Dear SheRa1964:

Good grief! A $5,000 deductible is very high indeed. Did you know this was the case when you signed up for the insurance or is this the only option that insurance provides through your work. If you have a union at your work, you should definitely bring this up to the benefits department.

Physicians constantly deal with patients who do not have adequate insurance and I am sure this will not be the 1st time your doctor encountered this situation with a patient. I think your best course of action is to ask the doctor how important the MRI is in terms of guiding treatment. It sound slike he already knows it is sciatica. Sometimes, physicians just order MRIs as a matter of routine follow-up so the MRI may not be crucial. After explaining the situation, ask him what the course of treatment would be based on the most possible scenarios that that the MRI would show. Usually, the phhysician will order physical therapy 1st as conservative treatment, so it probbaly makes most sense to start with that since it would probably be suggested no matter what the MRI shows.

Was your injury work-related and are you receiving workers compensation for short term disability? If so, you can bypass your regular insurance and go through workers compensation. If not, looking into alternative insurance plans available to you in the meantime is another thing you can do. For example, can your husband add you to his insurance, which would likely have a lower deductible. Keep me posted. You are in a tough situation.

Dominic A. Carone, Ph.D.

I can sympathize with your situation. My pain doctor has ordered xrays and an MRI of the brain to help determine if I could do something structural to fix my problems. In the interim I am on pain meds and Fentanyl to relieve the pain. I would prefer to get off the pain meds and get the problems with my spine fixed. I have Arnold Chiari, Lups, Sgogrens, Osteo Arthritis, Rhuematoid Arthritis and cannot operate without prednisone and pain meds. The increase in my deductible from my husbands work from $3600 to $6000 this year has made it impossible to go to the doctor at all. The tests alone are $4100 and payment plans are not an option given my lack of work. So what the heck do I do? This is a mess and I am very angry at the insurance companies and businesses that get health care aimed for the healthy and which penalizes those of us born with bad genetics! Anyone have an idea how to get the tests cheaper I would love to hear it. I have shopped around and the $4k is the best price. Maybe I should go to Mexico and have it done there?
JW