OB/GYN's for Men

Most of us have health insurance because we do not want to or cannot afford to pay out of pocket the entire expense for medical needs, be it medicine, doctor visits, hospital stays, or operations. There are times when we need to pay for things upfront and then we get reimbursed. While this is really not spending money out of pocket, we do need to lay out the money and, if you are like me, you can spend time waiting impatiently for the money to be returned. sometimes you may even be forced to lay out money you do not have.

Even if you do not need to pay upfront, it can be frustrating when you send in paperwork and then find out the insurance company says they will not cover the cost. At best, this can mean spending time to fix the problem. At worst, it can mean mean having to pay money for something you feel should be covered by someone else. As a result, I ask you, 'Men, do you have a good OB/GYN?' This question might seem a little strange. Some of you might even think I am being facetious. The truth is, however, I ask the question mostly in seriousness.

I understand that men cannot have babies and that their bodies are different from those of women. Hey, I passed biology. I am not even suggesting that since men emotionally deal with the some of the same, or similar feelings of women, that they have an OB/GYN. I am suggesting that, for insurance purposes, when a woman is pregnant, it could be helpful for men to list such a doctor.

When my wife was pregnant, she went in for some testing. It was not a huge amount of testing but probably more than the average woman. During one of these visits, since we are both Jewish and of Eastern European descent, we were asked if we had been tested for the possibility of Tay-Sachs disease. In case you do not know, Tay-Sachs is a disease for which there is no cure or treatment, the child has a rough life and dies in most cases by age four. Since Tay-Sachs is deadly, it can only be a recessive gene in individuals old enough to have children, meaning both parents must have that gene in order for there to be a possibility that the child gets it.

The doctor administering tests to my wife suggested I get my blood tested since she had been the one to have all the tests so far. If I did not carry the disease, there would be no need for my wife to be tested. If I was a carrier, then she would need to be tested as well. I went down the hall to get tested and, in case you are interested, I am not a carrier.

Now came the interesting part of submitting the cost of the test to insurance. I was told that since my wife's doctor ordered the test, I should put him down as the referring physician. The request came back denied since this was my wife's doctor, not mine.

I called and was then told to put my doctor down as the referring physician. Again, it came back denied since my doctor never sent me for the test. A few more phone calls to insurance and they were very good and said they would take care of the situation (and they did). I was teasing the person on the other end of the phone, saying it would have been so much easier if I had an OB/GYN on file. She laughed and agreed. So again I ask all the men, "Do you have an OB/GYN"?

Still, getting things straighten out took away time. This was time I was using to get things ready at home for when the baby came. This was time I was using at work to get ahead for when I took off time after the baby was born. This was time I really wanted to use for other things. I think there need to be enough of us that voice our disappointment in order to make sure we get things changed.