The 3rd MRI

   The date is 1-27-2020 and today was my 3rd MRI on the brain. We were hopeful that they would not see anything again, but that was just hopeful. I had 2 doctor appointments after the MRI to discuss the results, and they were now what we'd hoped for.

I have 3 tumors that showed up, 2 small and 1 large. The smaller ones they do not know what they are but the bigger one they said was cancer. They gave me the option of waiting 6 weeks to see if it is still there but if I did there was no guarantee it could be removed with the Gamma Knife, it may have grown too large. So we made the decision to go ahead with the surgery.

  There are 3 doctors that must have an opening in order to run the machine, so a date has not been set yet. It will mean wearing that brace the screws into your skull. They numb you pretty good but you can feel the pressure and hear the bones in your skull being drilled into, it is scary. The real pain sets in afterward, for many days. I will update this again when it is done.   

UT & Billing

   Well, back to the drawing board I guess. I got a letter from a Collecting Agency Saturday on the now 542 dollar charge. I will call Humana first to see what they think and how I should proceed. They called about a month ago and said I had not paid one of the Co-Pays and I needed to pay them 40.00. I asked if that would settle the account, and they said it would.

  I asked if they took a check over the phone, most places will, but they said they don't. I ran an Online Farm & Pet Store for years and I did. They said they needed a Credit Card or Debit Card. I had this bad feeling about giving them anything they could charge more than once, or what they wanted to charge. I paid them just to get them off my back, but I mailed a check to them after they sent me a bill. A month later this thing comes and it says they will be charging 10% interest, which is illegal, so now I am questioning just how reputable these doctors are and who they deal with, and work under. I know them charging more than Medicare pays is wrong, especially since they double-billed some things, coded other things wrong, and attempt to charge what they wanted to instead of what the agreed plan.

   This also brings into question not only their reputation and ethics at University Pathologists but UT as well. One has to wonder, does UT not know these guys are damaging their credibility? They already lost them a patient with their sloppy work. I never thought I'd say this, but I am so glad that I chose Morristown Hamblen Hospital and the Covenant Health System. We have had no billing issues there and great service. Even the name says they will try to make you survive cancer. UT is just the Cancer Center while Covenant has named theirs Thompson Survival Cancer Center.