How I narrowly escaped being gouged

Let me offer everyone one piece of advice: Live with someone who works for Blue Cross.

Oh sure, I realize it's not practical for everyone, but....

So the other day, I got my knee sliced open by a trained professional. I was knocked out at the time by another trained professional at the low cost of $496. Before that, I had to get about $200 worth of doc visits and $50 worth of x-rays.

But the real kicker (hah! a pun!) was the MRI. At $1,274, it was likely the most expensive 20 minutes of my life. (But you never know, I might visit Thailand some day...)

The beauty of the whole thing is that Blue Cross paid everything without me having to file any paperwork. Wait, if they did, why do I have a $1,274 bill from the MRI place? It says: "Your insurer has either rejected or paid your claim. The remaining balance is your responsibility."

The fun part was, this was my first bill from the whole surgery adventure, so I was a little bit scared to death about how much I was apparently going to shell out.

Luckily, my sister works at Blue Cross and immediately noted that the MRI guy was very likely lying and/or wrong. And yes, she was right. The MRI folks have already been paid by Blue Cross, and I'm sure someday I'll have to pay out a portion of it.

She says this happens all the time, thus I'm writing this post. Whether through fraud, incompetence or simple error, medical practitioners apparently bill people often for what they've already received from the insurance company. Just something to keep in mind next time one of you gets a bionic implant or baboon heart.