Have you ever had insurance, billing ... - Myeloma America S...
Have you ever had insurance, billing or hospitalization problems ? Let's talk about it in the comments section and through our blog post!
After two years of Zometa treatment, during which time I was extremely careful not to have any dental work done that would disturb my jaw, I had to have a partial. Even though my Zometa treatment was over, it has an extremely long "half life" in the system, so naturally I got Bisphosphonate Related Osteonecrosis of the Jaw. ... death of the jawbone which required surgery. The surgeon was not an oral surgeon -- our oral surgeon said this was "above his pay grade" in complexity. I had a EENT surgeon -- an M.D. The surgery was performed on an out-patient basis in the hospital.
Medicare said it was dental so they don't cover it; the dental insurance said it was medical and not covered. Neither one would pay. We got stuck with a $7,000 bill from the hospital. We paid a little at a time, about $1,000. My sister-in-law generously gave us $5,000 to help clear the bill in case we had to go back to the hospital for further work. The hospital wrote off the remaining $1,000.
I can't begin to tell you how many letters and phone calls and visits to the hospital billing office this all took...and the strain it placed on us.
Also, we had the sorry misconception that if we purchased a top of the line Medigap policy it would resolve a lot of this type of problem...but all Medigap policies are limited by what Medicare says is covered.
I'm so sorry to hear you had that experience! But thank you for sharing it with us.
