Out-of-network Urgent Care

Hello,

A month ago I woke up in excruciating pain in my abdomen and had a vasovagal response. Turned out to be a cyst burst in my ovary…never experienced pain like that before in my life.

Anyway, in the midst of it I used my BCBS app to click "find urgent care" and had my boyfriend drive me to the address listed. The place was not, in fact, urgent care so I called the phone number on my card, asked for an in-network facility, and she said to go to the nearest ER because they cover emergency services whether or not in or out of network.

Well, the nearest place was an urgent care and I was pretty scared at this point so we just went there.

Unfortunately, it was out-of-network and I am being billed a bit over $2,000 for an office visit, lab work and CT scan.

My in-network deductible is $1,100, I pay about $340/mo premium, and out-of-network deductible is $20,000. I am the only person on my plan.

I am considering filing an appeal, but am hoping for some advice here because at this point I'd almost rather pay it and drop BCBS – this situation seems so crooked to me and I'm ending up paying cash in addition to my premium anyway. Would rather have skipped paying the premium and paid out of pocket since I cannot depend on my insurance to back me up in an emergency.

submitted by /u/vrbarnes
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