Finding Money For Endoscopy Test

[oaktownboy]

my insurance will not cover the test and i need to know if there is any state or federal money available for tests like this one

[mmaccartney]

  oaktownboy said:

my insurance will not cover the test and i need to know if there is any state or federal money available for tests like this one

Why won't they cover it??? If a doctor that is part of their "plan" deems it as medically necesarry, aren't they required to cover it?? (Mine did, but I still had to cough up 20% of the cost as I have an 80/20 plan....)

[tiredofdoctors]

Call, complain and B**** like heck. Then write a letter stating that, should there be a significant problem that worsens because they won't cover the necessary testing your doctor requested, you will hold them responsible and will report it to all the news statios and your newpaper. That should do it. Trust me.

[floridanative]

tiredofdoctors is right. Raise total cain until someone gets a grip and lets you have the test. I have come to find out that there is not much worse in our culture than insurance companies. They are the driving force behind all the bad medicine we are all experiencing - from everything to sinus infections to Celiac disease being misdiagnosed.

For my biopsy I was told I had a $250 co-pay but then I switched docs to have the test. New doc says I only have a reg. specialist co-pay. Both my insurance company and the hospital where I had the test say I don't have to pay anything upon arrival, and I only have the $35 co-pay to the doc. This did not seem right so I called my insurance company again and they said since I'm now having the test in the hospital, I had no co-pay. So now three months later I get a bill for $250 co-pay. Oh and of course I have already paid the doc $35 and I had to have the test at 1 pm when I felt like jerking my iv out to drink it and was starving. All this to save $250.....which of course I didn't save and apparently, this way I'm paying $285 when you include the doc's co-pay. How people who own insurance companies sleep at night - I'll never know!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[cultureslayer]

IF it's just to confirm the diagnosis, I've skipped it. I work in a medical field and I don't trust doctors. They give me enough crap when I'm awake, no way they are putting me under for anything less than major surgery.

[tiredofdoctors]

As far as being put to sleep, they didn't give me enough "juice" -- I was awake for the endoscopy and the colonscopy -- including polyp removal. I kept moaning to try to tell them that I could feel it -- they saw me watching it on the television screen

When it was over, I quoted exactly what the doctor said. The one nurse looked at the other and said, "She wasn't out NEARLY as much as we thought she was." DUH . . . . Didn't the sounds I made each time he cut give them a hint?????

[cultureslayer]

Yeah, I am one of those people that require an exceptional amount of anesthesia (my body processes it quickly obviously). I could definitely see that happening to me.

[tiredofdoctors]

That was the THIRD time it has happened to me. One time, it was when I was medically paralyzed, and I couldn't move anything to tell them that I was AWAKE! Yuck. I really didn't like that too much.

[cultureslayer]

Ugh. I always tell them (even when I'm going in for a filling) that I'm hard to anesthetize and will take more than they think I should. It's also hard to get Drs to take me seriously when I complain of any pain because I don't take motrin. It takes about 1.5 to 2x the max suggested dose to do anything worth taking a pill for, and at that point I start to feel strange. Otherwise it just takes the edge off of light soreness.

[CMCM]

  oaktownboy said:

my insurance will not cover the test and i need to know if there is any state or federal money available for tests like this one

Is there a particular reason for an endoscopy, other than wanting "to know for sure"??? Why not just handle it yourself by going thru Enterolab....get the full panel gluten sensitivity test for $369 and you'll find out if you have antibody reactions going on, malabsorption, casein sensitivity, and a gene test is thrown in as well. Together with the knowledge you get from this easy to do test, you can then follow the diet for awhile to see how you do. Ultimately, the treatment for this is the diet and the doctors, after spending a ton of your money on all this often-vague and inaccurate testing, will just tell you to go on a gluten free diet and that's that. They're rarely any help in that part of things. For myself, I saw no reason whatsoever to support an inept and clueless medical system with lots of my hard earned $$$.....far more than the $369 I spent at Enterolab, that's for sure. I learned what I wanted to know very easily and cheaply. If you read this board thoroughly, you will find a LOT of people who went the traditional clueless doctor route and spent a LOT of money, time and continued suffering, only to eventually in desperation go to Enterolab to get their answers. By the way, you can bet $$ that your doctor will know nothing about Enterolab. Doctors aren't very cutting edge in most cases. If they haven't personally had experience with a condition, then in their minds it might not exist. Go to www.enterolab.com and do some reading....lots of information there about their testing and ideas about celiac disease.

[oaktownboy]

i have been on the gluten free diet for a couple months now and i keep getting worse and worse. my intestinal problems continue..i have no hope left..that's why i need the test..