I hate being a grown up:(
Seriously...why? Why do things have to be so flipping complicated? For the past week I have been back and forth with my insurance company, as well as my doctors office. After the big back breaking escapades of December, my insurance company denied my claim for my appointment "claiming" themselves that I was not covered. Fair enough, I have a zillion pay stubs that will prove them wrong so all I should have to do is call HR and clear it up. That was "something that should have been simple but is impossible to be so for no reason" step number 1. I called HR, they gave me my ID number (which was the same one I gave the Dr.'s office at the time of my appointment), as well as a phone number to contact the stupid insurance co. Fine, step "STSHBSBIITBS4NR" 2 was calling the insurance company and verifying the number and telling them if they had sent me my insurance cards as requested over and over again since I moved to Maine last APRIL this all could have been avoided and I wouldn't have outstanding bills to my doctor's office. Grr. So they verified the number was correct, I went on to step 3 and called the Dr's. office. Wow. So 24 hours have passed and I "think" I'm in the clear. Wrong again. The number they gave me was a "group" number for my whole company and now I have to call them back to get the real thing. Fine. I call. I go through (no lie...I'm no James Frey) 25 minutes of an automated operator who cannot hear what I'm saying at all! I finally hang up and start over, I get through only to be told that my member ID is "simply" my social with an 01 at the end. I lose it on the lady on the other end and tell her that she better hope that she's sure because I was told the other number a bazillion times since December. It wasn't nice, but I won't regret it until I get a call back from the doctor's office saying all is swell in Insurance-ville. I have no patience for this stuff...at all. Really?
Why in this day and age are we still talking to automated operators who don't understand what we say? Why are we putting up with it at all? Why is something that should be very clear, like the question "What is my member ID number?" turn into hours and hours of phone use, aggrivation, sweat, tears, and disgust? I think Peter Pan had the right idea...head out to an island, no worries. Hang out with other kids and pirates...and mermaids and get to fly around and have swordfights. That seems like a simple, reasonable way to live. Why do we have to have money to get by? Does it bother anyone else that you are paying taxes and bills, some of us paycheck to paycheck...and some people live on the streets and don't have enough to keep warm or feed their kids...and yet there are international "parties" at the White House with each meal costing more than a car payment? You know you're paying for that right?? Where's my caviar and designer dress? How come I have to drive 2 and a half hours back and forth to work, paying an insane amount of HARD EARNED money for gasoline while George W. can just hop in AirForce 1 for his commute?? Does anyone finally understand why there are still people who were hit so hard by the Hurricanes this past year living in squalor....STILL?? What about celebrities and athletes who make bazillions of dollars for reading lines or kicking a ball while people are DYING while mining coal or rescuing people from fires? I know I'm to blame, I'm totally intrigued by it all and I end up lending to their cause...but I'm coming around because it all revealed to be so simply ridiculous.
Yeah, I'm a bit (as Kip Dynamite would say) "P.O.'ed" right now. I don't have time for this nonsense...but sadly I'll keep battling on because I must pay for the gas to get me to work so I can pay the bills for the gas and the car that gets me to work. Tell you what though, I'm not paying that doctor's office bill...you have my word.
posted by Mo @ 1/27/2006
9 comments
9 Comments:
You go, Reesie!!!!
Sure, Peter Pan lived on an island with all his buddies, but he never had a busted back to deal with. Something tells me that if he had, the insurance nightmare be-otches would have found him there, too.
Funny enough, I had an MRI recently. I was advised, by my doctor's office, to contact my insurance company to see if MRIs are covered. Apparently some changes have been instituted in insurance-coverage land and they have NOT been for the better. I thought I'd be on the horn for ages and ages, but no. I simply called up, pressed one button, got one woman, who, within seconds, assured me that my MRI would be covered.
Fingers crossed..I have not received a bill as of yet.
Don't pay your doc bill, Reesie. They do not turn up on insurance reports anyway! Stick it to the man, kid!
As for George W. Bush and his international dinners and the abuse of Air force One privileges...I'm all down with knocking that jerk, so keep the complaints coming!
Hey, is that really true that they don't show up on insurance reports? I have a doctors bill from the ER I worked at. They charged me for services that were not rendered. ( I pulled up my chart and they charged me for shit they didn't even do.) Frankly, they screwed me over when I worked there and they are screwing me over now. I would like to ignore that bill too. Can I? I want to be able to buy a house someday though. The lady on the phone said if I don't pay it, it will go to collections. I don't want to screw up my credit, but I'm pissed because, why should I pay for stuff that didn't even happen.
I had a friend here who got screwed when it came to applying for Student Loans. She had an outstanding medical bill from CA, where she lived for a summer, that was never forwarded to her new address here in NY. Not knowing it existed, she never paid it, and it went on her credit report. She then tried to pay for tuition with student loans, as we usually do, and all of a sudden her loans were being denied. So it can definitely mess you up. She had to spend like a week talking to the people, having them send the bill to her HERE instead of CA, and only after she settled it did it come off her credit report. So I'd be careful. Thats my story.
thanks, I guess I'll suck it up and pay it. Even though, the stuff they charged me for, never took place.
Hospitals and private practice doctors can both put you into collections, but private practice doctors are the only ones who can report it to the three major credit companies to my personal knowledge. For example, you go to the ER with a broken arm and don't pay the co-pay or don't have insurance and don't qualify for free care (believe me it happens) you can get harrassed by the hospital with letters, but you will never get collections calls and you will never see "Maine Medical" on your credit report. But, if you go to say the eye doctor and get a check up without insurance they can send you to collections after 30 days of not recieving payment. And, most of the time they will - so unless you call and plead for a payment plan, which most doctors offices will do if you cry, you will then get the harrassing letters, phone calls and the black smudge on your credit report all three reporting companies.(FYI - It will usually be in the form of a Law Office, not the actual doctor's name, since doctors write it off to collection agencies and lawyers.) Don't ask me how I know, just believe me - I am sick alot and I don't have insurance right now.
Maggie,
the Doctors in these hospitals all work for their own practices, so the bill comes straight from their offices. I guess you both answered my question. Stinks!
I think Maggie is right. I've blown off a few ER bills to no adverse consequences. The dentist, however, I have paid. Whatever!
so if the Docotors in the ER work out of a private practice, which down here, they all do, then I must pay?
I think so... but I am no credit wiz.... I mean, in reality aren't we supposed to pay all our bills? Oh wait... these are bills for services unrendered... so I am not sure. I would say stick it to them, but in the end I think you will get it stuck to you if you try! Suck being an adult.
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