My Almost $18,000 Lesson…
Dutch urine hormone testing, endometriosis, adenomyosis
MY $18,000+ LESSON IN AMERICAN HEALTHCARE 🤦🏼♀️
Yesterday was…an adventure.
Let's talk about health insurance.
The necessary evil of living in America.
Except I rarely use mine.
I choose to spend a LOT of my healthcare dollars proactively—functional medicine, nutrition, movement, lymphatic work, supplements, testing, HBOT, sauna and all of the other things you've watched me experiment with as I work on becoming the healthiest version of myself.
Then I decided to investigate something decidedly more conventional:
My endometriosis.
Two things pushed me in that direction.
First, my functional-medicine-doctor sister/bestie—who also has lipedema—had surgery for her endometriosis and ultimately a hysterectomy and felt dramatically better afterward.
Less pain.
Less bloating.
Just…better.
Then my lipedema PT, who ALSO has lipedema, suggested I discuss whether addressing my endometriosis before my upcoming lipedema surgery might make sense.
Fair question.
So Medical Detective Doc T went investigating. 🔎
I found an endometriosis specialist in Appleton and somehow scored a last-minute appointment before our Minnesota trip.
Consultation? Done.
Ultrasound? Done.
Pre-op? Done.
Surgery? SCHEDULED.
I thought:
LOOK AT ME USING CONVENTIONAL MEDICINE LIKE A NORMAL PERSON! 😂
And then came the message:
“Your insurance does not cover outpatient procedures.”
Ummmm.
Excuse me?
So while I was at my ultrasound/pre-op appointment, I asked what I thought was a pretty reasonable question:
“Okay. What is this surgery going to cost me?”
And THIS is where things became almost comical.
I was told the surgeon's portion could be around $18,000.
Okay.
And the hospital?
They didn't know.
Anesthesia?
Didn't know.
Facility fees?
Didn't know.
Total cost?
Nobody could tell me.
I kept thinking:
How in the WORLD can we schedule a human being for surgery without being able to tell her what the surgery costs?
Can you imagine going anywhere else and doing this?
“Hi, I'd like to buy this car.”
“Great!”
“How much is it?”
“$18,000 for the engine.”
“And the rest of the car?”
“No idea.”
😂😂😂
Welcome to healthcare.
And yes, I KNOW functional medicine can be expensive.
Patients sometimes look at specialty labs or a long initial consultation and think:
“That is a lot of money.”
Fair.
But one thing this experience reminded me is how much I value TRANSPARENCY.
If I choose a test, I want to know what it costs.
If I choose a treatment, I want to understand why.
If I'm spending thousands of dollars, I want to know what information we're trying to obtain and whether it could actually change what we do.
And if somebody is about to OPERATE ON ME…
Call me demanding, but I'd like to know approximately what I'm buying. 🤣
So suddenly my planned surgery in two weeks became:
NOT SO FAST, DOC T.
And then the timing became almost ridiculous.
Because guess what arrived yesterday?
MY DUTCH HORMONE RESULTS.
Of course they did.
The universe apparently knows I require a new rabbit hole at all times. 🐇🧬😂
For those who haven't heard me talk about DUTCH testing, it uses dried urine samples collected at specific times to give us a detailed look at hormone measurements and metabolites.
And yes…
You literally pee on little pieces of filter paper.
Very glamorous medicine. 😂
I like looking at the information alongside the bigger clinical picture—symptoms, menstrual history, medications, conventional labs, health history and treatment goals.
It can give me another piece of information to think about when I'm evaluating my own hormonal picture.
But here's an important distinction:
A DUTCH test isn't a crystal ball.
It doesn't tell me whether I'm going to develop breast cancer.
It doesn't prove that one metabolite is the reason I have endometriosis or lipedema.
And it doesn't replace appropriate gynecologic evaluation.
It is information.
And information can help us ask better questions.
So for now?
No surgery in two weeks.
Instead, I'm going to sit down with all of the information I have, review my hormonal management, talk through the evidence-based medical AND surgical options for endometriosis, and decide what makes the most sense for MY body.
Because surgery isn't “bad.”
Hormones aren't automatically “good.”
Functional medicine isn't automatically right.
Conventional medicine isn't automatically wrong.
The goal is to use the right tool for the right person at the right time.
And sometimes the smartest medical decision is:
WAIT. I need more information.
Could surgery still be part of my future?
Absolutely.
Endometriosis surgery can be very helpful for appropriately selected women—particularly when symptoms aren't adequately controlled with medical treatment.
But surgery has benefits, risks, costs and the possibility of persistent or recurrent symptoms.
That's a decision I want to make thoughtfully—not because there's suddenly a date sitting on my calendar.
So today I am strangely grateful for my ridiculous insurance debacle.
It forced me to stop.
Ask questions.
Look at alternatives.
And remind myself of something I tell my Warriors constantly:
YOU ARE ALLOWED TO ASK WHAT SOMETHING COSTS.
You are allowed to ask:
Why are we doing this?
What are my alternatives?
What happens if I wait?
What will this actually cost me?
And if you're paying cash for scheduled care, ask specifically for a:
GOOD FAITH ESTIMATE.
In writing.
Apparently Doc T needed that lesson too. 😂
So…the uterus gets a temporary stay of execution.
The DUTCH results get my attention instead.
And I mayyyy be shopping for better health insurance.
Even though, naturally, I am still planning on never needing it. 🤣
Anyone else ever discover what a medical procedure costs only AFTER it was practically on the calendar?!
Please tell me I'm not alone.
—Doc T 💜
#DocT #TheLydayCenter #MedicalDetective #Endometriosis #Lipedema #HormoneHealth #FunctionalMedicine #WomensHealth #HealthcareCosts #HealthInsurance #PatientAdvocacy #PriceTransparency #DUTCHTest #KnowYourOptions #AskQuestions #BeYourOwnAdvocate