Unexpected bills

This week has been an interesting one for our little household.

The husband woke me up at 3 in the morning on Wednesday in severe pain. He needed to go to the hospital for possible kidney stones. We got 1/2 way there and the pain went away. So we went home (no point in going to the ER without any pain). At around 5 am he woke again with the pain this time they did not go away only got much worse. So off to the ER we went. 4 hours later we still didn't have an answer as to if it was or wasn't Kidney Stones. The husband has had K.S. before and all the pain and symptoms were the same so they just said it was probably kidney stones. They prescribed him some Percocet and Flomax and sent us on our way.

Today he still has mild pain and nauseau so we don't know if the stone has passed or not. He didn't recieve a strainer to try to catch the stone if it did pass and they didn't do a CT or Ultrasound to see if they could find the actual stone. So at this point we have no idea. So he now has an appointment with the Urologist and hopefully we can get some answers.

The worst part of this whole drama is the insurance company. Because we had to go to the hospial so early and I wasn't thinking clearly. We went to the closest hospital to our house. A friend/neighbor/and co-worker of the husband had gone to the same hospital mabye a year ago so we assumed we were covered. Assumed being the keyword. Today while making the Urologist appt the receptionist broke the news to us that the hosptial we went to WAS NOT IN OUR NETWORK! Fun for us! So upon calling our Insurance provided and verifing that we were in fact out of network for an 4 hour ER visit and would now have to pay $800 co-pay and 50% of the remaining bill. It sucks! I hate insurance companies. They aren't nice. I've never really dealt with insurance. Yes we've gone to the doctor numerous times. But we get a bill and we pay it. End of story. I've always found our doctors on their website so up until this point we've never had a problem. We've never had to go to the ER at 5 in the morning.

My mom is also freaking me out because she keeps asking questions about our insurance company and what they do and do not cover for materinity. So while finding out that we weren't covered at the ER we went to I also tried to get questions answered about what and how we are covered. This is my first pregnancy and I don't know what we need to do with insurance before we have the baby. I've heard horror stories about having to call the insurance company when I go into labor to make sure the contractions are far enough along for admittance and being told to wait only to have the child at home or in the car (okay this may have been in a movie or something but I have a very active imagination). I want our labor day to go perfect. My mom also asked how long the insurance will allow me to stay in the hospital. And what hospital is better covered in our plan.

All these questions could not be answered by our insurance company. All she told me was when I go into labor the hospital will have to verify all these things. I could not. It's very frustrating and when I told her that this was my first time she said "What having Insurance?" Which I thought very inconsiderate of her! I'm trying to be a responsible person and having things preapproved or prequalified or whatever before we actually have the baby and she's just being mean! I'm not a fan of the insurance companies. GRRR!