably your mother in law's insurance company and question them and voice your concerns. Maybe the billing was done incorrectly.

NanciT
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Re: Donor's insurance was billed? Is that right?

Postby NanciT » Sat Mar 19, 2016 8:53 pm

It is typical to bill the patient who has the testing done, even if it is to clear them to be a donor. The lab work done was on your wife to make sure she didnt have anything that could be passed on.

My husband was screened and it went through insurance, he is the patient and it was billed that way.

Very happy you mother in law is doing so well!
NanciT

beth22
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Re: Donor's insurance was billed? Is that right?

Postby beth22 » Sun Mar 20, 2016 1:27 am

My donor was my daughter and her insurance was billed because they tested her stool, not mine and tested her blood, not mine. If you call your insurance company and tell them that your wife was a donor, they may not cover it at all. If they think the stool tests were just to check for some pathogens because your wife was having symptoms, they will cover it, although it might go toward your deductible. The only thing you might do is ask your MIL to pay for the charges. I paid for what my daughter's insurance did not cover.

spankey
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Joined: Sat Mar 19, 2016 7:54 am

Re: Donor's insurance was billed? Is that right?

Postby spankey » Sun Mar 20, 2016 5:28 am

Thanks everyone! I'm not in any way trying to sound greedy, just caught me off guard! I mean let's face it, not many people today have the great insurance of many many years ago. Many do have high deductibles and something like this can surprise them. I can only imagine a kidney donation, yikes! I'm just glad she was a match.

It's satisfied my curiosity! Lol

Again thank u all and I look forward to reading up on as much as I can here about the condition.

Have a great day ;)

NanciT
Long Time Contributor
Posts: 3035
Joined: Thu Sep 18, 2014 12:01 pm

Re: Donor's insurance was billed? Is that right?

Postby NanciT » Tue Mar 22, 2016 10:48 pm

Spankey,
Lab can be very expensive and the MD or nurse who handed your wife the lab slip should have explained the insurance situation.
I am in healthcare and even my GI explained to my Husband that we would be charged and if insurance refused we may end up with the total cost.
Just think of the amazing thing your wife did for her mother...priceless!
NanciT


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