Question about OB office

[kaia.aline]

Originally Posted by 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.

This

[Mom2Connor]

You should have been saving up on your own or making monthly payments to them.

As far as "who has a grand just sitting around..." well, most responsible adults work to establish savings. The recommended amount is 6 mo of living expenses. So even if you were no where near that, having a grand should not be unheard of (to you).

[katymf]

Well I guess I have to explain my financial situation so people will stop jumping down my throat. I don't work, DH makes $11 at a temp job, we have an $1150 month rent to pay, $200 month car payment, cell phone bill, electric bill that we are already way behind on, we just had to cancel our cable because we can't afford it and we also pay for Internet..not to mention the weekly essentials like food, gas, etc. it hasn't been that easy saving up money for this bill. It's only if I need a repeat c-section (which they know I am trying for a vbac). Plus everytime I go in I am making payments on my other OB bill granted its not much but at least im paying them something. And no we cannot get any government assistance we already tried that and Apparantly DH makes "too much" money. So our rent and car payments are a little more important to us at this time then paying on a bill that quite frankly doesn't even make sense to us. Plus like I had mentioned we have a prepaid visa card from my insurance which contains almost $1000 that we can use towards that bill, my dad just has to activate it, so we obviously plan on using that, just not sure when we can yet.

[ulawolf]

Originally Posted by katymf Well I guess I have to explain my financial situation so people will stop jumping down my throat. I don't work, DH makes $11 at a temp job, we have an $1150 month rent to pay, $200 month car payment, cell phone bill, electric bill that we are already way behind on, we just had to cancel our cable because we can't afford it and we also pay for Internet..not to mention the weekly essentials like food, gas, etc. it hasn't been that easy saving up money for this bill. It's only if I need a repeat c-section (which they know I am trying for a vbac). Plus everytime I go in I am making payments on my other OB bill granted its not much but at least im paying them something. And no we cannot get any government assistance we already tried that and Apparantly DH makes "too much" money. So our rent and car payments are a little more important to us at this time then paying on a bill that quite frankly doesn't even make sense to us. Plus like I had mentioned we have a prepaid visa card from my insurance which contains almost $1000 that we can use towards that bill, my dad just has to activate it, so we obviously plan on using that, just not sure when we can yet.

Maybe it's your attitude towards the situation that I am having an issue. This is something that they must have informed you of . You aren't even offering $5 payments. Because you.dont agree with the bill you are refusing to.even work with them and in fact getting angry for them being pushy at this point. I would too if all you said is no at every appt. You probably should have looked at other obs that dont have that requirement. I dont know of one around here though.

[katymf]

Right well I don't have an attitude, I am just a little frustrated I came to this forum with this thread in hopes of help or support or anyone who has been in a similiar situation. I am not asking for rude feedback like " well its your responsibility, you need to pay them, blah blah" of course I know it's my responsibly and that I need to pay them and we WILL. Not sure if anyone has read but for the 3rd time we have the money for it, I'm just not sure when we are able to pay them but don't worry that is something that I will bring up today when I go in there. I am not 12 and don't need others to tell me that I'm responsible I know this, I am a mother too. I was hoping for some encouragement or stories of others who may have been in a similiar situation. And by the way, I have talked with the office about this before, it's not like I don't communicate with them, I have told them about the prepaid card and they are well aware of that. In fact last time I checked out of their offices last week thy didn't even ask me about it. So please, everyone calm down. This is my situation and and although you are giving me your own input, it is rude and I don't appreciate it. Also the fact that I Apparantly have an attitude problem. I may be getting one now because I am getting myself worked up but unless you are talking to me face to face then it's kind of hard to tell if I have an attitude.

[carlycurry]

If you've known about this $1000 for months and had 7 months to pay it, I guess most of us really don't understand why you couldn't have been making a bare minimum payment of SOMETHING to at least show an effort on your part to pay toward this.

And why can you not use that Visa card money until after the birth? I would think you can use it like a charge card and pay the OB responsibility with it now.

[Belle]

Originally Posted by katymf Right well I don't have an attitude, I am just a little frustrated I came to this forum with this thread in hopes of help or support or anyone who has been in a similiar situation.

I think the problem is that people just don't have any other advice to give. The time for getting support or help or advice was when you were signing paperwork for your OB and working out the charges, not when the bill is coming due. If you didn't plan on paying it by the time they wanted the money, that should have been negotiated with them at that point, not at the point where it's past time to pay.

Think about it from their perspective -- it's not like you had to go in and negotiate with them to get treatment, and they didn't force you to agree to their billing methods and deadlines. But now they are having to haggle you for money you agreed to pay by a certain time. If it were me and someone I had rendered services to was saying, "I'll get you the money" over and over again, I'd be frustrated. If it was your DH's employer telling him that he didn't have the money to pay him on time, you'd be pissed, right?

I honestly think if you only wanted people to give you "advice" that was unicorns and rainbows (it'll be okay, don't worry about it, you shouldn't have to pay this charge...whatever you were looking for), DS is not the place to get that. You're mostly going to get people telling you the truth, oftentimes very bluntly. That's probably true of any large internet forum.

[klevmomma]

OP, I'm a little unclear on what the $1000 is for. Is that towards your "global prenatal" fee that OBs typically charge, or is this the cost they want you to pay ahead of time, in case you end up with another section?

I think it is the norm for OB offices to expect full payment for their global fee upfront. I have not experience this pre-billing for a possible section, but I have heard of it from other moms, so I know it is not completely out of the norm.

I do understand that they typically explain all their billing practices earlier in the pregnancy. Some offices just give you a paper with stuff buried in mice type, and others actually provide some sort of counseling type session. And in either case, it is your responsibility to pay.

What is completely crazy to me is that they require full payment before all services have been received. Now, I comply with their requirements because I feel I have no choice, but it still feels wrong to me. And it's not like I can just take my business elsewhere, because they all do the same thing. What if I end up not delivering with them for some reason? I presume they'd refund me. I just don't understand why I can't pay for the prenatal care separately from the delivery fee, so that I'm actually paying for services rendered, instead of services they assume they'll eventually render. I'm sure it's about improving their collections rates, they are running a business, etc, but I still find it a bit crazy.

I absolutely find it crazy to prepay for your share of a surgery that will very likely never be performed. I mean, if you go to your family care doctor and are found to be at risk for a heart attack, you don't pay them a positive balance of $1000 jik you have a heart attack one day, kwim?

Anyhow, OP, I won't disagree with the fact that it would have probably been better for you to have put effort into trying to work things out with them earlier. But you are where you are, so I think the best thing to do is to go sit down and be honest with them and explain your situation. They may be able to help you out. Often times they sound more tough than they are because they are trying to spur people into action, so to speak. And if not, you'll at least get that out in the open now so that you can begin to pursue your other options.

I don't think OP is looking for rainbows and unicorns. I think she is struggling with the issue of prepayment for services not yet rendered. Asking if this is normal isn't asking to hear "It'll be okay, just don't pay". And she isn't saying she won't pay or that she doesn't think it should be her responsibility, and she has been paying some amount on some of the bills from the office. She's asking if this is normal practice, and if so, how have others handled it.

OP, I think the answer is yes, it is normal, and most people either just simply comply, or they go in and work out some sort of alternate payment arrangement that is acceptable and manageable for both sides. They have to know that you can't pay what you don't have, so they will likely accept some payment plan if you sit down and sort it out with them. GL!

[Belle]

Originally Posted by klevmomma I don't think OP is looking for rainbows and unicorns. I think she is struggling with the issue of prepayment for services not yet rendered.

I was basing my take off of her last post where she said the following:

I am just a little frustrated I came to this forum with this thread in hopes of help or support or anyone who has been in a similiar situation.

I was hoping for some encouragement or stories of others who may have been in a similiar situation.

This is my situation and and although you are giving me your own input, it is rude and I don't appreciate it.

It was not clear from her OP that this was all she wanted to hear. The advice she got (from people who had similar contracts with their OBs) was blunt ("yes, this sucks, but you probably agreed to it and have to pay it") and questioning why she waited until after the money was due to try and negotiate her way into a payment plan or something similar. I can see how some of the comments about her attitude got personal, but I think in order to give any actual advice, everyone had to know more about why the situation is what it is now instead of being resolved before the payment was due.

I've learned after being on DS for awhile that if you only want support or encouragement, or if you only want to vent without getting advice, you have to be very, very specific about that in your OP and even then you can't keep people from saying what they want to say on the internet.

[s@hmommy]

Originally Posted by katymf Well I guess I have to explain my financial situation so people will stop jumping down my throat. I don't work, DH makes $11 at a temp job, we have an $1150 month rent to pay, $200 month car payment, cell phone bill, electric bill that we are already way behind on, we just had to cancel our cable because we can't afford it and we also pay for Internet..not to mention the weekly essentials like food, gas, etc. it hasn't been that easy saving up money for this bill. It's only if I need a repeat c-section (which they know I am trying for a vbac). Plus everytime I go in I am making payments on my other OB bill granted its not much but at least im paying them something. And no we cannot get any government assistance we already tried that and Apparantly DH makes "too much" money. So our rent and car payments are a little more important to us at this time then paying on a bill that quite frankly doesn't even make sense to us. Plus like I had mentioned we have a prepaid visa card from my insurance which contains almost $1000 that we can use towards that bill, my dad just has to activate it, so we obviously plan on using that, just not sure when we can yet.

I really think you need to look into the assistance again, if you dh's income is all that you have then there is no reason you wouldn't qualify. DH made more than that with our last and, although we didn't need it, we qualified for medical assistance. With your rent that high, then having to pay other necessities, it would look like you have more going out than in. In my state that automatically qualifies you. I hope you get it figured out. We probably wouldn't be able to completely prepay our delivery either, I am happy my ob doesn't require it.