House Clinic and Insurance

[gdthoms]

I know that people from all  over the US go to House and so I was wondering if anyone would have some information about insurance. I am a teacher from Southern Oregon and I have sent my MRI in to Dr. Brackmann. My insurance company is not contracted with them so I was wondering if after "usual and customary" charges are paid for will there still be a large amount of expenses to pay? I have a PPO that will pay 90% "in network" and 70% "out of network". My maximum out-of-pocket is 2,000. I have NF2 and feel tht Dr. Brackmann is my best hope.

[russ]

Hi
  If you have NF-2, I would say HEI is your best bet also.
  When you say max. out of pocket is $2K, is that for one year because NF-2 will be an ongoing process?
  I understand HEI works well with ins. providers.
  Russ  - NF-2

[gdthoms]

Yes, that is for one year. I just found out that House is on my out-of-state PPO list. Dr. Brackmann called me and gave me the name of his insurance specialist, Rita. I am going to give her a call this week. He reviewed my MRI and my AN is 1.3 cm. He said they have had good results with smaller AN's such as mine. If all goes well I intend to schedule my surgery in June when school gets out. I teach elementary school.

[Mary]

My Mother has medicare and BC/BS from teachers retirment ( my father was an elem. principle ).   I could not believe the amount that mom's bill was reduced.   Mostly because of medicare.   We are still waiting for medicare to pay us so we can pay the House.   Every month we get a bill from the House.   Interest charges are added on.   I talked to Rita and they know it takes time for payment.   Their company that sends their bills automatically adds on the charges but we do not have to pay for them.   The bill will be adjusted when we make the payment.

So I can't answer your question but they do work with you.   Just get all the answers out before the surgery.

Mom is 81 and had a 4.5 cm AN on the right side, removed on 11/3/05.   She is doing great.   I truely believe they are the best for surgery.

Good luck
Mary

[Jeff]

Hi gdthoms,
My name is Jeff and I am a fellow teacher with NF2.  I taught in Oregon for 4 years and still have family in the Willamette Valley including my father and brother who also have NF2. My brother and I travel to for treatment. In fact, my brother is having surgery performed by Dr. Brackmann and Dr. Hitselbeger for tumor removal and ABI implantation this week. He is not having surgery at St Vincent, however. He is having surgery at a nearby Kaiser hospital because that is his insurer. I had surgery at House in Dec 2003 and thought was very pleased with my choice. I work with Dr. Friedman there. He reviews the MRI scans that I have every 6 months. I will be back there some time to have my other tumor removed. Please feel free to contact me personally if you would like me to share any experiences or ideas with you. Just send me a private message and we can exchange email addresses.
Best wishes,
Jeff