I just switched to my pcp for d scripts. I do live in a rural area. My endo retired and a new endo came in the area. That was my only choice. I made an appointment and it was 10 months away and I needed scripts in one month. So far so good. As far as cost, I just paid 1800.00 for three months supply of pump and cgm supplies. That was my copay. If your employer pays for that, you might not be too bad off if you like the endo. No doubt it is expensive to be a type 1. Good luck.
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No idea where you live, nor which plan you’re under. But considering that you’re working for a hospital, you have a very strong platform to dispute all of these charges.
Go speak with your HR department who will then send you to your appropriate person who manages all of your medical plans.
I too work for a hospital corporation, who is big enough to own a massive insurance subsidiary, and if any of this happened to me, I could guarantee that doctor would never set foot in any hospital we own. We have about 65% of a 8M population market and expand well past that in geography.
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Thanks for the info @Aaron. It’s more useful than I’ve gotten from a handful of doctors in the last 15 years. Seriously.
Migraines suck and I’m sorry you get them. I’ve found mine are hormone and food related. Unfortunately the triptans don’t work for me (they give me an awful pins-and-needles feeling in my jaw.)
I’m glad you only get them a handful of times a year. But I hope you find why and also what works best for you and you feel well.
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Oh, I know I’m not bad off! I’m very blessed. Just irritated that this big hospital complex can charge whatever the heck they want…
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Thanks, I think I will reach out to my HR person here (who also has T1!). I’ll see what she thinks, then I’ll pay if there’s nothing else to be done.
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@allison This might be a little aggressive, but have you thought about calling your local TV news station and complaining about all the excessive charges that you get from this facility? This will shine a spotlight on the medical facility, and the fastest way to get them to change the way they do things is to shine a really bright light on the problems.
The only down side is that it puts you in the lime light. For me, I’ve had to do this a couple of times with medical billing departments to keep them from giving patients these stupid up charges. It seams that a lot of medical facilities are using these additional charges to squeeze patients for extra money.
You should also look to see if you state has any laws that prevent medical facilities from charging these extra fees.
Good luck, and please let us know if you have any luck.
No, I haven’t thought about doing that. It’s a great idea but I’m not interested in being in the spotlight, as you mentioned 
so far I’ve cancelled my next appointment and plan on going back in a year! I have no clue about the legality of it… I’m assuming they’ve covered their butts and are fine to bill like this. It IS the Believeland Cynic, after all! HA!
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To play devils advocate for a moment…and to consider the medical field in a different light…
What if it indeed costs a small fortune to hire and retain “top talent” like those employed at the Believeland Clinic? Considering that I live across the country and I’ve heard of them, they must be good. Maybe in the “the best” category?
I would assume employment as a doctor there is very competitive, and you have to have experience and research which would give you a chance to get hired there. So my next thought is: you have the best doctors and you probably see very complex cases. Your chance of being sued for malpractice probably goes up (again, this is supposition - no facts here - just guesses from the devils advocate role). Insurance premiums for malpractice insurance goes up. Then costs go up. Someone, of course is making a pile of money as profit, but maybe that’s not the only element.
Anyhow, in my mind I can see both sides.
But the problem to me is that it’s impossible to know what you’ll be billed for when you walk in the door. None of the offices we go have any idea what it costs. There is zero transparency and that’s the problem to me. You don’t go buy a car or go grocery shopping and have NO IDEA how much either experience is going to cost you. But you go to the doctor and it’s impossible to have any idea what to expect price-wise.
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You are on to something! The Clinic is good - but they are spreading thin, it seems. I have had one awesome doctor and the others have been okay. I was there as a student extern (in another department) and it’s a very stuffy environment.
From a provider’s perspective, I am an audiologist in a pediatric hospital. Once in a great while I get a parent calling to find out how much their kid’s hearing test will cost. Our prices are also outrageous (can be over $1000 for a hearing test) - but it’s partly because Medicaid reimburses so little, the prices have to be higher so we can get reimbursed a more reasonable amount that will keep us afloat. Almost 100% of the time, these appointments are covered by insurance. We do have one type of specialty test that a lot of insurances do NOT cover, so if that happens I will recommend they go elsewhere. I wouldn’t feel right if people had to pay that much out of pocket… So, it sucks that I can’t control the prices, and I can’t work for free. I wish I could. Universal healthcare please!
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Knowing the cost beforehand lets a patient make an informed decision though. At 1k/test, I might opt to go to Costco for the free one.
Ambulance companies work in the same manner. Overcharge those with insurance or means to subsidize those without. Obamacare was addressing this issue, but with recent events it’s back to the same old Insurance fraud game. We the insured pay higher rates to support those that can’t (not a serious issue for me) and those that won’t (I have to support them why?).
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I would shop around, too! They will say because we are pediatric specialists we can charge that. Oh well. I have no say in it…
This is why I wish we had universal healthcare, and then if you can/want to pay extra for things above and beyond, you could.
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If only it were that simple… because in our current system all a facility can really be expected to truly know is the list price… not necessarily the extremely complex contracted price with dozens of different insurance networks. Patients copay, deductible, out of pocket max arrangements for not only the patient but every individual on their plan, specific terms if the patients insurance policy, assistance programs etc… once again it boils down to the “price” not reflecting what anyone actually gets paid, or spends, so the name of the game is to raise the “price” indefinitely
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Sure sounds like an argument for single-payer.
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You bet… I sure wish that is how it worked…
Hi if you just need prescriptions from your Endocrinologist there is one thing you can do. Ask for physical copy of your insulin prescription from your doctor. Then fax it to a pharmacy in Canada
I recommend Marks Marine Pharmacy. The cost of insulin in Canada is about 50 dollars a vial for humalog and Lantus. The Canadian pharmacy doesn’t require you to update your prescription. Just fax one and they will keep giving you refills. It is a good backup plan in case you loose insurance and can’t afford a doctor visit.
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