[Fr. Frank]

Originally Posted by Topflitegraphics

... have almost 175K in medical debt now from my heart attack I need to buy one as cheap as possible. (yes, that is the real number the hospital wants from just 33 hr stay)

I'm a parish priest of a very small congregation, and I, too, went looking for the best I could find in a smaller motor for my '88 18' Seacraft. I ended up getting a 2010 Etec 90 with under 200 hours for just $3K.

My (then) teen-aged daughter had gynecological surgery that her Dr's office assured us had been pre-authorized by the insurance company. They had, in fact only submitted the paperwork for authorization, and had not received a reply before the surgery took place. The insurance company rejected the claim after the surgery saying it was "not medically necessary".

We went through the appeals process and it was still rejected. Both the surgeon and anesthesiologist waived their bills, and the radiologist agreed to take just the copay as payment.

The hospital sent us a bill for over $80K. After the failed negotiations with the insurance company, we went to negotiate with the hospital, and they ended up accepting $1400 as full payment, which was slightly more than they would have gotten from the insurance company if the claim had been approved originally.

Being somewhat tenacious, I then submitted the receipt for my payment to the hospital to my insurance company for reimbursement, along with a copy of the Dr.'s original documentation saying the surgery was medically necessary. I was reimbursed for 80% of the $1400. All in all, the negotiations took almost a year.