The insurance company processes your claim based on the service code and the diagnostic code submitted by the provider. Almost all of your care should be a covered procedure. However, there are things done in a doctor's office that may not be covered at all. Elective (botox for your wrinkles) and non-standard (hypnosis for your wart) are not going to be covered at all. In a non-covered situation you are responsible for 100% of the billed charge. But in a situation where you are covered by a carrier the insurance company first adjusts the charge to their allowable then you are responsible for that lower adjusted fee in the amount the insurance did not cover. For example you are seen for a sore throat. Your doctor bills the carrier using code 99213 and charges $120. The carrier only allows $85. The doctor, assuming they are participating or in network with the carrier ( be sure he is) must write off the $35. The most they can receive is $85. If you have a copay of $25 per visit, you pay the first $25. Then the remaining $60 is handled depending on the deductible and any coinsurance provisions. If you have not met your deductible, you also owe the $60. If you have a 20% coinsurance you owe 20% of the $60 or $12 and the carrier pays the other $48.
Thanks to the Affordable Care Act (AKA Obamacare) you are 100% covered for a well exam once a year no matter what the other provisions of your insurance. If all you have is a well exam you will get no bill at all. You might want to be sure when you are seen that it is coded as a well exam, not an evaluation and management visit.
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Men plug the dikes of their most needed beliefs with whatever mud they can find. - Clifford Geertz
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