Refuses to cover the services related to my sterilization or give me the codes needed to have it processed correctly. And reaching out to CoverHer…well they haven’t responded either. As of now I owe for the consultation, anesthesia, pathology and post op….

Has anyone NOT experienced horrifying periods post op? So far everything I’ve read is that it was very painful and heavy. .

Hi all!

I (24f) m so happy I could cry! 😭 my doc (who is on the r/childfree doctor’s list, btw) approved me for sterilization.

I’m nearly in disbelief after years of horrors of hormonal BC, PCOS and stage 3 endo diagnoses and just confidently knowing I’ve never wanted kids.

I’m getting my tubes yeeted this September after I run a 20k I’ve been training for. SO excited ❤️

If anyone has any questions feel free to ask below!

Hi all!

I have bisalp scheduled for 15th of May, and I see on my calendar that my period should start on 16th. Has anyone had their period during/right after the surgery? Was it manageable? I think this is the only thing that I'm scared about! (I'm not on BC, first 2-3 days of my period are the worst, i have to take painkillers)

I had my bisalp 4 weeks in 3 days. I have gotten my first period since and it seems different, I had the copper IUD fitted before but was removed during surgery. I thought my cramps were better up untill today, my flow has been super heavy with a fair few clots (I didn't used to get clots with the coil). Will my periods and cramps improve over time or do I need to start thinking of looking into other things? I will also add I'm not the best candidate for BC as it really affects my overall mood Any help will be much appreciated 🙏🏻

It has been a week since I was approved and signed a request for surgery form however I have still not heard back. I plan to call tomorrow.

I’ve been approved to get a bisalp back in October. Before I scheduled it, I wanted to make sure it was covered. Their cost estimator tool told me it could be $5.5-8k. After a lot of back and forth for weeks, they said it should just have an office visit copay ($55). I should also mention that my OBGYN called it a tubal, but described a bisalp and even mentioned that she only removes tubes and doesn’t tie them.

A couple of weeks ago, I was finally able to get it scheduled. I am planning on getting my procedure done in less than a month. I can see my surgery (listed as a bisalp) under my appointments, but it has an error message when I go under copays. I called and now I’m back in the same circle with customer service and am waiting for a call back from their pre approval team to go over the codes. It sounds like they’ll cover the tubal but not a bisalp. I’d much rather do the bisalp, not only for the better success rate, but also to reduce my risk for ovarian cancer.

Has anyone fought this battle with Kaiser? I’m prepared to do it, but I’d love to hear from folks who have already gone through this.

Hello everyone! Just wanted to give a re-cap of today!💗

I got to the hospital around 11:30. Was taken in right away to start getting ready. The nurse has you sterilize your body with wipes. I also had to swab this other stuff in my nose. After that you go sit and wait for your IV. Losts of the usual repeat questions about what your procedure is, your name and birthday, any allergies etc.

After that I was walked into the operating room and with 5 minutes was on the table, situated into position and out like a light.

Upon waking up I was a little confused, I had some cramping pain but nothing worse than a period cramp. Not even a bad one. My oxygen was low so they had me hooked up a bit longer and they had to remind me to take deep breaths. I ate a bag of chips, then pretzels and finished a bottle of water. Was in over all good spirits. They made sure I could pee (burns a little like a UTI) but nothing crazy. And my friend picked me up and took me to my boyfriend’s house who will be helping me out this week.

Only towards the end of the 30 minute car ride was a feeling a little sick but I was able to doze off!

Right now I am on the couch relaxing, slight headache, little cramping (just sitting around and when I pee) I will not move unless I have to pee or adjust my couch-bed :- I was able to have an egg sammich and an ice pop. I currently do not feel bloated or gassy so I guess l am lucky for that. That seemed to be the big thing that a lot of people experienced in here!

My single concern is that my blood vessels in both my eyes popped and popped pretty bad. I can still see, I am not in pain it just looks bad lol. I called the on-call doctor to ask about it although he seemed a little surprised he did not seem worried and told me that obviously if I experience any vision issues to go to the ER. Just completely unrelated to my reproductive system.💀

If you made it this far thanks for reading. I feel really good right now all things considered. I am prepared for that to fluctuate over the next few days/couple weeks. Wishing all you luck in your procedures to come!! And speedy recoveries all around.

I'm getting ready to schedule my bisalp, (yay!) but I'm thinking about timing and work, etc. I am self-employed so if I don't work, there's no PTO.

I currently have my period which got me thinking:
Is it much worse than bad period pain? Obviously it's a different pain altogether, but for anyone who's had it done and has a high pain tolerance, was recovery really that bad?

For context, I am a therapist and sit in an armchair at work. I only work 3 days a week. Surgery would be a Thursday, I'd work on Monday or maybe push off until Tuesday.

Thanks in advance :)

I have my bilateral salpingectomy scheduled in two days, and I received a call from billing. They are wanting me to set up a payment plan for $2,000 for this operation. I have insurance but for some reason I didn’t expect to have to pay THAT much out of pocket. I had to fight for this surgery (even though I’m 25 with 2 children) and now I’m rethinking it because I can’t afford that. Is this normal? I have never had surgery before

Have any of you run into having anesthesia coded incorrectly thus resulting in owing? My understanding is that for a bisalp, the code should be 00851 but in my case the anesthesia group billed 00840. For those who had related services billed incorrectly, were you successful in having billing corrected by the provider or was an insurance appeal necessary?

Here’s a chart of anesthesia CPT codes for all procedures if anyone needs it in the future for any reason.

My bisalp is scheduled for May 15th but I am trying to figure out what I’ll need for after the surgery? I have Gas-X in my list but I want to make sure I’m prepared!

I’m in the UK, seeking sterilisation through the NHS. My GP referred me to gynaecology back when I was 27; the waiting list for a consultation was long and I’m 29 now. No kids, don’t want them for a whole list of reasons.

I’ve had two appointments with two different gynaecologists so far. I was prepared to fight some pushback but the first doctor I saw completely knocked my confidence. He flat out refused to consider sterilisation and made me feel stupid for asking for it, like I had no idea what I was talking about. The whole appointment lasted less than 5 minutes and his summary letter later on was laughable (he got my age wrong and referred to me with he/him pronouns when I’m very much a cis woman!!). An awful experience.

The second doctor I saw was more understanding, which helped, but is still pushing back. I explained how I’ve struggled with various contraceptives over the years but he still wants me to try more different ones. I don’t want to. I know my health will suffer again and I’m sick of trying new things for 6-12 months, suffering their effects, and moving on to try something else. I’ve been doing that for 14 years. I just want a one-and-done solution so I can go back to being BC-free and not have to have constant anxiety around pregnancy for the rest of my life.

My next appointment with him is in a month and I’m worrying about it. Last time I was getting so frustrated that I was on the verge of tears and I hate that. Im scared of being seen as irrational and uncooperative when I say no to more contraceptives. I’m scared of being pressured into taking BC that I don’t want to take.

I’m taking my fiancé along this time to help advocate for me, but I was wondering if anyone here had more tips on how to do so as well.

I have to pick my dad up from the airport this coming Wednesday . He didn’t really think about my surgery when he booked his flight a couple weeks ago. Is this a horrible idea or will I be okay? I had surgery on Friday and I feel decent. I’m hoping the gas pain in my shoulder is gone for good.

I had surgery last Monday and I have my consultation Tuesday and I know you’re my consultation. He’s gonna ask me when I want my tattoos. When do you think it would be safe to get my next one? My doctor didn’t really say anything. He said it was up to my discretion. Just want to know what everyone thinks.

I'm gonna post my experience here. It was incredibly helpful to read everyone else's! I'm 22 female

Day before surgery, my husband and I hung out with some friends in the city of where my surgery was taking place and spent the night. (I lived about an hour and a half away.)

Day of surgery We woke up at 5:45 left and got to the hospital at 6:20. We were supposed to be there two hours before 8:30 for check in. I was wearing a long T-shirt pj dress that went to above my knee with shorts. I figured when I was done with my surgery I'd just put the dress on.

We got registered, they told us to go up stairs to the surgery wait room. They right away put us in a room right away. Over the next 2 hours we had several people come in and talk to me. Making sure my name was right for insurance, making sure I know it's permanent, allowing use of a blood transfusion if needed, that sort of stuff. The last person I talked to was the anesthesiologist. I was really nervous up until this point. The biggest surgery I'd ever been put under was my wisdom tooth removal. The anesthesiologist was extremely professional and really helped me not feel worried.

After the IV had been in me for awhile they gave my some "happy/don't care" drugs. The anesthesiologist said like Valium. I was pretty instantly not as worried. They wheeled my off to the surgery room. Once there they put the bed next do the operating table and I shimmied over. They got me position where I needed to be and then put me to sleep.

I woke up in the operating room at about 11. My abs felt sore. I proceeded to eat peanut butter crackers and drink ice water. I don't think they ever gave me any anti nausea medication but I didn't need it. They did a successful bislap and removed my nexplanon while I was under. Highly recommend getting it removed during surgery.

My husband walked in, got a doctor's note for work and helped me get dressed (this time only in the pj dress no shorts), pulled the car around to the loading area. When he was there he called the discharge office. They then wheel chaired my out to the car.

I immediately took some gas meds (phazyme) (( read that it was the strongest one on the market and lasts for 24 hours)) and Ibuprofen. And we went to go get smoothies, which I highly recommend if you have a sore throat. I had forgotten a pillow to put under my seat belt but had a blanket in the car and that worked fine.

I am now 3 day post op.

A couple of things, don't do what I did. After driving home I definitely over did myself. Which ment that my day two was actually more painful then day one. I also should have gone on a medication schedule (waking up no matter what time to take medicine). The first night I woke up in a lot of pain.

Things that have really helped.

Cough drops!!! Some one recommended the strawberry and creme breezers, and I enjoyed the liquid center ricola as well.

Gas meds, phazyme

Prune juice (to help with #2)

Comfy PJ dresses, I just got mine off of Amazon

Hot pack for shoulder, because of the gas they fill you up with.

Ice pack for insertion sites, this is a must! I got two of the large flexikold pack from Amazon so I could rotate

Paper plates and utensils, I know there awful for the environment but not having to worry about dishes was a life saver.

Smoothie afterwards for sore throat

Ice cream, sherbet at home for sore throat

Easy no prep foods, protein shakes, protein bars, crackers and hummus that sort of thing.

Something to put between you and the seat belt, pillow or blanket.

I have two rambunctious dogs. I bought something called a yipator, (knock off pupsicle) to keep them distracted while I recover

I hope this helps! Reading everyone else's experience made planning for mine so much easier. I hope everyone has a smooth healing process!

Getting my ovarian tubes removed lapriscopically, and I'm getting an iud put in for the hormonal benefits while I'm out. How long until I can start weight lifting again? And would it be safe to do atleast a mid incline on a treadmill until I'm healed?

At my pre-op appointment my doctor advised no sex two weeks before or after surgery (bisalp), but now I'm curious what the reasoning is for two weeks before and if having sex one week prior would be fine. I'm guessing it's to make sure there's no infection, but this would be with a regular partner, no STIs, who has a vasectomy.

Did anyone else get the same pre-op instruction from their doctor? Curious if two weeks is an arbitrary amount of time.

I am about a month out from when my local crossfit gym is doing the memorial day Murph and I want to participate. I have done the Murph before but I don't train like this regularly. I do have an active job and I walk ALOT, and that my body is well adjusted to. And I plan to do a lot for recovery (increase protein, cold showers, yoga, hydration, vitamins) I would stop working out 2 days before my bisalp. Do you think this regime would help recovery or put too much stress beforehand? Thanks in advance.

I am getting a bisalp and my dog has seperation anxiety has to constantly be touching or laying on me. Don’t live near family for someone to watch them for recovery. My fiancé she will only put up with for about an hour so I get a break when I get touched out. I know Atleast day of and day after she can’t lay on my stomach. I also won’t be able to pick her up and mover her as he weighs 40 pounds.

I’m 41, bisalp completed yesterday. Surgery completed by Dr. Bazzi Ohio, she is on the list. I would highly recommend her. I’m older, but I had zero pushback in getting the procedure.

Overall the entire procedure was less stressful than I imagined. The hardest part was the nurses not being able to find a vein for the IV…and they had to stick me 5 times!!!

When I went to the OR, I moved to the table, and then remember absolutely nothing until I work up 2 hours later. I was anxious about the breathing tube… I have zero memory of it.

I feel like I had the “lite” version of a bisalp. I did not have a catheter inserted, I did not have any uterine manipulation devices used. My Dr. preferred it that way, since it was the least invasive. Nothing was inserted vaginally. My after care instructions are to resume activities when I feel comfortable.

Overall I feel like I did an intense ab workout. I used the prep advice from so many other posts. The gas -x and heating pad have been great for some additional comfort.

Here’s to a lazy weekend of Netflix and chill…. and also having complete peace of mind that I am fully protected from pregnancy.

Hello,

Anyone suffering from lipedema and got sterilized? Did you notice any impact on your lipedema after surgery? I’m thinking about getting a bisalp (total removal or only a part of the tube), but I’m afraid on the consequences it might have on ovaries/hormones.

Thanks!

Hi there, I’m considering a bisalp and my insurance would go through BCBS in Montana (a PPO plan). Has anyone done the same? Did they try to stick you with a bill?

I called the customer service three separate times and got three separate answers. The first rep said it was covered at 100%, the second said it wouldn’t be covered until I met my deductible and then it would be at 80/20, the third said it was entirely dependent on how it was coded. My doctor said it would be coded as Z30.2 and 58661.

I have zero anxiety about the surgery itself….but the money side of things is raising my anxiety through the roof.

Thanks for any help!

Hello everyone,

I was finally able to get ahold of my insurance (Anthem) about my sterilization procedure and I think they may cover it, but my gynecologist has also paired the following code 58120 with my sterilization surgery since she wants me to get endometrial sampling to test for any issues that may rise later when I plan to get an ablation and because I can’t handle the pain of doing an in office visit for the sampling.

My insurance is now saying that they would like me to pay for the endometrial sampling portion since this code is also included but seem to be adding the sterilization surgical costs to this non covered code from what I can see and want to charge about $4,000 for that.

I know I have heard of some other people saying they had both an ablation and their sterilization covered in the same go, so I am reaching out for advice and any information anyone can provide to help me possibly navigate this situation.

Hello everyone!

I’m done with having kids, and I don’t want to deal with birth control anymore, so I’m considering a bilateral salpingectomy. However, thanks to a complicated medical thing*, most oral opioid pain medicine isn’t effective on me. It really limits my options for pain control.

For those who have had a bisalp, how bad was the post-op pain? Would it have been manageable with just ibuprofen or similar?

*For the curious, basically my liver doesn’t work right. I have a genetically heritable defect in a metabolic pathway called the cytochrome P450 (CYP450) enzyme system. My body doesn’t metabolize the opioids into a useable form.

Basically the title. I'm finally going to pursue getting a bisalp after researching about it and wanting to get it done for a while now! I reached out to my ob/gyn to get a referral for a consultation with the doctor I want to do the surgery, and I got the message that she sent it almost two weeks ago saying that the office will contact me for an appt.

How long is the wait usually? I've heard it could take a while for them to call, but I was curious about everyone's experiences and how long some of you might've had to wait, so I can have a general idea. Also, depending on how long it's been, should I just call myself? Thanks!

Good news if you have UHC: as of February 2024, diagnosis code Z30.2 and CPT code 58661 are covered at 100% for a bilateral salpingectomy. If you're a UHC customer and being told that you have to pay out of pocket for a bisalp, please weigh in below; hopefully nobody will. That being said, if you have anything else removed in the surgery (such as cysts or polyps), be prepared to pay. I've provided a summary and cost breakdown, as well as the first Fake Numbers Awards for Creativity in Medical Estimates.

TL;DR: I owe $0 for my bisalp, but I owe the cost of my deductible + coinsurance ($1667) for the cost of several cysts and polyps that were also removed during surgery. In my post-op appointment the surgeon brightly told me I had "the largest cyst on the uterus she'd ever seen", which seems like something that should have made me eligible for a discount or at least a free T-shirt.

INSURANCE: United Healthcare Shared Services (UHSS), which is UHC coverage through a third party.

MY POLICY: I have a $1600 deductible but am reimbursed $1000 by my employer, so I only pay $600. After hitting the deductible, my copay/co-insurance is 5% of all allowed charges.

FUN FACT: I had to register for surgery twice because my first date was rescheduled when I got COVID. The first time happened over the phone; the second time I read the scheduler's instructions and realized I could just register online. The online registration form included a box to enter the diagnosis code, which I was NOT asked at any point during the phone registration. So I put in Z30.2. Did this affect my initial cost estimate, below? Who knows?

Now, here's the...

COST BREAKDOWN:

Initial consult EOB: $350, insurance allowed $333, I owe $0

Hospital EOB: $48407, insurance allowed $10207, I owe $1638

Anesthesiologist EOB: $2257, insurance allowed $524, I owe $26 (5% of the allowed cost)

Pathology, Level II EOB: $120, insurance allowed $29, I owe $2 (5% of the allowed cost)

Pathology, Level III EOB: $75, insurance allowed $23, I owe $1 (5% of the allowed cost)

Surgeon's Fees EOB: $3930, insurance allowed $2213, I owe $0

IUD Removal EOB: $252, insurance allowed $75, I owe $0

Throughout this process I was quoted a diverse variety of numbers, absolutely none of which were accurate. I don't blame any of the people involved: this is the reality of health care in America, full stop. I've chosen to commemorate them here to give hope and comfort to everyone on their journey of figuring out what the fuck they actually owe. Without further ado, here are...

THE FAKE NUMBERS AWARDS, presented in order of appearance

The YEAH I GUESS THAT'S A NUMBER award: The quote provided to me by the hospital when I first registered. The hospital ran my insurance, no-preauthorization required, and came back with an estimate of $4800. "That seems high," I said, but told them to go ahead with it anyway because I wanted the surgery so badly.

The YOU'RE NOT PAID ENOUGH TO KNOW THIS award: I called my third-party insurance to verify or get more information about the $4800 number. Specifically, I asked if that was really an accurate estimate, since the procedure is covered by the ACA. After a short hold the friendly insurance representative "ran the numbers" (read: asked a six-year-old to imagine the highest number they could think of) and came up with $3300.

The SOMEONE MADE AN ATTEMPT award: Fairhealthconsumer.org, which actually appears to be a helpful website for estimating costs of healthcare in your area. That said, the accuracy here is debatable. I was given an in-network cost of $1628, with the option to add on a number of other costs (such as the hospital facility fee, estimated at $10000 even in-network). If you added up most of these costs you got something around $15000.

The I WISH I COULD MAKE UP NUMBERS AND KEEP MY JOB, BUT I'M NOT IN SALES award: Healthcare Bluebook, provided by my insurer, is allegedly supposed to help customers estimate costs. I accessed it through my insurer's website and found the "fair price" of this procedure in my area, in-network, is $9873. (Compare to Fair Health Consumer, above, for a difference of approximately $5000.)

And lastly, the coveted lifetime achievement HOLY SHIT ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME AWARD: also for Healthcare Bluebook. Unlike Fair Health Consumer, the Healthcare Bluebook actually allows you to look up individual hospitals and providers and estimates the costs accordingly. That would be incredibly useful---if the information it provided was within spitting distance of accurate. Readers, it is not. This is as far from accurate as it could possibly be. This is as far from accurate as I am from being Salma Hayek. According to Healthcare Bluebook, the specific price of my procedure at the hospital where I went on to have it is $121996. That is not a typo. $121996. The hospital is also erroneously listed as out-of-network, which resulted in multiple calls to my insurance to confirm the hospital was indeed in-network, and also not about one-third of my remaining mortgage.*

To sum up, none of these numbers meant anything, the underlying data may be extremely wrong, and looking it up ultimately served no purpose except to stress me out even more before the procedure. My in-network hospital charged nearly $50k, my insurance allowed about $10k, and I only paid for my deductible and the coinsurance. I'm lucky to have this money set aside in my HSA to cover it, and also lucky that after reimbursement it'll come out to $667 out of pocket. I feel tremendously fortunate that it was just one month from my first consult to the planned surgery date, and the reschedule was just a month later.

Thank you to everyone sharing their wisdom here, especially those who've provided advice and details for fighting the bill. I had a group of, like, ten tabs about how to file appeals and all that jazz, and it turned out I didn't even need it.This is a great community and a fantastic resource.

* - I've spent a while trying to figure out how in the world they got an estimate of $121996 for this code. While "the system is dumb and fake" is obviously true, I wonder if the estimate accidentally includes other procedures that may be performed at the same time, such as C-sections or gender-affirming surgeries (for which bisalps are listed as standard). Or maybe the average person who has a bisalp at this hospital has it at the Logan Roy Suite for the Hideously Wealthy.