The cost of your own medical records

[madubois63]

It is VERY important that you get copies of your medical records every inch of the way!! I was denied long term disability (on a technicality) 4 years ago and didn't fight the case. Last year, someone else sued and won her case Now the insurance company has to re-evaluate and notify everyone they denied. What that means is that I had to get ALL my medical records for the last 4 years. I've been collecting scan reports and blood work, but I didn't think to get discharge notes and doctors correspondence/notes. Of course, I have a bc onc, a leukemia onc, a bone marrow doc, a pulmonary doc, a thoracic surgeon, a gyno, a bc surgeon, a radiology onc and three hospitals....Some of the hospitals/docs charged me for the copies and they were real expensive (.25 a page). One hospital wanted $1,400 for all my records. Instead I paid $25 for an hour to sit with the stack and pull just the papers I needed, then it cost $40.00 for the copies. All in all, I've paid over $200.00 for copies. This does not include any of my films (which I do have too). After collating a friend let me use her office copier - which saved me me nearly $60.00 in copies. I now have a complete record of everything, but if you do it as you go along it won't cost you like it cost me....Please pray I get a favorable decision. It will be retroactive nearly 4 years and I'll get interest!!!

It was a costly lesson, but you never know why you might need the records. My friend's doctor's medical record room had a convenient fire and some records were lost. Just another reason to have your won copies....