Any one got extra white blood cells?

Well, crap. My WBC (white blood cell) count is pretty low, so I won't be able to do my regular rounds scrubbing toilets at the walk in clinics.

I'm too low to do treatment now, but am scheduled to go back later this week to see if my counts come up to normal (low) levels. If not, I may have to either take some shots to increase my WBC production (thank you Amgen!) or potentially delay treatment...a pretty horrible option from my point of view. So...we know what we're praying for this week.

Just reviewed the financials so far, for those of you that are interested. So far >$35k billed to insurance company, $29k of which was reviewed, insurance company is paying just over $8k, we're out about $1k in various fees/copays, etc so far.

The startling number is the difference between billed & paid, $20k (once you remove what we've paid). I'm not exactly sure how the whole system works, but I'm surprised nonetheless at the dramatic difference between what a hospital bills for service and what the insurance company will actually pay for that service. This is where a known issue that a lot of folks have duped has come in, where the hospital bills the patient for the balance (which is illegal)--and if (they have not) my hospital did it, we'd receive an invoice for $20k in unpaid balances. Not a risk in our case, but I'm not surprised about the how/why it happens. The surgery is the largest discrepancy, by far--only about 15% paid by the insurance company. In my opinion, for all that was done that day, the number paid out is exceedingly low for the number of specialists involved. Remarkably low. Hospital losing money kind-of-low.
Each day of chemo is billed at just over $2k, insurance paid is just over $1k, and out of pocket is $25. That doesn't include the secondary/prophylactic drugs (anti-nausea, etc.) that I take at home.

That being said, three things from this:
1. Insurance companies apparently are doing a good job negotiating rates with docs. I'm surprised that docs are willing to participate at this % of their fee schedule.
2. I'm delighted by our insurance coverage. The largest expenses have been meds and copays, both a deal considering the nature of the disease. Financially, we hardly have cause to bat an eye...especially when I compare it to our investment performance.
3. If you don't have insurance, you have a hell of a lot of room to bargain. The first question you should ask is what would a large insurance company pay for this same procedure, that alone could get you an 85% discount from "list"! Then go from there on the negotiation...

Back to growing some more WBCs.