Pre-Op appointment versus yearly wellness check

I hope this an appropriate question here, and sorry for a bunch of useless info, but I'm just frustrated and venting a bit. lol

Question: Are there generally strict limitations to what labs a doctor can ask for when doing a pre-op? For example, could the doctor request a thyroid level check or complete blood work like they do for a yearly exam?

Details:

I saw my primary for the first time 9 months ago and then had a pre-op with them a couple of months ago with a 2nd follow-up phone visit. (So three visits in less than a year.)

I have another pre-op with her in 3 months and it's just two weeks before my scheduled yearly wellness exam. When we made the pre-op I told the assistant to just cancel the yearly as I didn't think it was necessary to see her weeks apart like that, especially considering I am getting a full cardio exam, CT and MRI scans, a colonoscopy/endoscopy, a mammogram and a whole boatload of blood work before seeing her for the pre-op.

The assistant really pushed back and said they were two separate appointments that couldn't be combined becasue of insurance billing codes. I explained I wasn't wanting to combine appointments and tried to make it clear that I was just confused as to why the second exam was medially necessary since I was getting the pre-op. The assistant just kept parroting that it was an insurance billing issue, and she never could/would explain what blood work or exam the doctor would not be able to do or request at the pre-op becasue of insurance. (And I asked this becasue the only additional thing I could think of was needing my thyroid levels checked to continue my prescription.)

I'm trying to be a good patient, but I would really love just one week without a medical appointment, and I got pretty frustrated with the assistant's lack of explanation as to why the yearly is necessary. I'm not proud of it and I know she was just doing her job, but about the fifth time she just sighed and repeated that it was a billing code issue, I finally told her this just sounded like a ploy to get more money from insurance and inconvenience me for no valid reason. She clapped back that she didn't care what I did and I was free to cancel it myself if I "couldn't understand the billing issue".

submitted by /u/Bunny_OHara
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