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Our insurance allows one visit per year with a $20 co-pay. If the visit is coded with a medical diagnosis instead of as a routine checkup, our insurance won't cover it.

Our long time physician recently hired a new insurance clerk and she refuses to code with anything other than a medical diagnosis. To make things worse, the office has recently changed policies requiring payment up front for the office visit ($150) instead of just the co-pay and waiting for the claim to clear to pay any balance.

My new American healthcare plan is to stop taking the medication I have been prescribed and wait until something happens that requires emergency care (no, not using the ER as a physician's office...something truly dire). Our insurance will cover that, less a $50 deductible. We simply cannot afford "routine care" any more.