$1,179,951.08 and I'm still kickin'! Thanks, Obama!
$1,179,951.08 = My medical expenses for 2014, all but $6,350 of that covered by ObamaCare!
That's one ambulance, one very nice helicopter ride, the head of neurosurgery at Stanford, to treat an aneurism.
Plus two additional surgeries, PICC lines, plastic surgery team added on third surgery, several salmon dinners with quinoa and sorbet (hospital menu rocks) and more.
Now this didn't come easily, I had to file 14 claims against Anthem Blue Cross to hold them accountable and I am still fighting.
I changed to Blue Shield for this year.
Good to be here, DU, and we are fucking blessed to have Obama, dammit!
I'm a Million Dollar Man! Thanks Obama!
= new reply since forum marked as read
Yes, we are damned lucky to have Obama...............and YOU!
Keep fighting!
We can do this!
I just didn't know how expensive you are. 
This year is gonna have some costs, too.
And then I'm gonna let someone else have the fun!
What? I'm not the poet around here. 
Welcome back!!!!! 
I gotta bounce... tax date
Pls. hold on to the lessons you learned about making insurance do what they should do.
You just know that some folks here are gonna need that info at some point.
It's unbelievable how much work I have to do, still doing it, to get them to talk to billing at Stanford.
I'm the customer, for fuck sake. Why am I having to do their work???
OTOH, Blue Shield has been awesome!
So, I hope I can help others find the resources to fight back if they are challenged.
And you're worth every cent!
A great outcome for you and for the ACA.
Still it sucks that the insurance companies are trying their damnedest to get around it.
Either way: NYC_Skip: :HUG: 
You could buy the Phillies though for about that...
Handsome!
You look good, even all bandaged and swollen!
Bandages are gone, stitches come out next week!
I love modern medicine!
Ready for your next job...with Cirque Du Soleil?
❤
omg!
I love that guy!
The White House should hear about this!
TG for all the democrats who fought so hard for us. 
Keep on kickin', SKP.
NYC SKP, you could be in commercials for the 2016 campaign. Once you're presentable, of course.
What you have been through is unbelievably inspiring. I'm so happy Obamacare made it possible for your life to be enjoyed, not just endured. And know you're getting stronger every day.
I have egg on my face because I did not know you were going through this.
Hope you are recovering well.
Hey man, don't dare feel bad about anything.
Right now I'm hoping you're improving and I just am happy that I can say to you and everyone else here:
I love you, I really do, and I think we're all blessed to have each other.
Anthem runs Blue Cross and they totally sucked and continue to suck. They denied my $27,500 LifeFlight, lost checks, are making me and Stanford crazy.
Blue Shield, however, is managed differently and they are super impressive, so far, and I just had surgery last week (this ain't over).
ACA in my state and my case only offered four plans, I think: BC, BS, Kaiser, and one other that didn't have Stanford in network
So far, so good with Blue Shield. YMMV
And that Obama rocks.
I'm serious. He takes so much crap day after day after day, that I have a feeling a personal letter like this would just make his day. 
...I think that picture of Obama speaks to me about a kind and caring and intelligent man.
I thank the man for ACA and so much more. I had insurance before at over twice the cost for the same exact plan.
But other people had none, or couldn't get coverage AT ALL for preexisting conditions.
I'd have had care before ACA but that I had what others could get who couldn't have it before makes me really happy!
For all that you have been through and you have come out smiling and cracking jokes through it all. 
And they giggled.
And I asked if I get a mug or cap with my fourth surgery and they gave me a very nice embroidered quilt W Stanford Hospital logo!
Before the exchanges were in place in January 2014, ACA was covering people who previously could not get coverage.
I have a friend with a serious hand injury and MRSA and lots of pain, I helper her in 2010 navigate the system, apply and then get refused and turn that refusal into a plan at $350/month so that she could get basic care.
Your case sounds very severe and, yes, I hate Blue Cross. I only went to them out of convenience at the time as they were my company under COBRA from a job I left.
They refused a $27,500 LifeFlight saying "you say you fell and hit your head... You could have taken a land ambulance".
I had to fight them on that and 13 other claims, and they wouldn't have given in, I'll bet, except that ACA has a mechanism for taking a grievance to the next level, and there's a level after that.
But it takes diligence!
Take care!
It's amazing, even aside from the corruption, that I have to do so much coordination between them and the payees.
FFS, I'm the patient, I'm the client.
Imagine if I had to do all the negotiating between Allstate and all the autobody repair people and vendors, that's what this is like.
No doubt that their job in that stuffed suit is to find ways to DENY claims...
Imagine that. Interesting, people I talked to at Stanford and elsewhere, forbidden from making recommendations one way or another, seemed to manage to express great disdain for Anthem Blue Cross.
Conversely, they like Blue Shield and it's one of the few companies that have Stanford facilities and physicians all in-network.
One more thing: Stanford has been fighting with Anthem all along and their facilities were in network but not the physicians.
When I checked in they said I had no insurance-- this was because Anthem entered my birthdate differently from my entry with Covered Cal- completely their fault.
As a result, I was nearly going to be looking at tons of expenses as out of network-- this is why I filed the 14 grievances, saying that but for their error, I might have had a chance to be served exclusively in-network. They gave in and treated all of it as in-network.
14 claims .... ??
now, my head hurts just thinking about all -that- paper work
Welcome back! 
Blessed is the US to have this man at the helm. 
Bankruptcy and sale of assets, all on top of how hard it is to hold down a job and maintain income during three surgeries, four if you count last week.
rather than a looming bankruptcy.
I keep trying to convince my friend to declare bankruptcy and get out from under that ridiculous medical bill - he thinks he should pay his debts - even unfair ones that no civilized country would impose on its citizens. He has been paying $350 per month to the hospital for 5 years now - that could be his half of a house payment with his long-term girlfriend.
Sorry to lay all of that on you while you're just getting your strength back! These kind of stories just bring up all these bad memories for me - my best friend almost died. That whole experience in 2010 was so shocking for me. I'm still affected by it - I'm so angry!
The old system - pre Obama-Care, it ruined people's lives. These kinds of threads are important to show people that the government does good things to help Americans.
No doubt that pharma is grossly overpaid, but a lot of the overhead can be justified in context, but not all of it.
Beyond the cost of the drug is the cost to maintain liability insurance, the PICC line servicing subcontractor, profit, overhead for support staff and facilities and, to no small measure:
Covering for the cost of people without insurance or who don't pay at all.
But to the extent that it is grossly overcharging, look to the political contributions Merck and Lilly and the entire medical industry et al are making and to whom, and then look at the votes on any reform legislation.
Of course now, thanks to Citizens United, well, you know the drill.
Thanks for the post.
Hope you're doing well!
is just that. Glad you're still with us, NYC!
you're still with us!
#thanksObama!!!
