I went along (as most of us do), and he gave me a recommendation for a gastroenterologist, Dr. Jan Shin. I called Aetna to be sure that she was in my network, and she was. I visited her, and her office set up an appointment for me at the Mulberry Ambulatory Surgical Center in Newark, NJ. A few days later, I called Aetna to be sure that Mulberry is also in my network. The very nice Aetna guy told me that my plan covers out-of-network plans at 50% after an $8,000 deductible. As you can see from the email that I sent my husband that day (at the bottom of the page), I thanked him and then started over with a new GI - because I did not want "an unexpected bill for probably thousands of dollars that wasn't covered at all by insurance."
I found another gastroenterologist, Dr. Alaa Salah-Eldin. His office informed me that he does his colonoscopies at Meadowlands Hospital Medical Center in Secaucus, NJ. So I again got on the phone with Aetna, and this time I was assured that Meadowlands Hospital is in my network. Based on that information, I went ahead with the procedure.
What Aetna DID NOT tell me was that I would still have to pay a $4,000 deductible.
If they had, I would have cancelled immediately. I was not sick. There's NO colon cancer in my family. I did this as a recommended, prescribed screening by my doctor. I only had it because I was led to believe that it would not cost me anything.
Meadowlands Hospital is now billing me for $3,756.20 for a routine
