tentative verification of insurance benefits?

Hi all,
I received a letter from OBGYN office stating that they have verified my benefits, and that the insurance co has given tentative verification of benefits. In parentheses it states that this is not a guarantee of payment.

Will I be receiving something formal from my insurance, or do I need to call the insurance co and find out if it's been approved?

They've already set up a payment schedule and let me know my approximate cost after insurance pays. ??

I'm just a little confused...

Is this common? I've been scheduled well over a month now - it kind of scares me that at the last minute I won't be approved, and my surgery is supposed to be one week from today...

I don't know if insurance companies ever give a guarantee of paying but if they approved it you should be fine. Call them to ask and they will probably say that it is covered but if something changes during the operation they need to know to cover it. I know my insurance sent me a letter very similar and told me that it was covered. You may want to call them but it does sound like you will be ok. Insurance companies can be very confusing with paperwork and terminology.

Thanks for the reply Zenyatta5,

I must have misread the letter - whew. I thought since it was from the oBGYN that they had just verified that I had insurance and that they were predicting the insurance company would pay.

I'm so insurance uninformed. But since the letter did come from the OBGYN I am going to call just for my peace of mind.

I can't afford a huge bill if they don't pay!

Thanks again!

Hope it helped. Sometimes I think they use words to confuse us so we can call them to ask what they meant. I had a horrible shock about one month post surgery when I got a bill from the insurance company saying they were paying nothing and I owed the hospital about 13,000!!!! I called and it turned out they made a mistake. I didn't owe that much thank goodness but boy did they give me a heart attack. Good luck with all this. I'm sure you will be covered.