This is dedicated to all of my sistah's (and bro's!) who have had to endure the stress of financial strain during the heartache of infertility.
Ode to my Infertility Doc to the tune of Jaime Foxx's Gold-digger
When I'm in need.
She's a triflin', doc indeed
Oh she's a gold digger, way over time
N' over-charges me.
Now, I ain't sayin' she's a gold digger...But she's makin' me broke, broke.
Now, I ain't sayin' she's a gold digger...But she's makin' me broke, broke.
C'mon Ya'll
Holla "We want Full Coverage! We want Full Coverage!"
Okay, I realize that was an awful rap to the tune of Jaime Foxx's Gold Digger. But, it's what I think about when I hear the song. Cuz that's how I roll.
Actually I really like my RE. I feel bad even implying, "She's a gold-digger" because she is a fantastic professional surrounded by some fantastic medical health providers and office staff. But, I recently found out something that might need to have me change clinics and of course RE's.
When we first had the chat with the insurance person about our "complicated" insurance I asked her to give me an idea as to what IVF will look like. I remember her pointing out that some of the lab work required for IVF will be out-of network. My initial gut reaction to this was that it wouldn't be that bad. I'd gladly pay them out of network costs if it meant staying at that clinic I remember thinking...and besides that just means we'd have to pay 30% not 10%. Well, it's actually 30% after a $6000 deductible. I have no idea what this looks like in more realistic hypothetical terms. [whoa...did I just say realistic hypothetical??? Is that an oxy moron or what? Why does that somehow seem so appropriate for the lovely world of ART? I digress] I have asked the billing group to get the final numbers prepared for me for the day we have our appointment with Dr. K.
Dr. K doesn't know it yet, but in our conversation we will inevitably be putting her on the spot as to why we should continue IVF with their clinic, when I could go to the other clinic with full insurance coverage for all services including labratory. I suppose I'm going to have to tell her as well that we have another appointment scheduled with the other clinic the next day. I'm going to keep it as professional as possible yet remind myself that I'm the one that hired them and if I need them to remind me as to why I hired them and why I should stay I'm not overstepping my bounds. I'm doing the responsible thing in reaching my family planning goals. I'm just glad it occured to me to check with another clinic to see if they would also be out of network, because I think I was so smitten with my clinic that I convinced myself that if they had their lab out of network then I'm sure everyone does too. Nope!
It can be hard to make a decision to change clinics when I've grown so accustomed to this one. I'm not going put too much stock in the fact that the other place has a greater success rate because my clinic has a tendancy to work with patients that have complicated diagnoses. Plus the current clinic does have some great benefits. I just don't know if it's worth spending that much more money for the additional benefits as well as the additional expertise if I haven't been diagnosed with a complicated problem.
Stay tuned...I'll let you know how it goes...
Meanwhile, due to overwhelming popular demand... be sure to sign in to "The Life of Liv" later this week for my next performance will be to the tune of Madonna, "Acupuncture Virgin: Poked for the Very First Time!"
