u/Unable-Historian5569

I went for an MRI in May at the hospital, outpatient, and when I checked in at the front desk they ran my insurance for a ridiculously long time and produced a piece of paper with my estimated cost after insurance; it was about $450.

The lady at the front desk told me I could pay now or later, and my knee-jerk response was to pay then, but she advised me to pay later after insurance finalized everything, so I decided to pay later. She had me sign the paper with the $450 estimate that I would pay later, and then she took the paper back.

The bill hits, and it's over $2100. (About $3700 billed, insurance negotiated discount of $1600 pending.) I am pre-deductible so I'm paying 100% of whatever the insurance-negotiated "discount" prices are.

So... what the heck?? Do I have any rights here to be able to push back? Don't get me wrong, the $2k is closer to what I expected for an MRI in the first place, but why in the world did they give me an estimate that was almost five times lower than the bill they ended up slapping me with? They ran my insurance so they should have been able to see what my benefits were and that I was still under my deductible.

I have my insurance EOB, it basically just outlines what I explained 2 paragraphs above. I also called the hospital billing department, who couldn't really tell me anything other than the amount I have due and that the insurance is apparently still pending (?) (I'm not sure what to make of that either). I did request an itemized bill and he told me it will be arriving by mail in about 10 days. But other than that, I'm thinking I might try to go back to the hospital in person and ask for a copy of the estimate that I signed so I can look at it more closely, press them on it, and have evidence of how far off they were. My friend who went with me also saw the estimate, and she said they had signs posted around saying that estimates wouldn't be off by more than $350 from the actual bill. So I'm not sure if that gives me some right to contest, or if I'm exempt from that guarantee since I'm insured. This is my first year on my own insurance so it's my first rodeo. But they certainly blew the $350 discrepancy out of the water.

Again, I understand that 2k is about right for an MRI, but I think it's cruel to be giving a patient an estimate that is off by almost a factor of 5 before going in for the procedure. Based on the info they gave me, when I signed that paper, I had no idea what I was agreeing to pay. And I spent the next 6 weeks expecting to have a medical bill around $450, before getting shocked by this. Any advice on what I should be doing here?

Thanks!

Ok this is a really bizarre question, but every time I sit down and play the piano for a significant period of time, I smell… poop!?

I’ve been playing the piano since I was 4 years old, and I remember first noticing this phenomenon in high school and being confused and annoyed by it. I had played the same piano my whole life, a wonky Wurlitzer no doubt, but it’s been in the family its whole lifetime and always kept inside, no rodent or mold problems or any unknowns like that. I then took several years off from playing regularly as I went to college and settled into adult life… recently I was thrilled to buy a secondhand Yamaha and have gotten back to playing for an hour or so at a time, and… it’s happening again. Before getting this piano I played my electric keyboard, and I’m pretty sure that the same thing happened with the electric keyboard, but I can’t remember very well since the times I played it were few and far between and my memory sucks in general.

But anyway, the consistency of this is weirding me out, since time/place/piano doesn‘t seem to have anything to do with it. I’ve seen some things online about synesthesia and wonder if I have some sort of weird crosswire in my brain that makes this happen?? But I’ve also wondered if sitting and working/concentrating/sweating/relaxing somehow makes me leach some sort of odor through my skin?? The weird part is, the smell is ALWAYS exactly the same… I do have some gastro issues / IBS and have my whole life, but that comes with a lot of variation if you know what I mean haha, where as this odor is always exactly the same no matter what I’ve eaten or what. I probably need to co-opt my roommate to sniff around me and around the piano when this happens to see if I’m hallucinating or if she can smell it too. I think the smell is general and not coming from a specific location on my person, but I need to do some closer… investigation on that too. But I was just curious if this has happens to anyone else and if anyone ever figured it out?

I’m pretty sure this has happened when I play my cello for a while too—but I haven’t played it very regularly so I need to start making notes or something when it happens to help my “crappy” memory.

It’s not going to stop me playing, but it is unsettling, and a little stinkin’ weird. 💩