A Word About Insurance

This is just something to consider for your upcoming surgery. I have Blue Cross Blue Shield. My insurance requires "pre-authorization" or "pre-certification" (I've heard it called both) before hospitalization or surgery. My advice for you is to DOUBLE CHECK with both your insurance company and your doctor's office for this pre-authorization and get a confirmation number. Your doctor's office should have a "pre-certification nurse" who deals with all pre-certifications/authorizations.

I say double check b/c with my surgery fast approaching, it's a damn good thing I did! On Tuesday, (5/9/06) I was told that I was all approved and all set up. I asked for a confirmation number and I asked to go over the details just to make sure everything was all set up. I was all set up for 5/11/06. My surgery is on 6/1/06. That's not good. The nurse was a bit surprised too. She sent through the paperwork to correct the dates. On Saturday, I checked with my insurance company. My hospital stay was pre-approved for 6/1/06 - 6/4/06 (only 3 days) and my surgery was approved for 5/11/06. Obviously, this won't work either. So, after contacting my insurance company, everything is now corrected. I am still waiting for confirmation of that, but hopefully, I'll get that next week.

So, heads up. Odds are no one would've caught this error until I checked into the hospital, and that is soooooo not the time to have to worry about insurance.

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