Letter to the Editor AARP Bulletin

Per your help section I should be able to just comment on the article in the conversation below the article in question, however that option is not available.

This is regarding the "Outsmart the System" from the December 2024 article, specifically to ask for an estimate prior to a medical procedure.  While this is decent advice, I have found recently that such estimates are not worth the paper they are printed on.  I recently had some nerve testing done and was provided an estimate of $450 if insurance did not cover the tests.  Well, lucky for me my insurance did cover them, and my share of the cost on my high deductible plan is actually $1000.  The office is trying to tell me that the $450 charge was only if I opted to not submit to insurance at all ( the estimate clearly states if denied, not if I chose not to submit), so now I am stuck fighting that bill.

I also had an MRI done.  My estimate was $44.  This was the amount my insurance provided the facility based on the billing code.  Once submitted to insurance ( with the same billing code, nothing additional), I now owe over $300.  So I am now going back and forth with the insurance to determine how they could be so far off if they are using the usual and customary charges for a billing code.

So basically, despite doing one's due diligence you can be left holding the bill.