Sicko?? That was me!

Now let me make this clear, I have not seen the Michael Moore documentary Sicko, but it is my understanding that it is very critical of the US Health Care industry, insurance companies in particular. However, I recently had a very intimate encounter with those same insurance companies. I August of 2007 I underwent major heart surgery and ran into some serious complications. Without going into too much detail, I ended up requiring 2 months of hospitalization and an additional month of recovery at home. The total bill came in at around $760,000. Yep, 3/4 of a million dollars. How much did I pay? $1,000. That's right, I only paid $1,000. Why? I did my homework. In current health care system you have to be your own advocate. Before I ever went into the hospital I made sure to ask every question I could on how my insurance worked and what was required on my end. As a result, everything went very smoothly. In my experience (which is pretty intense) if you make sure to dot all of your I's and cross all of your T's, the insurance companies will pay.