airboatman631 wrote:Talk to the people at Florida Hospital, They are always helping people in need. They were going to pay for a liver transplant for my neice if she needed it. Instead they took great care of her and so far she is doing good and she didn't have to pay for anything. And she does have a job and works everyday just like you.
Also, I'll pray for God to intervene on your behalf. He'll get it done for ya!
akblackdawg wrote:Many doctors work out of several hospitals. Call the hospital and ask them. You are in florida with millions and millions of people, you have lots of Catholic hospitals, you can usually tell by the name of them. We are only 650000 in the entire state and have a couple of them, as well as the pvt ones. It's really no problem to change to a different hospital as long as it is not scheduled for tomorrow. Bud
Thanks Bud, I haven't scheduled the surgery yet becuase I need to get the financing in order first, thats why I've put it off till now, I didn't want to just go ahead and take it for granted that the price the Dr told me it was going to be was going to be correct. SOOOOO glad I started doing my homework on that... But what I really wasn't sure about was how Dr's were affiliated with hospitals, since this one is in the medical arts complex next to the hospital I didn't know if he had any contract or something like that with them to only do surgery out of that one hospital... I'll check on that today... Glad to know the surgery isn't too bad either, although I'm not sure the world is quite ready for 4 days with a silent "PC"... LOL
Whitebear wrote:Ha! Don't use any hospital that won't allow you to have M&Ms with your ice cream ! Know before you go !
In all seriousness Tanya, hope all goes well. Keep us posted.
My sis is some kind of High Power Nurse and she just told me where she has worked they knock out tonsils adult or child, like it was nothing. Said almost nobody has a harsh recovery but its a few days longer for adults.
Why do you think this problem hasn't been taken care of before now?? M&M's haven't been on the menu for my recovery foods!!! I might have to go on an crash diet of no M&M's whether I want to or not... I'm just not sure I'm in the frame of mind to be able to handle that kind of stress ya know... I guess I could try out the slogan "They melt in your mouth and not in your hands" and see if its actually true... personally I've never had them last long enough in either situation to have to worry about it before...
josh_2562 wrote:I would call shands in gainesville. They never said any thing about money when I had my back surgery till afterwards. I do have insurance. They said they would bill them and what every they didn't pay they would bill me. The Dr said I could just pay what ever I could afford each month.
Do you know who it was you talked with up at Shands by chance?? Billing office? I was basically told that to get the best deal that I needed to get the financial part of the surgery negotiated up front and paid for if I possibly could which at this point I have gotten them down from the MSRP of $20K down to $3600 if I can come up with the cash and they would consider the bill settled in full... and I'm almost betting I could push that a little further and get it down even farther if I played my cards right... You know perhaps batted my eyelashes, showed a little cleavage and perhaps shed a tear or two at an appropiate moment, but I really don't want to have to get that drastic if I don't have to...
Ruagatr wrote:I say we have a Painterchick fundraiser! She is really the only "chick" who puts up with us on a regular basis and she can design the prizes! If we had a raffle or auction for a full boat wrap (with a reserve price) and some rudder graphics etc, we could knock this out. What say the gang?
Maddog
Thanks Ruagatr! I appreciate the thought, I would be more than willing to do a raffle or auction of that nature, but I don't want people to just give me their hard earned money as a donation, I would rather earn it ... call it pride or what have you. But I'm not in the kind of shape that I feel like I deserve a fundraiser of sorts there are airboaters who need our help financially much worse than I do and I would much rather see someone donate to one of those causes and not this... this isn't a big deal at all... (and before Cherpa or Goldhunter pipes in, I WILL NOT be pole dancing at all either, no matter what!

) And I don't put up with you guys on here either, I love each and every one of you!!! I feel like you put up with me, not the other way around... I thrive on the harassment!
Cowboy Rock wrote:Tonia, I hope you are feeling better soon,,,
I think the Raffle is a good idea,,, or,,,
We can just set up a donation,,, Put out an address to send a check to,,,

Thanks Cowboy Rock.... I appreciate the concern! I'll put some serious thought into that Raffle idea...
fulldeck wrote:times are hard now, i'm on a limited income so the local clinic set my wife up on a indagent care program at the local hosp. not proud but she was i hosp after haveing a sezure, actully just the e.r. for 2 hrs. $7800.00. payem 5.00 a month, what else can ya do. check on indagent care program, ya got to do something. good luck and god bless.
I know the feeling, I REALLY didn't want to go to the ER yesterday just for that reason, but my family pushed me into it, so I did it more for peace of mind for them rather than me... I could still breathe even though it was a bit labored and the shot of steriods that they gave me in the cheek of my butt really did help tremendously... but after having a CT scan, I'm kinda terrified to know what the bill is going to be... thanks for the words of advise!
airboatman631 wrote:Talk to the people at Florida Hospital, They are always helping people in need. They were going to pay for a liver transplant for my neice if she needed it. Instead they took great care of her and so far she is doing good and she didn't have to pay for anything. And she does have a job and works everyday just like you.
Also, I'll pray for God to intervene on your behalf. He'll get it done for ya!
bruceharwell wrote:Go to/Call Tampa General/Shands/ORMC and ask for the "Patient Advocate". They work wonders, financially. It's amazing how the price will drop!!! The recovery may be a few days but you'll be glad you had the surgery. Good Luck!
AVOID small town hospitals, IMO.
Thanks guys... this is just another little bump in the road of life, I appreciate the words of wisdom!!
PeaRiverOpossum wrote:X2 on shands. Bottom line....It may sound cheesy but its your money so shop around like you would for anything else. When I had kidney stones and had to go to the ER my bill was in the neighborhood of 3500 and they settled for less than $400 cash...Considering most people are not concerned at all about being a drain on the system the hospitals are happy to get whatever they can. Also, they are more likely to take less if it is a ONE TIME payment. My mother manages a hospital system business office and that is where I got my info from. Good luck...Whatever you do, don't put it off and get sicker due to some sort of infection. That is very close to your BRAIN to be risking infection

I had NO idea until this came up that you could negotiate with a hospital for medical care... my eyes have been opened so much already... and thats what I'm shooting is a one time payment, I have learned that the price of the surgery will be dependant on how much money I can put down and how long I have to finance the rest... much like a car the best I can tell! But definitely CASH talks in big ways when it comes to medical stuff... wish I had known that before I paid $10,000 out of my pocket for my ankle surgery 10 years ago!
I figure being an airboater already means I have some sort of infection in my brain... LOL But I'm not gonna put this off any longer, I need to get it taken care of, simple as that... I was over at my parents last night and we were talking and came to realise that my voice very well may change after all this because my tonsils and sinuses have been giving me constant trouble since I was about 8 but up until now, (don't know if its been because I didn't have insurance or what) no Dr. has wanted to take them out even though one of my tonsils has been permanently swollen since I was little... But this time I've been sick WAYYYY too long and can't take it any longer, they're coming out one way or another! And I really prefer it not be my mom and her handy "junk drawer" scissors doing the cutting either... (I've seen what she's done with them in the past!!!

)
Thanks guys for all the advise so far!!! Keep it coming!!! I'll keep you posted as to what I find out, hopefully it will help someone else facing a upcoming surgery they don't have the cash for too!!!
T
