Insurance Appeal Approved!!!

Happiness is not having to pay $16,000 for medical bills!  Halle-freakin-lujah!

I got this exciting news while I was in California.  My insurance appeal was approved!  This was the appeal I had sent in regarding Skylar's surgery & hospital stay while we were in Utah last July.  To read the blog post that describes this ordeal, read this.

To my disbelief, that entire hospital stay & the surgery ended up being out of network.  I had not even thought to check with the hospital to verify if they were in network.  My surgeon had referred us there and everyone said it was the best hospital in the state & one of the best in the country & we were out of our element.  I was expecting it all to be free since I had already been billed my out of pocket maximum for the year.  So I was shocked when I started receiving bills in the mail and the biggest shocker...everything totaled about $16,000 with all of the out of network fees and penalties.  Yes, you read that right.  I read my insurance policy and it said that in emergency situations, they would treat "out of network" situations as if they were "in network" (meaning I shouldn't have to pay anything since I had already been billed my out of pocket for the year.)

I was confident that Skylar's situation was an emergency and I felt like my appeal was pretty convincing.  I even quoted their definition of "emergency" because it described Skylar's condition perfectly when she was admitted.

After I sent in the appeal, I prayed & prayed that it would get approved.  I put it in Heavenly Father's hands and amazingly, I truly received reassurance that it would be taken care of.  There have been a few times in my life when HF has told me things in advance and this was one of those times.  It took a long time for me to receive a response to my appeal (I originally faxed it at the beginning of October, I didn't hear anything for over 60 days so I faxed it again & I finally got a response at the beginning of February so it took 4 months!) and anytime doubts creeped in, I would read my scriptures and again, I would receive that sweet reassurance that it would all work out in my favor.  This was a testimony builder of prayer and scripture reading to me & of personal revelation. 

I am so, so grateful for these tools and that the appeal was approved.  So instead of $16,000, I only have to pay about $550.  Can you say AMAZING? 

Pray people!  It works! 

And learn from our mistake...make sure anything you have done whether it's medical or dental work is "IN NETWORK!"

Seriously though, whatever obstacles stand in your way...this is an example that you can overcome them!  This has been quite an ordeal.  It's required a lot of time, energy, & perserverance!  And more great news is that Tyson's company made everyone employees as of February 1, 2012 and his healthcare benefits started a few days ago on April 1st so we have a GREAT policy now in case anything else happens.  Makes me happy.