Okay, this is maybe the third time I’ve asked for advice and I keep updating as things happen, and I finally have an itemized bill.

To summarize: I recieved a bill from the hospital and the eob was sent to my father. The eob lists charges for 3 diagnostic tests, $400, $60, and $80. My bill says laboratory $500. Neither explained what exactly the charges were for. I had one vaginal panel done even though I didn’t want to. My gynecologist said she wanted to even without any signs of infection. I have no idea why one vaginal panel would be $500 and I’ve been trying to dispute the charges. My insurance company just laughed, said I was wrong while they guessed why, then repeadedly told me I could pay over the phone. I messaged the gynecology office twice and I finally got ahold of them on the 7th call. I asked the billing department to send me an itemized bill, which just arrived, and now I’m even more confused and don’t know what to do.

The itemized bill doesn’t list any diagnostic tests or labs. It only lists S0610 routine pelvic exam and says they’re charging me a total of $173. A routine pelvic exam is supposed to be completely covered by my insurance so I don’t know how they’re charging me. But I also don’t understand how the itemized bill does not list any labs. And I don’t know where this $173 came from.

Is the $173 itemized bill supposed to replace the $500 one? Why wouldn’t the labs be listed? Who am I supposed to call now, the hospital, insurance or both? What am I even supposed to say? I don’t know where to begin from here, and no one in my family even has a clue, and some of them are nurses.

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Here’s a bit from one of my previous posts:

“I probably sound like an idiot because I know absolutely nothing about insurance. I’m under my dad’s highmark bluecross blueshield insurance and have never called an insurance company before. All I really know is that preventative care is usually covered. I got my first pelvic exam and knew that a routine one was covered, but they also took a swab for a vaginal panel. I made a post a few days ago because I received a random $500 bill from a lab they did. I was told they’d test for bacterial vaginosis even though we both knew I didn’t have it.

Anyway, I didn’t know what was and wasn’t included in a routine pelvic exam and I also don’t know what all the labs they did are. I’ve messaged the gynecology office twice and they finally responded to my third call. The office told me they couldn’t tell me what labs I was being billed for and transferred my call to billing. The billing department told me they couldn’t tell me what labs I was being billed for and said I needed to call the laboratory. When I called the laboratory, they said they couldn’t tell me what labs they did.

So now I need to call my insurance company and ask them everything. I have an insurance card and two bills that I was mailed. I don’t have an itemized bill. One says laboratory and another says diagnostic test three times. I don’t know exactly what tests were done or anything.”