Author: jonathanm1978
Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2012 5:15 am
| finallyachance wrote: |
| I have no pain issues only addiction issues or the pain mgmt route would be best. Worst of all I have no insurance. But…I did get on the phone today and called several doctors (not clinics) and out of five I found one that charges $100.00 a month for office visit to pick up your script otherwise they all charge maintenance fees. Believe it or not the clinic ones I knew about are less monthly maintenance then the doctor office ones. All I can figure guys is everyone is doing it because they can right now and when one or two stop charging the maintenance fee the others will follow suit because they will become competitive but with the 100 client cap it keeps them so full of clients and not having to compete yet. So Breezt, ladytripper, romeo, diary of a quitter, etc…all our long timers or big supporters DO NONE OF YALL PAY MONTHLY MAINTENANCE FEES??????? |
I’ve explained mine in different posts along the site, but I’m not sure if I’ve ever posted all of my doctors, all in one post all at once…so here goes (with fees charged). Sounds like I have a lot of exp, but I’ve had 3 doctors in the 4 years I’ve been on, and you’ll see in a minute why that is:
1st:
Methadone clinic that gave out Suboxone (early March 2008 until May 2008)
Fees: $290 1st visit, covered induction and 2nd week visit. $160 each week after 2nd visit, MUST come weekly for TWO month before being put on 2week visits..then come biweekly for 4-6 months before put on monthly visits. (COULD NOT afford this, was unemployed and no income)….
2nd:
Doctor _____ in private practice (I can’t remember his name) July 2008 until Aug 2009.
Called about it, told I was already on Sub and wanted a doctor that wouldn’t charge so much and wanted out of the "clinic" setting and into a doctor setting. Told me usually 1st visit was $300, but went to ask doctor since I was existing sub patient..came back and said "You’re already on it, so he doesn’t have to induct you..it’ll only be $110 per visit, monthly"
YAY…an hour away but that’s ok. Went to him little over 1 year.
Ok, in about January of 2009, I got sick and took some cough syrup. I wasn’t "up to date" on the cough syrups like I used to be, so I didn’t know this stuff had codeine in it…it was some weird name and I thought it was just for cough…but anyway, I took the stuff and failed a drug test…never had failed one before, and failed ONE test. This doctor got greedy and said "you got to come down here every week and take UA’s until I see that you’re not taking anything else..then you can go back to monthly."
My next question…."Do I have to pay??" He said I did..that quack..and made me pay him $110 per visit, each week, for SEVEN FUKIN WEEKS. $770 is what it cost me to take some stupid cough syrup..and I only took one dose of it..and it damn sure wasn’t to get high!!
This made me MAD as hell..but the guy would only write me a week’s worth of sub at each visit..he KNEW I was stuck..but I started looking for options after that.
This doctor had made me fill out some little 2-minute brochure of questions — and FROM THAT BROCHURE, he decided that my answers made me bipolar!! So he proceeds to prescribe me Seroquel..and BOY WAS I SICK.
SO..from the first visit with this guy, he was pushing pills on me that I didn’t want..like that seroquel. BUT…..he gave me my MUCH NEEDED suboxone, so I didn’t say nothing until he popped that crazy weekly drug test crap on me, and made me pay..KNOWING THAT WE WERE ON UNEMPLOYMENT!! HE KNEW..that my wife and I were both out of work, because they shut down the plant while I was his patient (that my wife worked at). HE even sent my kids home some candy for Christmas because I came to see him right after the plant shut down, and they closed the doors on December 9, 2008.
3rd and current:
Dr. Mindoza – 1st visit (back then, dunno now) was $300, after that $100. Sept. 2009 – present
I didn’t pay the 1st visit fee because I was already a Suboxone patient. So he didn’t have to do the induction either. This guy..he was great…I explained that I had variated by accident with the codeine cough syrup with my previous doctor…but it was purely accident..and used TOTAL honesty. I told him that I couldn’t afford to go to a doctor like that, and that the previous doctor had given me seroquel which made me SICK AS A DOG for 3 days until I quit taking it..
VERY understanding guy…and very NICE guy. Been with him since the date listed above, no plans to change.
No maintenance fees on any of those, not even the clinic (although it was a very high cost to stay in Suboxone at the methadone clinic…)
The bad part, which isn’t really "bad" for me, but could be for someone who’s financially strapped (Please don’t think I’m trying to brag about that because I’ve been there too)..
The doctor I currently see isn’t IN-NETWORK for me and my insurance. So, I have to meet my out-of-network deductible each year ….before insurance will pay anything toward this doctor’s fees. It’s costly to me, cash/debit whatever out of pocket..but I LIKE the doctor I’m seeing, and don’t want to change. We’ve worked it out so that when I go see my doctor, I pay the normal office visit fee, $100, and that goes toward my $500 deductible. The bad part, I wind up meeting my deductible in like, November, because I only see this doctor every 3 months.
So every 3 months for a year comes out to 4 visits a year (4visits x 3months =12months)
I usually hit $400 of my $500 deductible in the November visit. I’ve even called, in the past month, and found a doctor who does suboxone and would be IN-NETWORK, PLUS..he’s a Primary Care..so instead of it being billed as a specialist, like my current doctor is, he would be billing insurance as a regular PCP doctor…and I would only have to pay my $25 office co-pay.
But i’m not switching docs. I told them that I was just curious, and they were ready to set me up an appointment with this new doctor who was in my insurance….
I said "well, I just would like to know that I do have an option, but I want to stay where I am for now. But I wanted to see if there ARE other docs if something happens or I need to change ..thank you though"
No maintenance fee with that doctor either. The BIG drawback with that new doctor that I called (but didn’t set-up appointment with) was that he would have to see me EACH MONTH, not every 3 months like I currently get. That was part of it for me too..I didn’t want to change my current 3-month schedule and go to a monthly visit..even thought it might be cheaper.
None of my doctors have ever had any sort of maintenance fee in place.
But there’s only 1 or 2 methadone clinics in this area, and the closest one is 25 miles from me…so it isn’t really "close".
I hope this helps (Central Alabama here)
