I was wondering. I see several posts about the surgery, where is the money coming from? Do u not have to pay a big chunk upfront? When is the surgery necessary? Are there places to get help for it? I have the worst headaches at times and others the meds do help but they are so annoying! I just wanna cut off my head!!
I had health insurance but the doctor I wanted was out of network. I did have to pay quite a bit down but had the doctor been in network I wouldn't have. I personally didn't feel comfortable using one but my NS offers a special medical credit card so you can pay in installments.
I was lucky enough to have excellent insurance. The company paid for all but $100, including a private room.
For me the surgery was necessary when my symptoms were disrupting my life. I couldn't work, so it was time.
I spent a long time with doctors just treating my symptoms and giving me drugs for headaches and nausea and whatever else came up. Hang in there, and keep bugging them!! If your doctor won't listen to you or tells you that your Chiari isn't the issue, find a new one. I swear, like 90% of my health problems over the last decade have been because of my Chiari, but I didn't know enough about it to question my doctor.
My insurance paid for all of it.
If you have insurance, the insurance company will pay for it(again, depending on plan, you will have some out of pocket expenses). It is exceedingly rare for an MD to require up front payment.
I've mentioned elsewhere on this site. But to repeat...if you don't have an in-network MD with whom you are comfortable, mention your discomfort to the neurosurgeon you are seeing. Most neurosurgeons(even if we think we are as good as the neurosurgeon you think is better) do NOT want to operate on anyone who would rather have an operation by someone else. Most would be willing to write a note, explaning to the insurance company that the degree of expertise required for your unique operation, can only be found with (fill in the blank). Most insurance companies will then be obligated to negotiate with your insurance company(and vice versa).
It's a little more work for the referring MD and the accepting MD(and a lot more work for you with serial follow-up) but it can save you $10,000s in the end.
It is the rare patient that can afford the surgery without assistance(surgeon's fee is $5k, OR fee will be >$10k, daily ICU charge will be >$2k, total hospital charge will end up >$50k). Those numbers are very general but give you an idea.
I just had surgery 4 weeks ago. I am lucky and have insurance through my work, which will pay 90%. For the rest I will arrange a payment plan with the hospital. I did not get any bills yet, but I am sure it will not be pretty.
My insurance paid 80%. My surgeon agreed to treat me as if he was in my network. The hospital ended up forgiving what I owed out of pocket because of my income level. Talk to the facility about low income discounts or indigent funds.