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Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Dr. JB's Outrageous Fee Increase

 I called the RI's office today to set up an appointment with the Dr to go over my plan. I have to pay 3 months at a time. I explained that I was purchasing another 3 months and what I usually pay for it. Then she put me on hold for 10 minutes. Then she comes back and tells me that she will need to call me back. HMMMM So 30 min later the office manager calls me back to tell me about a fee increase. While I can understand a small increase bc prices are going up everywhere, his cost for talking to me on the phone and ordering lab tests has not gone up. So I thought maybe an extra hundred. I almost passed out when she tells me that I will now have to pay DOUBLE............WHAT???? Then she tries to make me feel better bc since I am an established patient I ONLY have to pay double bc new patients will have to pay triple........Of course they decide to tell me at the start of my cycle when I have no choice.

Now I do not know what to do. This is outrageous. Since I pay out of pocket, there is nothing I can do about it. I put the word out on the yahoo immunology board to alert his patients and to see what others have to say about it.

He said that he was going to do basically the same protocol this month. I still have 2 more refills on the neupogen so I could just take it myself without needing him. I do not even know if the neupogen had any effect. I am getting more immune tests done this week and it will take two weeks to get the results back. I was thinking about sitting this one out and waiting until I get the results and go from there.

I am looking into different immune drs, but there are not too many out there. I have heard that most are overbooked and they charge about the same. Now that he doubled his price maybe they will be cheaper? I do not want to have to pay the new consult fee again bc this last one was very expensive. I have already invested a lot of money into Dr JB
My DH wants me to send him an email. I am so mad right now that I have to cool down before I do that. Plus I am not even sure what I want to do yet.

Does anyone have a good immune dr that has reasonable fees and will not charge a huge new patient fee if you transfer?


UGHH maybe this is a sign that I should quit?

5 comments:

  1. What! Double! That is crazy- I am so sorry. Can they not understand how all these treatments/meds..etc puts us in debt! I would totally write him a letter/email explaining your situation and asking to be grandfathered in at the old rate. Dont quit yet- fight first!
    I hope it works out.

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  2. Thanks Rita,
    Glad to see you can post again!
    I emailed two different immune drs last night. I explained the situation and mentioned that I want to find a new dr but cannot afford another consultation fee. One already emailed me back. She wants to talk for free 20- 30 min to explain services and fees. This is longer than Dr Braverman's consult and he charged me 1,000. Maybe this is a blessing in disguise.

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  3. Oh wow. That's ridiculous! I'm with St. Rita. Maybe ask him to grandfather you in since you're already in the process. But, as we all know, they can charge whatever they want. He kind of has you over the barrel. Sounds really manipulative. I'm praying this works out to be a blessing in some unknown way right now. Keep us posted!

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  4. I posted on the immune board and someone posted that their fee did not go up. So I had my DH call. It turns out that since I am not doing IVF I was paying less which makes sense bc I do not need to be monitored. I just needed a phone call once a month to make a plan. The office manager said that my fee went up. I am feeling discriminated here and feel like since I am not paying 20,000 extra for IVF he wants to charge me more even though he is not doing that much for me. MY DH asked when they came up with this change. She said recently since she was hired last week......He said it was not nice to spring this on us. So she gave us one more month and then next month I will have to buy a 3 pack for 1,250 if I want to stay. UGGGGG

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  5. Hi ~ I've been having cycles managed by Dr. B for the last two months (on my third now) from out of state ~ I'm being charged $1250/month cycle management fee. I was charged $650 for initial phone consult and $350 for follow-up phone consult before the cycle management (which is basically, it seems, development of protocol, prescribing meds, and being available to answer questions, mostly via email. Are these the same charges you experienced?

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