Looking for answers!

[froggylover227]

Hello everybody! Just wondering if anyone can enlighten me on this: I just moved to Massachusetts for a new job which won't be providing me with health insurance for at least a month. I'm still covered with my old insurance until the end of May, but from what I see, being as how I no longer live in New Jersey, they won't cover my regular OBGYN appointment at the in-network level, but at the out-of-network level. I'm not sure how much that would come out to be, but ultimately, I need to see this doctor because I'm on a monthly medicine which I'm about to run out of. I'm wondering if it would be better to just pay cash for the appointment, but with all these new health insurance laws, I'm not sure if that's even an option. Anyone have any info on this?

[dreamyxo]

You can pay cash just call around to different places to get prices and and ask if they will accept it. 

[notriko_mu]

You might be able to call your physician that originally prescribed the medication and ask them to give you a refill for the month if you were an established patient. Then you can fill it through an online pharmacy (if your old insurance allows that) and have it mailed to you at your new address. All just a possibility you might want to look into. If you have to pay cash, you may be able to save money by going to a CVS or Walgreens physician/pharmacy to just get a refilll to tie you over. It might be worth looking into. Depending on the medication, you might be able to use an online physician, as well. Congratulations on your move and good luck!

[LenoraMinogue]

Paying cash is usually an option, but it will certainly cost you an arm and and a leg. I wish you a lot of luck with that. It can be really complex to deal with scheduling an appointment in your situation.

[gaylasue]

Check to see if they have any clinics.  We have a local county health department that will offer those services at a lower cost depending on your income.  You can also get your monthly prescriptions at a lower cost than at the pharmacy.  I'm not for sure if Mass. has those services or not but it would be worth looking into until you get coverage in that area.  Our county property taxes pays for the health department services.

[lvstephanie]

I'm not sure why you would want to pay cash... If a medical cost will be accepted by your insurance, that will be the cheapest option for yourself regardless of if it will be treated as in-network or out-of-network. Even if it is out-of-network, the insurance company is still paying for some of the bill; paying by cash alone means that you will have to foot the entire bill yourself. You'd only really want to pay cash if the insurance won't cover the procedure at all.

[bleyd]

I would check to see if there's any clinics around...sometimes they free. But I would check with my insurance company to see what out of network costs would be and compare it out of pocket costs.