Okay, this isn't a "how-to" post. I'm just de-stressing myself a little more.
I am currently calming down my poor heart after looking at the printout I got from Dakota Clinic on Monday regarding the Oct. 20th visit. (I got the printout on Monday and finally looked at it while eating lunch.) According to that printout, I owed $1486.56 -- this was after all of the BlueCross BlueShield of MN adjustments and payments. The total amount of charges was $5971.50. This is for ONE visit to a blood specialist plus having 19 vials of blood drawn. I didn't even get to stay overnight or anything! (Not even a free pen!)
Anyhow, I went back to my original spreadsheet regarding the insurance claims that I was working on over the weekend. At the bottom of this sheet I created a separate column for all of the charges, BCBS payments, contract adjustments, and my payments. The total charges added up to what the total charges were at the top of the spreadsheet where I had listed out the individual insurance claims. The adjustments added up and the BCBS payments added up. Hmmm.. that's not good. This might mean I do own the $1400. So, up at the top of the spreadsheet I went back through the claims and added new columns for my responsibility, BCBS payments, contract adj, and then a totals column. A-ha. The charges that had been previously paid were not added in.... This was noted on the insurance claims by BlueCross BlueShield that the clinic was recharging some of the fees. That's a total of $835!!!! So, subtracting THAT amount from the $1486.56, well, then the total was way less. Anyhow, I called BlueCross to make sure that the charges that had been marked as previously paid were to be dismissed. I called Dakota Clinic and the total amount due right now from me is $519.61 -- and that includes a lot of the foot doctor stuff and with my primary care physician on the cholesterol stuff. WHEW!!! Even though $500 is still a lot of money, at least it isn't that much PLUS the $1400.
I'm hoping the pressure that I feel in my chest goes away soon. It feels like I was laying down and Dexter, the standard schnauzer, jumped up on it.
Now that I've explained my STRESS and the fact that it is all OKAY now.. I wanted to write that I am SO glad that we have 3FatChicks (and the Calorie Queens website) as an outlet to vent or even just as something to DO so that the call to eat food in response to stress and/or the now perceived "drama is over" response can be ignored. I didn't eat ONE THING in response to all of this. I cruised the boards, posting or just reading. I did have my snack at 3 pm - a fat-free yogurt and one serving of mixed frozen fruit.
On a side note, I walked on the treadmill today. Woo-hoo! I only did 10 minutes though... per directions from the physical therapist. I'm supposed to ease my foot into exercise again. So I eased.
Kimberly