[Linus]

Originally Posted by DapperButch

Hey, Linus, is the issue that you want to go with someone "in network", or do you not have out of network benefits with your insruance?

If you don't find this woman to have enough experience and you do have out of network benefits, maybe it would be worth the percent you will have to pay for the surgery (and deductible, if that is how your insurance works).

Even if this Dr. V won't bill the insurance for you, I don't see why he wouldn't give you a paper saying what work you got done. he should provide you with a receipt and this should include diagnosis and ICD-9 code. Then you could just sumbit it to your insurance, yourself.

I have an out of network physician that I pay up front and then he give me a receipt that I send to my insurance company. They have a form specifically for it. I have to make sure I have the doc's Tax ID number on it and license number. I send in the form and receipts and get back a percentage that I paid.

If you do not have out of network benefits and your company does offer them (usually a more expensive health care plan than the regular HMO one/EPO one), if your years renewal isn't too far way, maybe you want to wait until then and make sure you sign up for a plan that has the out of network benefits (that of course will still pay for SRS).

Anyway, just a thought!

It's the paying up-front part that is the challenge. I can cover out of network but it's the initial amount: 10K. I can cash in some stocks to do it or some of my 401K but I want to avoid that. I've been trying to pay down some debt (from my move and other things) but it's been a bit of a hard slog. I'm waiting until after taxes to see if I get anything back from last year (thanks to the move). I might be able to figure something out.