I guess I had a reprieve for a while from doctors visits, but now will be back at them for a while. I spent my morning poked, prodded, and drained yesterday and have new meds to try, and follow-up appointments on the calendar into the foreseeable future. My series of "unfortunate but unrelated" ailments have all decided to make an appearance. While stress decreases my ability to weather them, other than perhaps the arthritis flair up, my latest work stress doesn't seem to be the culprit. This time, something new showed up in a routine test, so part of the follow-up includes figuring out what can be ruled out, and what to monitor.
Yet life moves on, and I will need to do more work from home to stay on top of things for the short future. I'm not too pleased because the working from home every night was one if not the deciding factor to change jobs two years ago to begin with. It is a good thing that other than some car pooling for DD and a few items on the calendar, I can take home life in stride and not let my calendar be master over me. It was a little comical yesterday trying to manage my work phone calls and my cell phone calls of schedulers calling me back for dates and times of next appointment and tests. Each new referral source had the same series of questions to ask. I could have put myself on tape and hit play, Likewise for the work calls-same questions, same information, all trying to complete reports by the end of the week and missed details in the training webinars.
I'm looking forward to Saturday and the blogger conference. It is at the college campus I attended when I went back to school when my older kids were both in school full time, but still young, and before DD2 was born. I didn't have the traditional college experience there like the first round of college, but still it will be kind of interesting to see the changes made in recent years on campus. DH has some juggling of his own to figure out as it is homecoming weekend and DD2 has lots of plans, and I don't think I'll be back early enough Saturday to drive her. Last I heard Friday involves Halloween shopping, the football game, then sleeping at someones house, and Saturday is a pre-dance party, or just the party if they decide not to go to the Homecoming dance. Regardless, I plan to rest Saturday night and most of Sunday before a partial work day Monday and then two medical appointments. The rest of the week will be wait and see for what's next.
Icing on my yesterday-I wore pretty, but dumb shoes, and now have a blister on my right heel. It has been a week that serves as a reminder. I can try and architect my life on paper and the calendar all I want, but so much is left to the universe. What did John Lennon say? "Life is what happens to you when you're busy making other plans.." Until next time, think good thoughts, have fun, eat treats, and have a good rest of week.
Showing posts with label medical. Show all posts
Showing posts with label medical. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 12, 2016
Wednesday, January 21, 2015
Insuance Sanity
After my bought of doctor care and in and outpatient visits, the cycle of working with the billing offices of both clinic and hospital and insurance company has begun. The most frustrating part is the varied bills that come from clinics and specialists I didn't know were even part of my case. Radiologists look at one set of tests and images, and send a bill, pathologists look at others and send a bill. Even though all are part of the same medical system, as the patient, the bills still come separately to you. Sometimes they look like bills, but they are just statements. Other times they look like it is a statement of activity, and I learned, no, an outstanding bill. On top of this, a routine well child visit for my daughter has gotten into the loop as an unpaid bill, though should be fully covered as preventative. (The claim was initially denied because we apparently were supposed to notify our insurance provider that we don't have other insurance coverage on her, as if we would be looking to pay for two separate policies.)
All of it is enough to make a person with good business sense cringe, and those of us that like things consolidated and concrete, go a little mad. How do you go about sorting it all back to rights? We know we will have considerable out of pocket expenses due to neither my or the family deductible being met, but we also want to make sure we don't overpay out of pocket for the treatments and visits that were 100% covered, or paid as part of the office copay. So far, we have just logged each piece of mail, with the case/billing number, so that we can do a cross walk. Next will be to do a review with the company, and verify what might still be in process, and what truly is going to count against the deductible. We carefully looked over everything that was included in each bill for any abnormalities. We have already found at least one "procedure" being billed for that was not part of my health care, confirmed by clinic staff. We are working to get that removed.
I am fortunate that I had my husband with to hear all the details of what was done prior to surgery, and what would happen after. I was aware enough at the clinic visits to ask questions, jot done the answers at the visits he was not with me, so we have a very comprehensive set of notes. Unfortunately, we have learned to do this because of past issues in fighting with the insurance company for coverage. It is very hard to track it all, particularly when you are not feeling well. It is essential to have someone with you that can ask questions and make notes if you yourself cannot. Find a trusted family member or friend and don't try to take in all the information yourself. The staff at the business office and the insurance company are just doing their job, but it is important to make notes and get names, dates, and specific actions when you talk with either. We learned that even though we had confirmed single insurance for my daughter and were told the claim would go forward, a simple "forward" to the claims department for review didn't happen, thus resulting in yet another bill from our clinic. I'll have to check back later in the week to verify it has been handled this time, and not assume it has.
I am grateful for the care I received this fall and early winter. I had terrific staff and medical professionals that treated me with respect and professionalism. This post is not to condemn any part of the medical billing and insurance cycle, but rather to give notice to others to be diligent on the financial side of health care. No one needs to learn months or even years later that there was an outstanding bill hanging over their head. While this bout of "call the insurance company" is bothersome, I am confident it will get sorted out and to rights in short order because we are being diligent about tracking the details. Have a healthy week.
All of it is enough to make a person with good business sense cringe, and those of us that like things consolidated and concrete, go a little mad. How do you go about sorting it all back to rights? We know we will have considerable out of pocket expenses due to neither my or the family deductible being met, but we also want to make sure we don't overpay out of pocket for the treatments and visits that were 100% covered, or paid as part of the office copay. So far, we have just logged each piece of mail, with the case/billing number, so that we can do a cross walk. Next will be to do a review with the company, and verify what might still be in process, and what truly is going to count against the deductible. We carefully looked over everything that was included in each bill for any abnormalities. We have already found at least one "procedure" being billed for that was not part of my health care, confirmed by clinic staff. We are working to get that removed.
I am fortunate that I had my husband with to hear all the details of what was done prior to surgery, and what would happen after. I was aware enough at the clinic visits to ask questions, jot done the answers at the visits he was not with me, so we have a very comprehensive set of notes. Unfortunately, we have learned to do this because of past issues in fighting with the insurance company for coverage. It is very hard to track it all, particularly when you are not feeling well. It is essential to have someone with you that can ask questions and make notes if you yourself cannot. Find a trusted family member or friend and don't try to take in all the information yourself. The staff at the business office and the insurance company are just doing their job, but it is important to make notes and get names, dates, and specific actions when you talk with either. We learned that even though we had confirmed single insurance for my daughter and were told the claim would go forward, a simple "forward" to the claims department for review didn't happen, thus resulting in yet another bill from our clinic. I'll have to check back later in the week to verify it has been handled this time, and not assume it has.
I am grateful for the care I received this fall and early winter. I had terrific staff and medical professionals that treated me with respect and professionalism. This post is not to condemn any part of the medical billing and insurance cycle, but rather to give notice to others to be diligent on the financial side of health care. No one needs to learn months or even years later that there was an outstanding bill hanging over their head. While this bout of "call the insurance company" is bothersome, I am confident it will get sorted out and to rights in short order because we are being diligent about tracking the details. Have a healthy week.
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| Just a smattering of the invoices and statements we received in the last two weeks. |
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