How much is Ross' teeth and surgery going to cost?

[Ross]

Honest to God Bonzo, I can clearly see why some people do break into violence over this stuff. There is absolutely no call for the stupidity that is going on. It's really pissing me off that those people get paid to be stupid and I don't get anything for doing their jobs for them. If I got paid for all the time I spend correcting them, maybe I would have enough money to do this thing.

 

[hensylee]

FOOTDRAGGING is a professional sport in government. I am pi**ed right along with you, Ross. They are not 'getting it'........

 

[Ross]

Well I just refaxed everything that I faxed on Saturday with an all new opening letter getting very specific of the tasks at hand. Now, if they can fudge that up now, I am definately going to be on CNN soon.

 

[Dawn-Marie]

Hi Ross ~ I'm sorry you're going through all this. I sometimes wonder if the people at Medicare get the same perks for denying care that people who work for HMO's do. My friend Joni used to work for a big HMO in Boston. She got vacations and dinners at really fancy restaurants for denying surgeries people needed. Then, she came back here to Jamestown and got hit by a drunk driver and had practically every bone in her body broke. Now she's on Medicare/Medicaid herself and fighting the system for every little thing. It's too bad as she is a nice person and was just doing what they expected of her.

My thoughts and prayers are with you and i hope you get this resolved favorably soon! I understand, too, why you're going crazy...what's happening to you is scary!!

Dawn-Marie

 

[Ross]

As of today, still 2164.16 short. Maybe the HMO's screw up is working to my advantage to find funding?

 

[Harrybaby666]

Now Wouldn't You Think...

Now Wouldn't You Think...

That if a person came up with a good deal of money, as Ross has, that the doctor's would bend a bit to help someone be able to get the work done....This is not right....These dudes have Porche's and Cadillacs for heavens sake.....I just don't understand why they couldn't make some sort of arrangement or at the very least help find some resources to fund the rest of what Ross needs....

I will step down off of my soapbox now.....Harrybaby

 

[Ross]

That if a person came up with a good deal of money, as Ross has, that the doctor's would bend a bit to help someone be able to get the work done....This is not right....These dudes have Porche's and Cadillacs for heavens sake.....I just don't understand why they couldn't make some sort of arrangement or at the very least help find some resources to fund the rest of what Ross needs....

I will step down off of my soapbox now.....Harrybaby

Harry while they themselves haven't offered jack, my appointed Rep, myself and the attorney have searched. There is nothing to be found that doesn't have a waiting list 3 to 4 years long.

 

[Harrybaby666]

I know...I know....it's just that

I know...I know....it's just that

I get really discouraged when people who really need help don't get it because of those who are on the system who don't need it, yet they reap the benefits.

 

[PairoDocs]

Ross,
Have you asked your primary care provider or your cardiologist for a referral? How about the County Commissioners or Community Action or your Congressman? How about the Mayor? As a primary care provider myself, I have done all of the above. I have gone to churches, The Salvation Army, and other groups like The Moose, The Elks, The Eagles, even the PTA. I've used The Lions, the hospital foundation, etc. I have even hospitalized patients so I could get the services I need for them and utilize social services. Fortunately, I worked a gazillion years in Public Health, and had access to a social worker who'd been at it even longer than me for the last several years. There are advantages to receiving care from The Public Health Service Doctors. Yes, we are "real" doctors, and some of us even finished in the top half of our class.

If you happen to have a PC provider unfamiliar with the system...
He/she needs to write and sign a letter including the following information:

Mr. Ross, at baseline, has a (many)serious and LIFE-THREATENING CONDITION(S), including...CHF, etc. He recently SUFFERED tooth abcesses and (give list of current problems) which require surgery. The new condition is a potentially LIFE-THREATENING condition. Without surgery, Mr. Ross could DIE or become further DISABLED or SUFFER significant MORBIDITY which affects his quality of life and prevents him from doing his own ADL's.
It is MEDICALLY NECESSARY for Mr. Ross to obtain these services. He has not been able to come up with the requisite amount of money for the services. Please (re)consider Mr. Ross's request for funding for the procedure. Thank for your timely attention to this matter.

I send it certified mail. If you want to, you can type the letter yourself and give it to your doctor to sign. If you don't hear from anyone, go to your congressmen, the newspaper, etc.

Granted, I am not too popular with the county commissioners. I have to enter the Kelley Pie Contest under my married name instead of my professional name, since they might judge me differently in the future if they ever found out who I am. Also, if you have Medicaid, you should have a caseworker. Get her(him) to call around for you.

Lotsa Lightening in Idaho,
-Laura

 

[Freddie]

I agree with Laura.
I think its time for you Ross to make your plea known and call the news paper and let The Salvation Army, and other groups like The Moose, The Elks, The Eagles know your situation.
Let your voice be heard.
(((((hugs)))))

 

[Ross]

Ross,
Have you asked your primary care provider or your cardiologist for a referral? How about the County Commissioners or Community Action or your Congressman? How about the Mayor? As a primary care provider myself, I have done all of the above. I have gone to churches, The Salvation Army, and other groups like The Moose, The Elks, The Eagles, even the PTA. I've used The Lions, the hospital foundation, etc. I have even hospitalized patients so I could get the services I need for them and utilize social services. Fortunately, I worked a gazillion years in Public Health, and had access to a social worker who'd been at it even longer than me for the last several years. There are advantages to receiving care from The Public Health Service Doctors. Yes, we are "real" doctors, and some of us even finished in the top half of our class.

If you happen to have a PC provider unfamiliar with the system...
He/she needs to write and sign a letter including the following information:

Mr. Ross, at baseline, has a (many)serious and LIFE-THREATENING CONDITION(S), including...CHF, etc. He recently SUFFERED tooth abcesses and (give list of current problems) which require surgery. The new condition is a potentially LIFE-THREATENING condition. Without surgery, Mr. Ross could DIE or become further DISABLED or SUFFER significant MORBIDITY which affects his quality of life and prevents him from doing his own ADL's.
It is MEDICALLY NECESSARY for Mr. Ross to obtain these services. He has not been able to come up with the requisite amount of money for the services. Please (re)consider Mr. Ross's request for funding for the procedure. Thank for your timely attention to this matter.

I send it certified mail. If you want to, you can type the letter yourself and give it to your doctor to sign. If you don't hear from anyone, go to your congressmen, the newspaper, etc.

Granted, I am not too popular with the county commissioners. I have to enter the Kelley Pie Contest under my married name instead of my professional name, since they might judge me differently in the future if they ever found out who I am. Also, if you have Medicaid, you should have a caseworker. Get her(him) to call around for you.

Lotsa Lightening in Idaho,
-Laura

Laura believe me, we've covered it all. Hensylee has seen all the letters written. My PCP is the one that raised hell with the dental society to get me into Mercy's dental clinic after everything else he tried, including getting his dentist to see me, failed. I've got letters out the wazzoo from both of the Doctors and it's all falling on deaf ears or slackers of the worst kind. And yes, I have Senator Regula involved also. We have not stopped looking, though I have to say we are all about done. There isn't much that hasn't been tried and in some cases retried. The help is just not there or if it is, it's years down the road.

I don't know about your county commissioners, but mine are not here to help anyone, they are here to take your money and help themselves. They hold a mortgage on my house right now until this forced sewer connection is paid for.

The admitting thing is all fine and dandy if hospitalization is going to be paid for, if not, it's a moot point.

I'm stuck like so many others in no mans land where you have just enough money to keep you from being able to get help, but not enough to help yourself. I thought we'd found a source yesterday, but they only help cancer patients, so if anyone in Ohio needs help with cancer funding, I have the address for the one and only charity that exists in the area.

Basically it goes like this. I have to go completely broke, no never mind that I'm already $5000 in debt and don't have the money to pay all that off and be able to live and now, I have to shell out more then that for just one crisis and afterwards, I'll be eligible for all sorts of help because I'll be pounded into the ground and getting public funding.

Heck I've even tried my church and a few others. Because I'm no longer an active member, they don't want to help because no one knows me. The generation that did have all passed away and they've been through 3 ministers since.

 

[OldManEmu]

Teeth

Teeth

Nothing surprises me about US health costs any more. I am concerned about "Extraction of the remaining 19 teeth", this is over half of the 32 permanent teeth. Complete tooth removal is very uncommon in Australia in any one that is a baby boomer or younger. It would be difficult to even find dentist would extract your remaining 19 teeth if they didn't have problems.

 

[Ross]

All of my teeth are shot. There isn't a one in my mouth that doesn't have a filling or decay and the rest are fillings that have fallen out and there is no way to keep them in any longer, they've been repaired that many times. I kid you not when I say that several are broken off down to the gum line or only a 1/4 or less of the tooth remains.

I was born with bad teeth and despite all my complaining about just getting them out when I really should have and being told not to, to hang on to my natural teeth as long as possible, I dumped huge sums of money into fixing them. I could have had 2 sets of dentures for what has been spent fixing them over and over again.

 

[marie]

TV or news reporter

TV or news reporter

Have you considered contacting a newspaper or TV reporter and getting your story out there. Maybe some one would come through for you.

 

[Ross]

Yes I have, but what's holding me back there is that I've been in it before. Sure you have your good samaritans, but we had a lot of very nasty people contacting us also. I don't need that again.

 

[hensylee]

Ross,
Have you asked your primary care provider or your cardiologist for a referral? How about the County Commissioners or Community Action or your Congressman? How about the Mayor? As a primary care provider myself, I have done all of the above. I have gone to churches, The Salvation Army, and other groups like The Moose, The Elks, The Eagles, even the PTA. I've used The Lions, the hospital foundation, etc. I have even hospitalized patients so I could get the services I need for them and utilize social services. Fortunately, I worked a gazillion years in Public Health, and had access to a social worker who'd been at it even longer than me for the last several years. There are advantages to receiving care from The Public Health Service Doctors. Yes, we are "real" doctors, and some of us even finished in the top half of our class.

If you happen to have a PC provider unfamiliar with the system...
He/she needs to write and sign a letter including the following information:

Mr. Ross, at baseline, has a (many)serious and LIFE-THREATENING CONDITION(S), including...CHF, etc. He recently SUFFERED tooth abcesses and (give list of current problems) which require surgery. The new condition is a potentially LIFE-THREATENING condition. Without surgery, Mr. Ross could DIE or become further DISABLED or SUFFER significant MORBIDITY which affects his quality of life and prevents him from doing his own ADL's.
It is MEDICALLY NECESSARY for Mr. Ross to obtain these services. He has not been able to come up with the requisite amount of money for the services. Please (re)consider Mr. Ross's request for funding for the procedure. Thank for your timely attention to this matter.

I send it certified mail. If you want to, you can type the letter yourself and give it to your doctor to sign. If you don't hear from anyone, go to your congressmen, the newspaper, etc.

Granted, I am not too popular with the county commissioners. I have to enter the Kelley Pie Contest under my married name instead of my professional name, since they might judge me differently in the future if they ever found out who I am. Also, if you have Medicaid, you should have a caseworker. Get her(him) to call around for you.

Lotsa Lightening in Idaho,
-Laura

he has those letters from two doctors, Laura. I read them.

I was once a county social worker and I tried many different ways of getting help for people, too. I would call the sheriff, churches, civic clubs, etc. Often I found when I asked 'do you know of any other organization that might be able to help out' and often that one would refer to another.

wonder if a contact to American Dental Assoc would make any difference???

 

[Ross]

he has those letters from two doctors, Laura. I read them.

I was once a county social worker and I tried many different ways of getting help for people, too. I would call the sheriff, churches, civic clubs, etc. Often I found when I asked 'do you know of any other organization that might be able to help out' and often that one would refer to another.

wonder if a contact to American Dental Assoc would make any difference???

Been there and done that. Got referred to the Ohio dental options program. I applied and so did RCB's wife. Neither of us have even so much as had our apps approved let alone help. I called about it and they have currently, a 3 year waiting list. RCB's wife couldn't wait either, they had to forgo the expenses also.

 

[PairoDocs]

From Pairodocs-Laura

From Pairodocs-Laura

Ross,
I did this with my mother once...
Growing up, we did not have much money (an understatement). (I grew up in Chicago and the 'burbs.) Therefore, we did not have health insurance. Through a snafu, we couldn't get Medicaid. I'm not sure that my parents would have gone for it anyway, since we "owned" a house; the payments were less by far than we would pay for a two-bedroom apartment. My sisters and I all did baby-sitting, driveway-shoveling, gardening, and lawn-mowing for extra cash, and went to work at 15 with a work permit.

My mother has terrible teeth in addition to a multitude of health problems. Our dentist could not do the surgery, and so referred her with specifics. The oral surgeon gave her an estimate; my father sold his car and bought a less expensive used one to pay. We went in for the appointment with the cash, signed in, and went back to our seats. I drove since my mother would need anesthesia. The receptionist called us back because she needed an insurance card. Naturally, we did not have one. We told her we were self-pay and had the cash. She then told us that the oral surgeon could not see us; what if there were complications? I was a high-school student taking a business class, so I reminded her of the law. By this time she was asking us to step around the corner, since we were in front of a room full of patients. I refused; this was before the problems with identity theft and I wanted everyone in the room to see what kind of person this surgeon was. I stated that we would make payments if there were complications; my parents were paying hospital bills for a sister's appendectomy and for another emergent surgery and hadn't missed a payment yet.

My mother, who was quite sick from her infection, burst into tears. The receptionist asked us to leave. I refused. She threatened to call the police and have us removed. I told her to go ahead, because at least they would take care of my mother in jail. By this time, people in the waiting room were starting to leave. I went to use a pay phone across the hall to call our regular dentist, and came back.

To this day I am not sure what changed the surgeon's mind, but finally they took my mother back for surgery. I do know that our dentist had a conversation with this surgeon that involved phrases like "hundreds of thousands of dollars in referrals", etc. They would not allow me to go with her since I was a minor. There was quite a ruckus in the back. When my mother came out of the room, the entire left side of her face was swollen and bruised, and she had a trickle of blood out of the side of her mouth. The remaining folks in the waiting room looked scared and startled, but the deed was done. I also saw that she had a large spreading bruise on her shoulder, and she stated it was from "the machine he had to use to get the teeth out " which had "slipped". I had no idea what that machine was, but we paid the receptionist and even gave the extra $100 we had with. We were met with stony silence and I didn't care. I even managed to thank her, although I never did get to talk to the surgeon. I always thought he was a bit of a coward for letting his receptionist take all the heat. Now that I think about it, I would be worried about seeing someone who didn't want to see me; maybe I would get substandard care but be charged full price. I guess I didn't think, then. Fortunately, my mother recovered nicely except for the occasional pain she gets in that shoulder (not kidding).

Normally, I am somewhat timid with authority, but something got into me that day. I always liked our dentist, even though my sisters hated him because he would tease them and quiz them on history, etc. He charged us $10 for a prophylactic visit. I was in my residency before I figured out how much it really cost. I went back to thank him. His response? "I saw that you walked or rode bikes to the office, and paid whatever I asked without question. It's not like you roared up in a Mercedes and argued about the bill."

So, Ross, maybe you can come out here! Dental care is half the price; you could stay with us, and I know all the oral surgeons. I have listened to many a rant on poor Medicaid reimbursement (alas, too true). I am a pretty good beggar, though, and these guys are more friends than acquaintances.(advantage of a small town). If there are complications, you get admitted. I also know a number of folks who went to Mexico to get their dental work-American doctors, Web sites available to check their handiwork.

Well, just a bit of history. Hope it works out.

Rainy day in Idaho (Halleluja!)
-Laura

 

[Cris N]

Sure wish I had an answer to your problem, but I do have another thought. I had to have all my teeth removed prior to my surgery... it was done on a Friday & surgery was on Monday. I wound up at an oral surgeon who sedated me and yanked ‘em all out. I don’t think the appointment lasted more than 45 minutes. All he did was pull them – did not do any prep work for dentures. So, after I was done with the hospital (had to go back in for 9 more days shortly after I was sent home after surgery) I went to Affordable Dentures. They were very accommodating and very reasonably priced.

They do extractions ($65-70 for ‘simple’ – $120ish for ‘complex’). Also, there is the disclaimer that people with unusual health conditions – blah, blah, blah. . They have a New Denture Wearer package – get temporary dentures – usually same day and then get final ones in 6-12 months.

I don’t know what sort of denture prep work they generally do or the cost – but perhaps you might be able to do without??? (I never had any done & I’m managing)

There are 2 locations in NE Ohio (slightly different prices) – don’t know if you’ve checked them out. Of course, they require immediate payment – but it may be in the range of what you’ve already acquired. It’s conceivable that they may bargain a bit given your circumstances.

Sure hope you can get something worked out somewhere, somehow. This is a deplorable situation.

 

[Ross]

Sure wish I had an answer to your problem, but I do have another thought. I had to have all my teeth removed prior to my surgery... it was done on a Friday & surgery was on Monday. I wound up at an oral surgeon who sedated me and yanked ‘em all out. I don’t think the appointment lasted more than 45 minutes. All he did was pull them – did not do any prep work for dentures. So, after I was done with the hospital (had to go back in for 9 more days shortly after I was sent home after surgery) I went to Affordable Dentures. They were very accommodating and very reasonably priced.

They do extractions ($65-70 for ‘simple’ – $120ish for ‘complex’). Also, there is the disclaimer that people with unusual health conditions – blah, blah, blah. . They have a New Denture Wearer package – get temporary dentures – usually same day and then get final ones in 6-12 months.

I don’t know what sort of denture prep work they generally do or the cost – but perhaps you might be able to do without??? (I never had any done & I’m managing)

There are 2 locations in NE Ohio (slightly different prices) – don’t know if you’ve checked them out. Of course, they require immediate payment – but it may be in the range of what you’ve already acquired. It’s conceivable that they may bargain a bit given your circumstances.

Sure hope you can get something worked out somewhere, somehow. This is a deplorable situation.

Chris I've thought about it, but with my underlying lung issues, I don't feel comfortable doing this in an office setting. Surgery and I don't get along as is and should something arise, I'd need to be in a fully equiped OR.

The prices aren't really much different except for the Dentures. Could save about $700 total on those, but the extractions would be about the same.

Were you able to wear your dentures right away? I'm being told to forget temporary's because my mouth will be to sore and swollen to wear them and that they cost just as much as the permanents to make, all to throw them away later. In other words, I'm going to be walking around with no teeth for 6 to 8 weeks. I'm not enjoying that idea at all. Guess what I want to know is, if you haven't any teeth, how or what were you able to eat without it being pretty much liquified?