Healthcare Reform = Totally free Preventive Care? Not Precisely

Inside of the new health care law, "preventive care" is meant to be 100
% free with no deductible or co-pay. So I went for a physical last month
– and got billed $730.

You call this 100 % free?
I got my "free" physical last month. But 2 or 3 days ago, the bills
began coming in: $600 worth of "laboratory services, " $70 for
"radiology services, " and $60 for "diagnostic services. " Since this
was undoubtedly an error, I called my insurer. What did they say? That
much of what constituted my preventive care wasn't covered by the new law.
Of the seven laboratory services (translation: blood and urine tests)
accomplished on me, only three were in theory insured: the urinalysis,
cholesterol screening, and PSA screening. I use the word "theoretically"
considering even those tests weren't 100 % free. I was charged for them
because, depending on my insurance company, my doctor's office did not
properly code them when they were transmitted.
I guess chest X-rays shouldn't provide enough "strong scientific
evidence of their health benefits" to go muster either, because that
radiology service also wasn't covered, nor was the EKG I was presented
with. As my insurance company pointed out, they don't fall into the
category of routine preventive services as recognized by the U. S.
Preventive Services Task Force, the government agency that chooses
exactly what preventive care insurance companies should be paying for.
Also not covered was the cost of drawing blood: Although blood tests
noted above are covered, based on my insurance company, you're on your
own when it comes to extracting the blood you want tested.
Net result? The only cost my insurance company paid for my annual
physical was $80 for the office visit.
It's not as bad as it sounds
While a lot of the expense of my physical wasn't covered, much of it was
radically reduced by virtue of the discount I receive through my
insurance provider. For example, while the lab work totaled $612, after
the discount, it came to only $57. 25. And I can go back to my doctor
and ask them to recode and resubmit the covered tests, which would
reduce the bill further. I also got a significant discount on the chest
X-ray, reducing the price from $70 to $26. 64, and my EKG went from $60
to $20. So the cost of my physical, while not free, was still
negligible. Disappointing, but still money well spent.
I just wish someone had told me that my "free" physical wouldn't
actually be free. Then maybe I could have discussed my options with my
doctor, been prepared to see the bill and most important, I could have
avoided a half-hour on the phone demanding an explanation from various
representatives of my insurer.