Ok so I had a couple of leg vein consultations last week. The first one was a laser vein cosmetic center that also specializes in botox, juvederm & lipozap/mesotherapy similar to what Dr. Marks offers (minus the laser vein treatment). They made me wait about an hour, then had a sales consultant come in and tell me that the consultation is free, however, the ultrasound is $500 per leg which is required upfront, and then the laser treatment itself is $2800 per leg. After he explained that while I do indeed have insurance, and a PPO to be exact, they said that they will ‘bill my insurance’ as a courtesy, but that they still required full payment prior to the procedure. Being that I am pretty desperate to get this done because I REALLY do want to have nice legs for the summer season, I went ahead and booked my appointment. The doctor tried to get me to rush and come in within a week, but something just told me to wait it out…he had that used car salesman thing about him - the ‘you should book now because if you wait another day, you wont get an appointment in until june.”. I figured that it would probably take me until june to gather an extra $3500 around to get this vein treated anyway, so I said that june was sounding ok to me. But I booked my ultrasound for the following week.
On the way home, I got to thinking…why on earth would my insurance not pay for this?? Its actually preventative treatment, and not totally cosmetic. I mean sure, it’s ugly, but more importantly than that, I surely don’t want to form some sort of circulatory issue as a result of this…and my foot does get numb at times…
So I decided to call the toll free number on the back of my insurance card and was told that they do in fact cover the procedure, I just had to 1. go to a doctor within their network, and 2. submit a request for authorization from the vascular surgeon who would be performing the op. So after around 5 phone calls to various vascular surgeons in the valley, I finally found one who does specialize in preventative care. I booked an appointment, paid my $40 co-pay and right away he issued an ultrasound on both of my legs to make sure there was no clotting or immediate risk. I walked out an hour later with 2 ultrasounds done, 1 request for laser vein removal and now I wait for authorization from BlueCross which now calls themselves Anthem.
I hope they cover it! But if they don’t, then at least I saved money on the ultrasound, and that makes me feel somewhat accomplished at the end of the day! I should know something within a couple of weeks I hope…wish me luck!
Technorati Tags Dr.-Marks, insurance, Laser, laser vein center, leg, procedure, Removal, schlerotherapy, treatment, ultrasound, varicose vein removal, Vein, vericose-veins
