Okay, so for those of you keeping score, here's the more or less final tally on my medical bills:

1. Medi-Cal: I'm not eligible. Hunter is eligible for the first year, but we're still up in the air whether or not they're going to cover the $2000 for his nursery care while we were in the hospital.

2. Doctors: Although prenatal appointments are usually included in a Global Obstetrics Bill, they are breaking out the appointments and billing the insurance for those visits which took place while I was covered. For the rest, I was able to take money out of my Roth IRAs (which means I don't have to declare the withdrawal as income, since it's a qualified medical expense) to make a lump sum payment of 75% (roughly $2600) and they wrote off the remainder.

3. Anesthesiologist: Agreed to accept Contracted Amount, rather than Billed Amount. I.E. They bill at $65 per unit, but the insurance only pays at $35/unit. They're going to be sending me a revised bill (I'm estimating about $2000) which I'll also pay with monies from my IRAs (which haven't really been doing anything, anyway.)

4. Hospital: Hunter's part of the bill is still pending Medi-Cal decision regarding retro payments. My part of the bill, however, of $44,000, is being entirely written off.

Yes, you read that correctly.

I asked the woman in the billing department who has been helping me if I could send her a fruit basket; she said she was just doing her job.

I am very relieved.

---

QotD

Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes in the morning.
-- Psalm 30