Holy Guacamole!

Y'all....I'm canceling my surgery.

I was reminded yesterday that my insurance will only pay 70% of any procedure. I called my insurance company and they said I'd have to call my doctor to find out the cost the doc would be charging. This way I could get an estimate of how much I'd have to pay out-of-pocket (30%). The cost is between $500-$750 that I'd have to shell out. ARGH!

What's even more of a killer? The surgery is scheduled to be at the hospital. Apparently, they were going to put me under. This means an anesthesiologist. This explains the chest x-ray, EKG, and blood work that I was going to have done the day before surgery. The cost I mentioned above? It doesn't include the hospital facility/equipment OR the anesthesiologist. Both of these would be additional costs. I called the hospital billing department and found out the portion I'd have out-of-pocket is somewhere between $2000 - $3500. There is such a huge range because the anesthesiologist cost can dramatically be higher based upon WHAT the person has to do.

This procedure that I was going to have done? When I researched it....I found out that some OBs do this procedure in-office. That it only takes about 45 minutes to an hour to complete. My OB? Does the procedure at the hospital for who knows what reason. So something simple? Isn't so simple here in the "Old Pueblo". And since it's become a huge cost AND a huge hassle? I'm going to just NIX the entire thing. Since I don't have a full-time job and won't have one until late August at the earliest, I do not have $4000 just hanging around to get this done. DANG IT!