Money, Money, Money

Now that we got the ball rolling, it's rolling pretty fast. My insurance company finally called back and said that IVF is covered if IUI hadn't work. So we should be good, as long as the prior-auth process doesn't take too long. Luckily, the lady I talked to on the phone in the finance department understands the urgency and has seemed very understanding and supportive. She was off the day we went in for our initial consult, and I wasn't wowed by the financial counselor subbing for her. And I was almost feeling hatred for the person I was initially transfered to when I called to tell my financial counselor what the insurance company had said about the PA requirements. She was all "looks like she's working on it." "Next time you can just punch in her extension." Look lady. They transferred me to you. No need to get all snippy! And I don't exactly have confidence in their financial counseling team, who first told me that my insurance didn't cover IVF, then, when I said it did, she actually read the info in their computer and told me we wouldn't need a prior auth. I had urged them when I first made the consult appointment to be getting on my insurance. And again at the consult visit. But when I finally got to speak to the regular person at this office, on the phone, she told me she would start the PA process as soon as we did my Day 3 labs. She took me seriously, and seemed empathetic and supportive. Phew.
One of my issues with the previous clinic was the financial stuff. They were so used to IF not being covered, I had to nag them for each. visit. to bill my insurance before billing me. At the time, the IUIs were covered, as were the ultrasounds and bloodwork. When we finally went with IVF, the IVF procedures themselves weren't covered, but the ultrasounds during the ER and ET were covered, as was all the bloodwork and U/S during the medication cycle, and the anesthesia was covered for the ER. But it was like pulling teeth to get them to bill my insurance. And they wouldn't even bill for the labwork. They made me pay them and submit for reimbursement. And then, at some point, they were able to bill my insurance, so there was a bit where they were getting paid by me and the insurance, which they credited later. Supposedly. I'm still not 100% sure I didn't get screwed on the bloodwork somewhere. And then there was an issue at the end, where months later I get a notice from a collection agency that I owe the clinic money. Whuuuuck? They made us pay in full before they did the IVF procedure, and then I went in and paid more for the extra bloodwork and U/S that they added as we were nearing the retrieval date. But they said I was paid in full. Turns out they had double billed my insurance, since my insurance was slow to pay. So they had sent some claims twice, gotten PAID eventually for the first set they sent, then the second requests got declined for obvious reasons, so they then pooped all over my credit rating by sending those to collections. ARRRRRRGH!