Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Jumping Through Hoops


The short story: we have a button and pump coming on Thursday. The formula should come into the pharmacy shortly thereafter.

The long story: The Home Healthcare Company (HHC) called me back early yesterday afternoon. They are in our area on Thursdays, they said, and could drop off the pump and his Mic-Key button that day. Our insurance, however, would only pay half the cost, so we would have to pony up $500 per month to pay for his pump rental.

I told them to go ahead and schedule delivery, because we really needed to start the nighttime feeds to see if they help him gain weight. I then called our Amazing Nurse J and told her what the cost was going to be. She was concerned at the cost and told us that we could also do gravity feeds at night: basically, we could set an alarm and get up twice during the night to feed him with a syringe. Considering we couldn't do $500 per month as a long-term solution, I thought that sounded just fine.

Still, something didn't set right. I looked online and found brand new pumps for $1,000. The HHC charges $12,000 per year to rent one. Are you kidding me?

In the meantime, Dennis was on the phone with our insurance company, to determine why they would only pay 50% of the cost. As it turns out, they do only pay 50% of the cost if the tube feeds are supplemental. If they are his sole source of nutrition, they pay all costs. The upshot is that we have met our maximum out-of-pocket for Nolan this year (I haven't finished calculating, but let's just say our expenses this year are in the $10,000 range - and we haven't bought new hearing aids yet).

Since we have met the deductible for him, the pump rental will be free until the end of the year. The formula will only be $50 per month.

This required another call to the HHC to determine why they calculated a $500 per month bill when we had met our deductible. As it turns out, they were billing us without looking at our individual policy. They know that our insurance only pays 50% for durable medical equipment (DME), so they billed us half the monthly cost. After talking to a few high level managers, they corrected the error and we won't get a $500 bill in the mail each month. They also re-trained their employees to look at the individual policy rather than the payment rates, since many people with complex medical needs meet their deductible early in the year.

In January, however, we will get a bill for $500 every month. We will be returning the pump before January 1, 2013.

The sad thing is, the HHC charges $12,000 to rent a pump that only costs $1,000 to buy outright. There are used ones on eBay for $200. We mentioned this to the HHC and they stated that those pumps don't come with a service contract.

You know, Dennis and I both have degrees in biochemistry and have worked with peristaltic pumps for a long time. Pumps that are much more precise and fickle than a feeding pump. You can buy a pharmaceutical grade pump (with service contract) for about $4,000. We're not so worried about the service contract. For $12,000 per year, we could buy 60 pumps on eBay.

I honestly can't figure out why the insurance company (which is willing to pay half the cost every month) hasn't figured this out. They could buy every child who requires feeds a pump (minus exorbitant service contract) for a lot less money than renting one through the HHC. They could even buy each child two pumps and come out ahead, and the family could have one as a back-up if the first one breaks.

Anyhow, if there are other families out there who are hit by this same ridiculous fee (in the USA), go take a look on eBay. It'll save you some serious money.


5 comments:

Herding Grasshoppers said...

Oh my gosh, Leah, my teeth would be ground to nubs dealing with this insanity! Hang in there, my friend!

Julie

Julia said...

[long string of profanity] And I really have nothing to add to that. Except that I'm glad you found a better solution for the time being. I would suggest chocolate and a bubble bath, but like this call for more extreme measures. Just fill the tub with melted chocolate and hop in.

Julia said...

["times like" this call for...]

Kyla said...

So frustrating! We own our pump (didn't pay for it), but the HHC has come to service it without charging us when we asked. We can get a new one every 5 years.

Will his doctors not just write the script as if he IS totally tube-fed so you can bypass all this?

leah said...

Hopefully the insanity will be sorted out in the end. The pump and button should be delivered by tomorrow, and hopefully we'll have the formula shortly thereafter!