Now, I’m really not complaining or anything, but I now have received 3 orders from Animas without receiving any bill. I was ordering smaller amounts up until the most recent order so they aren’t from that long ago. But the first order was received 6/11, the second 6/29 and the 3rd 8/30. I’ve received my insurance approval notice for the first two orders both within a couple weeks of the order. Are Animas bills normally that delayed? It’s kind of fun to keep ordering stuff without every paying for it! I’m kidding, but it would be nice to have some idea of when the bills will come. I’m sure it varies but what has been your experience?
Zoe, just a thought…maybe they can Email them to you?
I think I would ask.
Surprises are not fun!
It actually won’t add up to enough to freak me out, Laura (I only pay 20% on my insurance and then have another 30% discount taken off that). - + one can always hope they forget about it altogether…lol
I was just curious what other people’s experience was.
Had someone mention this to me but he found out he had reached his max out of pocket on his insurance so ended up owing nothing on his pump. Otherwise it seems like something more is going on. If they showed you as owing money you would at least think they would say something when you order more? Deny you an order? Something???
You would think! I’ve looked under “balance” on the Animas site and it doesn’t show anything. I’ve never had the maximum out of pocket experience so I’d have to look that up.
Basically this guy was hospitalized and ended up paying his max. I think my max is like $2,000 but that is AFTER copays and deductibles etc so even whe I go to the doc a whole lot I never come close. BUT I believe you got your pump this ?year? so maybe that helped?
Not necessarily maxing your out of pocket. I have been with animas for 4 yrs now and the bills seem to never come. I almost forget about it and then it shows up. I just upgraded to the ping at the beginning of June, I called them today to see what my outstanding balance is and the lady told me I would be receiving my invoice in the mail NEXT month!! It is kind of nice, but I still haven’t figured out why they wait so long.
I just reread my brochure, MossDog and found my max excludes office visit copays (which I had assumed in my figuring) and my year’s deductable ($500) which I had not, so I no way can have hit my max.
Hospitalization is my worst fear, financially. Recently I had a scare that my benign arrhythmia may have turned into coronary disease and my thoughts about possible heart surgery reinforced my awareness that I have to switch (reluctantly) to Kaiser this year.
Ah, thanks, markese, sounds like you and I at least must be on the slow billing track. Again, just curious, not complaining…lol
Maybe this lack of billing is why Animas has had to crack down so hard on filling people’s orders exactly how they are written by the endo. No wonder they are cutting the budget… they aren’t getting paid!
As far as bills go from Animas, I am lucky and get 100% coverage (for now), so I can’t offer much insight into that.
That might be the case, kphil, but since I got the insurance reports on the first two shipments, I’m guessing they already got paid by my insurance company which is a lot larger sum then they get from me!
I thought of that, or I thought maybe they are behind in paying the infusion set companies…but nah, probably not.
First pump I had through MM, no customers in the HMO were getting billed and it lasted one whole year.
MM blamed the HMO, the HMO blamed MM.
Who knows, but it was a mess.
If it went on that long, I would definitely call them as the bills would start piling up! As of 1/1, though, I’ll be switching to Kaiser. I know that my pump supplies will be 100% covered but I’m not sure if the process is the same for ordering them from Animas or if I will actually get them at Kaiser.
Yeah I doubt the insurance isn’t paying Animas. My insurance is through Calpers (California state retirement) and it is Blue Cross/Blue Shield (Anthem) insurance so both are pretty large and reputable…but then the state of California isn’t exactly solvent lately…lol
Here at Kaiser in the Northwest, I order supplies from Kaiser DME, they put the order into Animas who then send the supplies direct to me via UPS. I usually get them in 3 or 4 days after phoning Kaiser. Animas then bills Kaiser, & if there is a co-pay they bill me after Kaiser has paid. I imagine it is the same for all regions as Kaisers contract with Animas re prices etc is for the whole of the US.
Wow, that’s even faster than when I order direct from Animas! I think on the Kaiser plan I have available to me I won’t have any copays. Lucky me!
I had similar issue some time ago. Bills finally caught up to me. But the issue was that the Insurance company decided to cover 100% so I got no bills for a year. Now they say that was a mistake and now getting bills. Fortunately there have been no back billing.
I was also told that Animas at one time, maybe still, does not have real time ebilling to insurance. So they bill once a month. Then insurance takes a month to ajudicate the bill and pay thier contracted rate, Then Animas bills patient, but they send bills out once a month. So all this creates a 3-4 month delay for me to receive a bill for my supplies.
Perhaps your scenario is similar.
That makes sense, Tom, thanks for the info!