Question about OB office

[katymf]

i've asked this before, but again-has anyone heard of an "OB RESPONSIBLITY"??? apparantly we were supposed to have paid $1000 to my OB office by the 7mo of pregnancy, and obviously we havnt, because lets be honest now...who has $1000 sitting in their back pocket? well everytime i go to check out of my appts. the receptionist asks if i have the money. no. i dont. well yesterday the billing lady called me and left me a nasty message saying that i havnt paid ANYTHING on my actual BILL which is from my u/s's, but i have put money towards that then she says i havnt put anything towards my OB responsiblity (the $1000) and she says next time i go in, which is tomorrow, she excepts me to make payments on both. HA! there's noway, sorry!!! i am under my dads insurance (thank god) and he got a VISA card which hold $900 and he is giving it to me to use towards that OB responsibility, but i cant use it until AFTER i give birth and recieve the bill. what the heck do i tell them tomorrow when i go in?

[weesej]

Have you been honest with them that there is no way you are paying?? What is the insurance covering?? It is your responsibility to know and have made the best possible arrangements for payment. I have been a self-pay patient in many different situations and it can be really stressful. With baby #7 I was making regular $400 a month payments toward the birth and then was told at 29 weeks I would need to pay all of my NST's (2 times a week) as they were done...and they were charging $500 PER NST!!! So they were wanting another $1000 a WEEK on top of the regular OB care. It was considerably more than we made and I had to change practices because of it. It was thier financial policy and they made it clear that they would not be obligated to continue care if I wasn't paying regularly (and I had been up to that point...even though it came out of the grocery money)

In any case, this isn't something you should just ignore...it might not be pretty, but it needs to be addressed.

[Hungry Caterpillar]

When you first entered that Dr's office did you not sign a form stating that though as a courtesy they will bill insurance payment is your responsibility? I have at every office I have been a patient. You have now had months to save the $1000. It is your obligation to pay. Their office, their payment terms.

[Jana]

Mine required nearly $3000. Stinks but that's the way it is.

You for sure need to work something out with them or I doubt they'll continue to see you. If I were you I'd call them right now and tell them what you wrote here and get something worked out.

[Hungry Caterpillar]

We prepaid as well by the sixth month as it was required. It does not matter if your dad's insurance is what you are under. You are the patient and presumably a legal adult so it's up to you to deal with it. I just read your original thread on this and sarcasm and avoidance will not make this any better.

[joeslittlewoman]

Be upfront with them. I've typically found if you are honest about the situation they will let you know how flexible they can be. Most hospitals/docs have been able to offer payment plans once I told them how much I had and how much I could pay regularly.

[808mamaof3]

I think it depends on your insurance? I've been at the same OB office with all three of my pregnancies. For my first two I was under the same policy and had to pay a global co-pay for all prenatal and antenatal care. It was about $350 for each pregnancy. This time around for baby number 3, we have the same insurance provider but different policy (DH changed jobs) and my co-pay was $0. The payment had to be made ASAP and I do remember signing a form saying that I would make the payment or care would be dropped.

[twinpossible]

I have heard of this before, yes they can cancel your care over this ordeal if you do not pay IF you signed a contract. Often they work it into the fine print so you may have over looked it originally.
I would be honest with them and set up a payment plan IF you want that OB to continue seeing you. You always have the option to stop care and only go to the ER if something is wrong (not an option if you have an issue like GD or placenta previa) but if you are young and healthy and all your tests come back clean then it would be an option. You can also switch to a provider that is more willing to work with you and your finances.
We personally had to pay through the whole pregnancy to the midwife, it is $312 a month. After the birth my insurance pays ME and then I have only paid the deductible. I worked out my payment plan with her on the first visit when I was only 9 weeks along. It sucks but this is the reality of our health care system. If you cannot afford it because you are really low income there are state programs that can help, here in CA it is the same program as food stamps. I am not sure how much they will help if you already have insurance but it is worth a shot.
Good luck mama and don't ignore this, go into your appt. with some good options.

[Green Decals]

It doesn't matter what your insurance pays or doesn't pay, office policy is office policy and you would have signed something at your first visit. If you can't make arrangements, you will need to find a new provider but you are still responsible for the charges incurred up to the point you leave that practice. They can also sue you if you don't pay. It sounds like the $900 credit card might be an HSA or flex spending card, in which case you CAN use that to pay the provider before you receive the final bill. Offices have policies like this because it isn't fair to the provider to treat a patient for 9-12 months before getting paid. Would you want to have to wait a year before getting a paycheck?

[ulawolf]

I knew on my first visit I had to pay $1500 to ob or else they would drop me. I made payments every time I went in. I would talk to them but honestly it really sounds like they have told you about it often enough and you should have been trying to.work something out and/or paying something.

You might want to find out if you are going to have a copay at hospital too. We owed $6000 after dd4 was born.