Headaches and Hassles

I got a bill from the hospital in the mail on Saturday for over $17,000.00 for Holland's stay in the NICU, A YEAR AND A HALF AGO!!!!! This is out of the clear blue sky. I checked on it today, and it seems that our insurance company did an audit. They took back the total amount paid, then repaid all except for $16,000 which is now supposedly our responsibility. I sat down and cried when I opened it. Not because I think that we are actually going to have to pay it, but because it is another extreme hassle that we now have to deal with. I seriously don't have time for crap like this. Dealing with hospitals and insurance companies is extrememly stressful. One hand never seems to know what the other is doing. You get different people, with different levels of knowledge, who all tell you different things. At the hospital you always get, "well, I can set you up on a payment plan." No, you don't understand. I don't want a payment plan. I don't want to PAY. I don't owe. Someone made a mistake. PLEASE HELP ME!

Since I am talking about money and hospitals and insurance, I might as well give even more background information. In addition to this new bill, we have been dealing with close to $5,000.00 worth of bills from the NICU days, still unresolved. The insurance company rejected this amount, saying that we had to pay an "out-of-network" co-pay. It seems that two of the neonatologists who worked with H and E are "in-network" and two are "out-of -network." When the insurance company told me this, I thought it seemed ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS. They were in-patient, in intensive care, at an in-network hospital. We had no control over who the doctor on rounds would be on any given day. I talked with the doctors in question who agreed with me that the charges were ridiculous, and told me not to pay. They said that the doctors in the NICU are all in the same group and all accept the same insurance. Makes sense to me. Unfortunately, so far, NO ONE knows how to resolve this issue. The doctors say they are in-network, the insurance company says they are out-of network, and the hospital says "we want our money." Why has this become my problem???

To compound matters, consider this... We were told, and have since verified, that in the state of Michigan, all babies in the NICU for over 30 days automatically qualify for Medicaid, regardless of the parents income. While the babes were still in the hospital, I met with a hospital representative who completed the applications for me and sent them in. We were rejected because we were over the income limit. We called FIA, and were told the same thing...you make too much money. We called the hospital rep, who said "don't worry, I'll take care of it." So we didn't worry. We had many more important things to worry about. Like whether our babies were going to LIVE OR DIE. I guess we should have worried.

I don't know where to start. I don't know what to do. All I know is that we cannot afford to pay these bills. Even if we could, we shouldn't have to! Someone, somewhere made a mistake. The hospital rep who completed our Medicaid applications for one. Also the insurance company who denied our claim, and the hospital who cannot get it straightend out. Why is this my problem??? I've got babies to take care of people!!! And formula costs $100.00 a week!!!

On the brighter side, those sure are some cute, happy babies. And I LOVE them!!!:)