Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You failed to ask questions. You also signed a paper about consent, right to refuse treatment and obligation to pay. Next time ask more questions. It’s your fault not theirs.

Oh stop it. Our system is stupidly complicated and it’s absurd to expect OP to be able to navigate it better than the people who literally designed and benefit from the systemic dysfunction.

Oh stop it. It’s really not that hard to say “I consent only to what is covered by my insurance company I’m not paying out of pocket for it.”

Good luck with this, as the practice will tell you they are not liable for knowing what your insurance plan will and will not ultimately cover. And the insurance will jump not to cover anything they don’t have to.

+1 Our health care system is miserable. I've been trying to fight Cigna for months on bills for medication that my doctor prescribed that they won't cover without submitting a gazillion reports that will cost more to get prepared than the medication. How was I supposed to know what medicines are or aren't covered?

The problem is common and life altering STis that can silently infect women not being part of the standard test.

Men who aren’t MSM don’t tend to get HIV, so it’s not standard, but you can bet women get it. Men don’t tend to get HSV from women, so it’s also not standard.

I can’t comment on the US system, but I’d say that the “standard” tests are carefully thought out, and not for the benefit of women.

Anonymous wrote:Wish insurance made it easy for patients to check exactly what is and is not covered as a part of standard preventative care.

Your insurance doesn't make it easy but your government does - check this page for the services that must be covered (aka minimum benefits) in every plan.

https://www.healthcare.gov/coverage/preventive-care-benefits/

By the way, thank Obama for the minimum benefits package, and if you want to keep it, Vote Harris-Walz, both of whom will keep the ACA unlike Trump who has been promising to axe it and replace it with his beautiful better as yet to be disclosed health plan legislation.

Anonymous wrote:“Sure. Why not?” You really shouldn’t be getting tests you don’t need just because you think someone else is going to pay for them. If you needed it, you wouldn’t be complaining about the cost coming out of your pocket.

+1

My GYN always asks if I want an STD test done. I always decline it because I don’t need one. I don’t care if they give me a raised eyebrow or ask me if I’m sure. Yes I know and I am sure. Glad I’ve always said no because now I wonder if I would get charged for a needless test.

Wish insurance made it easy for patients to check exactly what is and is not covered as a part of standard preventative care.

Anonymous wrote:Something similar happened to me recently. Dermatologist in network sent my sample to an out of network lab = I had to pay out of pocket. In the future I could ask derm to send to an in network lab, but I doubt the practice is going to send samples to the many different locations covered by all their patients. They're going to use the lab they use.

Unless you have some
weird insurance your labs are covered at Labcorp and/or Quest. Every doctor's office sends samples to those labs, or you can ask the doctor to give you a written order and go to Labcorp or Quest and get the sample done there.

I fo not understand the fatalist vibe on this thread. You are consumers. You wouldn't walk into Target and buy a TV without asking about price and specs. I had cancer surgery last year and I made sure every doctor was in network, all the pathology was in network, asked the genetics testing how much they charged, and asked my oncologist if my hormone therapy was generic or how much would it cost.

It's not that hard (but it is time consuming), and I refuse to be embarrassed about asking about price. Doctors don't even know how much the meds they're prescribing cost until you ask. I've looked up Rx prices while the doc is writing the Rx and said - No that's too expensive, what else can you Rx.

Medicine shouldn't work this way, but it does and so I'm not going to be the financial victim while I'm sick. Doctors and insurers play the "out of network" game, so I'm gonna ask every time "are you in network" or I'm gonna change the consent form to read "in network doctors only".

Unless you come in unconscious, everyone should be asking these questions - maybe doctors will get tired enough of it to support universal health care.

I can see why you’re frustrated, but you’re making a mountain out of a molehill here. The doctor ran tests that she recommends when people opt for STD testing but that your insurance won’t pay for. No one is trying to pull one over on you.

I don’t think the doctor was doing anything nefarious. I would probably just mention it to the office that those labs were not covered by insurance and other patients might want to be aware of that. I have found that doctors usually inform me about which treatments are usually covered or not covered, and let me decide.

“Sure. Why not?” You really shouldn’t be getting tests you don’t need just because you think someone else is going to pay for them. If you needed it, you wouldn’t be complaining about the cost coming out of your pocket.