UPDATE: MRI RESCHEDULED


I called UCSF earlier this week to confirm my appointments and they had failed to schedule the MRI so I have been waiting for a cancellation this week. There are none - so I have rescheduled my MRI for June 22 and follow up appointment for June 29. When you can get this type of MRI is very much limited to specific dates during your menstrual cycle - during the May window I will be in Taiwan on vacation so had to wait til June. I guess this is good after my findings yesterday? This ish is expensive!

MARCH MADNESS AND NEXT MRI

I was on my snowboard for most of March - in Tahoe and in Colorado. A couple of late nights and early mornings. I'm back on the ground now and sleeping really well. Incidentally, I had a lower tolerance for certain people last month and it probably showed. Not sure if that was related to less sleep!

Lemon tree buds in my backyard

I'm glad it's April now, the end of which means I go get another MRI at UCSF. The three months since my last MRI in January has really gone by  fast. I spent some of this afternoon in conversation with my health provider to confirm that my second MRI is covered. It is. However, as I started talking to them, I started looking more closely at my claims from my first MRI (which I should have done earlier) and realized that the actual "patient responsibility" cost was much more than they originally estimated back in October. After an enlightening Q&A session with my provider, here is how it breaks down:

Original Estimate: $291

• $111 - Breast MRI + dye 
• $180 - Interpretation of results

Actual Out-of-Pocket Cost: $760

• $44.27 - This was for the dye injection
• $476.60 – For the actual MRI procedure
• $1146 - This is for the 3D rendering with interpretation and reporting of MRI  (waived this time)
• $239.39 - This was for my follow up appointment with my doctor

That is kind of different than the estimate, don't you think?  The nice lady on the phone said it all depends on the type of MRI they end up claiming. How many types of breast MRIs are there? Lesson learned: They tell you they will never know how much it will cost you, even if you give them the facility name and the procedure details - and they are right. There is no telling how much it will cost you. I find a situation like this pretty unacceptable - where you agree to buy something but you don't know the price until afterwards. Where else in our society does that happen but in our healthcare system?  

My current plan consists of MRIs every 3 months to monitor progress and the Chinese medicine, but given that it potentially will cost me $700 each time, I think I need a new plan.