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My wife took my kids to a Clinic for their flu shots (No, I didn’t go and get mine, and that makes me far less of a person than those of you who did). Flu shots fall under “well care” on our plan, so there is no charge.

But then I got a bill from the clinic, an in-store deal – very convenient (I know, I should have gone too, stop already). The bill must be a glitch I told myself. I decided to wait and see if they figured it out rather than spend time on the phone with them and with my insurer. Then I got a statement for the bill again. Odd, I thought.

And then, I got a nice letter from Insurer asking me to confirm if I had another insurance plan. I procrastinated, was moving residences, etc. and did not answer that letter. I did not make the connection.

Doing something else entirely, I logged in to the online view of my insurance account (which I must say is a weak “silo” view of the information my insurer has). They only had two claims for the past year. That was wrong, I knew. Hmmm. Must’ve logged into the account for our previous policy (still active 2 years after moving off of that plan – can you say “we never update”). Yup. Logged out and logged in with the other username/password combo and suddenly, there are my claims for the year on my current plan.

Only then does it dawn on me. The clinic submitted the claim on the old insurance and did not confirm new insurance, or if they did, they simply accepted that my insurance info was current with them. My previous plan and this plan were with the same Insurer, so it’s an honest mistake.

So now my Insurer has denied the claim on my old insurance plan. The clinic wants their money because the Insurer denied it. Now I’ve got to go and straighten out both of them because my insurer who had BOTH policies is not able to do a simple lookup on my SSN and determine yes, I do have another policy AND LO AND BEHOLD IT’S WITH THEM!! Who’d a thunk since they only have 65% of the entire health insurance business in the state.

It’s only $60 bucks – 2 flu shots at $30 each, but it’s my $60. It’s money they planned on spending in the plan, so it’s paid in. Most folks would have simply assumed that the shots weren’t actually covered and paid the $60.

Thankfully, I called the Clinic’s 1-866 number, and Mona was very helpful and walked through things with me and resubmitted the claims.

Don’t put too much faith in your Insurer.

You can view Robert’s segment with Meryll Rose below!

Great job Robert… we look forward to seeing you on TV again soon!

Why change:healthcare Does What It Does:

The business end of things…My doc will bill my insurer somewhere around $6,124. However, the allowed amount with my insurer is $2,904. Per the FANTASTIC staff at Dr. Bonau’s office, “double check with [insurer] to be sure and I don’t even know if they will tell you an exact number but you can try… The procedure codes are 36478/36479″

They also pointed me to the insurer’s financial counselor complete with the phone number.

Had I been uninsured, the amount would have been $6,124. On a different insurance, the cost would most assuredly been something OTHER THAN $2,904. And had my surgery not been Medically Necessary, and I had simply done self-pay without submitting a claim, I may have been expected to pay $6,124. Keep your eye on the peanut, now which shell is it under?

change:healthcare helps people sort through all of that.

My Status:

I’m doing well. 48 hours out of surgery the wrap is off, I have to wear a support sleeve on the leg, but I got on my bicycle on the stand in my home office. Rode for an hour at a moderate pace on an easy gear. Felt great to move again. Doing well.

So well in fact that I failed to take the prescribed ibuprofen today (day 2 post surgery). Should have taken some on waking up at 6 AM. After lunch, I started to feel it a bit, and finally got the anti-inflammatory into my system at around 2PM (Kids, do NOT try this at home).

The Procedure:

The procedure I had is called laser ablation or a phlebectomy. It beats the living crap out of the other option which is the traditional vein stripping I had done 25 years ago (I describe the traditional method below).

With laser ablation, they do a local anesthesia and then they insert a catheter into the leg near the vein. they run a fiber optic cable into the vein and use a laser to cauterize the vein closed. I literally stood up from the procedure and walked out the door. The other method would have left me bed ridden for several days and as much as 6 weeks from any significant physical activity (Boooooooooo).

The degree of discomfort during the procedure was less than that of getting some ink. Post-op, the discomfort is minimal and far less than the discomfort that I used to live with on a day to day basis. I did not realize how much pain I was living with day in and day out.

History:

I have a long-running history of varicose veins. My first surgery was at age 16 on both legs. Had a second surgery at 18 on the right leg. That would have been 1983-85 time frame. There was no ultrasound in those days to see what was going on inside, so they did what they thought was best, but in fact it turned out to create future problems. So here I am today some 25 years later dealing with it again.

I went to Doctor N., Head of Vascular Surgery at a large academic hospital which shall remain nameless. I told him the procedure I wanted – laser ablation. He told me the veins were not big enough and that the method would be the traditional vein stripping.

In vein stripping, they put you under general anesthesia and make numerous small (1-2 inch) incisions all down your legs, tie off the veins at those spots, cut them and pull them out. Bad news. Long recovery times (6 weeks) and severe bruising of the legs all along the path of the veins. That’s what Doc N. wanted to do to me. I declined.

A good friend of mine I ride bikes with had the same condition and recommended Dr. Bonau instead. My buddy told me that he did not realize how much pain he was living with until after surgery. Pre and post, the relief is hard to believe. I am ever so grateful to my fellow cyclist.

Alrighty now. Get ready for live tweets from surgery. Getting laser ablation on my legs this am.

Got some great paper shorts. Then they french cut them up the side. Gr8!

Pre-op ultrasound.

I’ve got 10mg valium just in case I get nervous. So far no drugs.

Betadine on the legs. Damn this room is cold.

Ah, the joys of medicine. All dignity is sacrificed

Enter the rockstar…erm…doc

Oh crap. The ultrasound is running thru a laptop running windows platform.

To clarify. Having laser ablation to remove varicose veins.

First stick. Little bit o lidocaine. No biggee. Laser in.

2 lasers in top part of left leg. Little bit of sting not bad. Getting a tattoo is worse.

Doc explaining procedure and pointing out what’s going on on the screen.

Looking at ultrasound, doc says,”That’s the sheath and this is the laser” blown up to several times actual size this looks painful. But its not.

Lydocain and sodium bi-carb going in around site for laser. Provides better contact and numbs. Extreme laser heat next.

Head down to make vein smaller. First shot of laser stings a bit. Getting more numbing med.

Getting a bit of a burning taste in the back of my throat. Normal perdoc. No pain now from laser.

2 veins down. 2 to go. 1 lower left leg. 1 lower right leg. Top left leg done.

FYI there will not be pix of this one. Will bring cam next time. Back of the legs in a couple of weeks.

“Lower leg harder to anethesize” yeah thanks doc. Noticing that.

And lasering the lower left. Much quicker set up.

Dr. Bonau rocks! Gr8 sense of humor about all of this. He’s not sure what twitter is but he’s indulging me.

Feels like a bad windows program – searching…searching…searching. Looking for something on left leg. Left is all in back so will get it in 2 weeks. Done.

Now its time for cleanup. Wiping down the betadine from my freshly shaved legs. Maybe I’ll b faster on the bike now.

@bobcoffield @matt_mueller @georgesibble and others. Thanks for all of the support. @caparks. Thanks for the ride.

Leg wrapped tight. Stays bandaged for 48 hrs. No bath. Hmmmm.

Kroger pharmacy – healthcare consumer shout of the day! They have $4 generics but 3x 10mg valium generic only $2.63.

@jenmccabegorman I’m sure its even cheaper in the netherlands.

@bobcoffield had this done at ages 16 and 18. Now at 41. Have watched options evolve. Laser ablation is best imho.

@georgesibble Yep. Normal routine. Movement is good for circulation in lower leg. No heavy lifting. Ibuprofen o’ plenty.

Transparency: Dr. Bonau has performed this surgery 2500 times. 2 cases w complications. Both successfully resolved.

The PDF of “My Healthcare Is Killing Me Teaches Consumers Smart Healthcare Tips” can be downloaded here.

(Click on the story title in green to view the video!)

As a result, we’ve seen a bit of spike in traffic (and a small amount of smoke issuing from the back of the servers). They also featured our recent book, and we’re getting loads of folks downloading the free PDF version of My Healthcare Is Killing Me.

It’s a wonderful compliment, and let’s be sure the credit goes where it is due. We have a great team that supports change:healthcare. THEY make it happen, while CP and I get the handshakes and backslaps that they all deserve (we’re supposed to just look good, so if you’ve seen the book cover, you know we’re not holding up our end of the deal very well).  And a special shout out to our PR Director, Frank Limpus whose own personal PR is some of the most understated you’ll ever see.

1. Discount Dental Care

2. Cheaper Contact Lenses

3. Discount Drugs

4. Lower Hospital Bills

5. Even Lower Hospital Bills – “Whether your bill is big or small, it pays to negotiate, negotiate, negotiate with doctors and hospitals. Click here for a free PDF version of the new book “My Healthcare is Killing Me,” which offers tips on negotiating as well as other hints on saving money on health expenses.”

6. A Great Tax Deduction – www.changehealthcare.com can help you “keep track of your expenses, and when they get big enough, the site automatically gives you a report ready for submission to the IRS.”

Download a PDF of the CNN article.