A doctor in Illinois had trouble getting an authorization for a surgery from theObamaCare system.
Paperwork problems almost delayed suburban Chicago resident Sheri Zajcew’s scheduled surgery Thursday, but Dr. John Venetos decided to operate without a routine go-ahead from the insurance company. That was after Venetos’ office manager spent two hours on hold with the insurer Thursday, trying to get an answer about whether the patient needed prior authorization for the surgery. The office manager finally gave up.
“I’m not a happy camper,” said Nate Zajcew, the patient’s husband. The couple signed up for a Blue Cross Blue Shield bronze plan through the federal HealthCare.gov site on Dec. 16. “I understand it’s just a matter of paperwork and yesterday was a holiday. I can be an SOB, too, at times, but since they’re going on with the procedure, it’s OK.”
Venetos, a Chicago digestive system specialist, described “tremendous uncertainty and anxiety” among patients calling his office recently. Some thought they’d signed up for coverage but hadn’t received insurance cards yet.
Anecdote or trend? We will know in another month or two.
Update:
The Daily Mail has these headlines:
MailOnline spoke with patients who were told they would have to pay their bills in full if they couldn’t prove they had insurance
* One was faced with a $3,000 hospital room charge and opted to leave the hospital after experiencing chest pains ‘Should I be in the hospital? Probably,’ she said
* Another, coughing in the cold, walked out without receiving a needed chest x-ray
* Consumers face sticker-shock from medical costs under the new Obamacare system, made worse if they can’t prove they’re insured
* As many as one-third of new enrollees’ applications have seen problems when the government transmits them to insurance companies
‘The people in there told me that since I didn’t have an insurance card, I would be billed for the whole cost of the x-ray,’ Galvez said, her young daughter in tow. ‘It’s not fair – you know, I signed up last week like I was supposed to.’
The x-ray’s cost, she was told, would likely be more than $500.
Well the old system was unfair to the uninsured. We now have equality. The new system is unfair to everyone.