Surgery Deposit

My name is Laurie Bachiochi.  In December I was in two weird car accidents in three days.  The second one had my head hitting the windshield and leaving me foggy and out of sorts.  I went to the ER to get checked out.  "Great news, no breaks or bleeds on the CAT scan, HOWEVER, did you know you have a really large brain tumor?".  So not what I wanted for Christmas. 

First neurosurgeon tells me I can go enjoy the holidays and then it needs to come out.  Second opinion is that I can just watch it until it becomes problematic- like a stroke or loss of hearing, facial function or I can try Gamma Knife or CyberKnife.  Third opinion is to remove it right away but the approach will cause loss of hearing on that side and lots of rehab to relearn basic tasks.  Then boom, an old friend from high school tells me about the Skull Base Institute.  We research it, watch the videos and I submit my information.  This is my answer!  I get scheduled for a consult and we go over all of the risks/side effects, what is expected, down time, etc..  I am told that scheduling will call, which they did that afternoon.  The soonest I can get in is 3/30/16.  I take it.  Then I am told they will send the "Financial Agreement" by email.  This is when it got bad.  Here is the email:

"Your deductible accumulations may apply towards your out-of-pocket benefits. The Skull Base Institute and Dr. Hrayr Shahinian are not contracted providers with any medical insurance plan. It is important to understand that insurance coverage varies from plan to plan and your insurance policy is an agreement between you and your insurance carrier. Many insurance companies limit payments using a fee schedule of“usual, customary and reasonable” (UCR) allowances. The Skull Base Institute charges may differ from your insurance company’s fee schedule. Therefore, in order to protect you from ultimately being responsible for the difference between what is billed and what your insurance pays or if they end up denying the claim, we have implemented a patient deposit. The patient deposit is the maximum amount you will be liable for (plus any out of pocket balance) even in the rare event that your insurance plan does not pay and denies the claim. For the acoustic neuroma, we will bill your insurance a total of $108,494.00 for your surgery. However, the maximum amount that you are liable for will only be $29,500.00 (plus $1,126 remaining Out of Network Out of Pocket)

Taking this all into consideration, the total amount for your surgery comes to $30,626.00. Our policy is to collect full payment of your surgical deposit 45 days prior to surgery. Please review this information and let me know your thoughts. I look forward to hearing from you."

We were more than a little taken aback.  We just don't have 30k.  We have no idea what our health insurance is going to pay towards this, but this is what SBI requires to schedule me.  This task on top of the diagnosis is more than daunting.  So now we are here.  It is my hope to raise a lot of money through lots of little donations to establish a "deposit fund" for myself and other SBI surgical candidates.  The money will be left there for future candidates that would have to choose less desireable surgeries with not so great outcomes.  Everyone deserves the best medical treatment available and together we can make this happen.  I am attaching their website for you to look at.  It is very interesting.  skullbaseinstitute.com 

Not looking for big dollar donations, lots of coffee cup types are my vision.  For those of you that can help, my family is forever grateful.  I hope this can be a gift that goes on to help hundreds.

Sincerely,

Laurie Bachiochi and family