I have Blue Shield of California- ironically, I went for the cheapest plan as in October 06 I was a healthy 44 year old female with no medical issues... What a joke that turned out to be! Blue Shield as a buzz word "contracted provider". As Stanford is a "contracted provider", we got the letter last week that said my cyberknife surgery was 100% covered. I do have to fulfill a yearly deductible of $4,000 (that's what I get for being a cheapo and going for a cheap monthly premium). (I did call ahead of time to stanford who told me all was well with insurance, as I did with the insurance company who told me about the contracted provider verbiage).
I had the bookeeper at Stanford prepare a spreadsheet for me- turns out the whole bill will be about $69,000 plus change.
I did run into "we don't accept blue shield" - when I was scheduled for a first time visit with the Gamma Knife guy in Sacramento. But I would have been able to submit the bill and get reimbursed by BS afterwards....
Go with the academic institutions- they take everything and provide great service to boot! Just my 69K worth! Annie
