Free Birth Control; Children Up to 26; Pre-Existing Conditions; Free Mammograms, etc. If these matter to you...

[historically accurate]

Some doctors are a huge pain and there is really no way to qualify for a free yearly physical. Our plan allows for a free physical, but I had a doctor that would code the thing differently if you opened your mouth about anything. You have seasonal allergies, here is a prescription, no free physical for you. He also insisted on seeing my teenaged daughter every three months for her Ritalin renewal instead of onc or twice a year. And he insisted on coding for a high level psych eval instead of a meds renewal check even though it amounted to, "Are you still doing ok on these? How do you find friends when you're homeschooling? What does it feel like when you don't take your meds?" That's pretty much it.

 

So a gray area, but when I explained that BCBS had kicked out the last two bills because they cover mental health codes differently (preauthorizations, etc), he refused to code it with a medical code that would be covered. I got the feeling I was being milked for cash.

That's horrible. I know that I have been very lucky with a doctor for the last 20 years who would let me bring up anything (& sometimes sneak in other children with the same symptoms). I'm very, very sad he's retiring this year. The new PA they're replacing him with wouldn't let us get flu shots because only 2 kids had appointments, and those appointments weren't for vaccinations. I have the feeling my sneaking in other kids days are over.

[historically accurate]

More should do that. 

 

 

 

nm

Edited January 16, 2017 by beckyjo

[Barb_]

Oh yeah some are like this. We fought one doctor on him billing for an office visit on top of a physical visit. He charged for an office visit on top of it because during the physical he said to my husband, "Do you have any health concerns?" And my husband said he has a lot of heartburn. To which the doctor said stop drinking soda (my husband rarely drinks soda). That was literally it. We did "win" when we challenged it.

I didn't, lol The doc refused to speak with me, so his medical assistant told me he was going to leave the psych code because it was level two. The meds appointment would be level one. I said, "are you kidding me? We were in and out in under ten minutes including height, weight and blood pressure? How is that worth $200 out of my pocket every three months?" But they refused to budge. I got the feeling he was ticked off at the insurance companies or something or maybe the new icd-10 coding process, who knows--and was taking it out on his patients. When we started seeing him he was a wonderful, empathetic, thorough doctor. A couple of years later he began to seems bitter and less friendly. Not sure what happened.

[SparklyUnicorn]

I didn't, lol The doc refused to speak with me, so his medical assistant told me he was going to leave the psych code because it was level two. The meds appointment would be level one. I said, "are you kidding me? We were in and out in under ten minutes including height, weight and blood pressure? How is that worth $200 out of my pocket every three months?" But they refused to budge. I got the feeling he was ticked off at the insurance companies or something or maybe the new icd-10 coding process, who knows--and was taking it out on his patients. When we started seeing him he was a wonderful, empathetic, thorough doctor. A couple of years later he began to seems bitter and less friendly. Not sure what happened.

 

This is bull.