apparently it really is hard to get good help
So most of the last month or so I've been waiting on insurance authorization, which duly came through and we scheduled the surgery and so forth. But I became curious as to why my surgeon heard from them and I didn't - I mean, it's not HER out of pocket maximum we're concerned about here.
So I went to InsuranceCo's website and damned if I didn't have a message. It was not, mind you, exactly accessible because I don't speak their language, which only looks like English. But I shot off a response asking for clarification (which is to say, what's this going to cost me?) and received back more unintelligible benefits gibberish.
Time for the expert: I emailed our plant HR manager, who lives with feet in both camps and is usually able to translate, and she was somewhat mystified too. Either this was out of network but treated like in-network, or not. Depends. So yesterday the two of us called InsuranceCo (because B can hear on the phone) and we spoke to an actual person. This person seemed to believe that the message-writing person (who, come to think of it, could have been a bot for all the communication clarity she achieved) was wrong, and the phone person looked at our policy, gave a reasonably genteel snort, and said, I have NO idea what those messages are about, but I see nothing here that comes close to matching that. The U of M CI clinic is IN network and you didn't even need advance authorization. Go forth and sin no more.
OK, I added that last part myself. But B got her to write me a letter stating that, which I should receive this week, and that should be that. My out of pocket maximum shouldn't double.
And you know, I would have done it anyway, but it's still a lot of money. You'd think that InsuranceCo could recognize that for a lot people, the difference between $5400 and $10800 is a pretty harsh reality. But who knows? Maybe the online person thought it was rupees or something.
But that's a relief. Now all I have to get through is the telephone appointment with the surgical nurse. I'm still somewhat stunned that they require that of a CI recipient, but there you go. We've already seen that expectations of logic are unlikely to end well.
So I went to InsuranceCo's website and damned if I didn't have a message. It was not, mind you, exactly accessible because I don't speak their language, which only looks like English. But I shot off a response asking for clarification (which is to say, what's this going to cost me?) and received back more unintelligible benefits gibberish.
Time for the expert: I emailed our plant HR manager, who lives with feet in both camps and is usually able to translate, and she was somewhat mystified too. Either this was out of network but treated like in-network, or not. Depends. So yesterday the two of us called InsuranceCo (because B can hear on the phone) and we spoke to an actual person. This person seemed to believe that the message-writing person (who, come to think of it, could have been a bot for all the communication clarity she achieved) was wrong, and the phone person looked at our policy, gave a reasonably genteel snort, and said, I have NO idea what those messages are about, but I see nothing here that comes close to matching that. The U of M CI clinic is IN network and you didn't even need advance authorization. Go forth and sin no more.
OK, I added that last part myself. But B got her to write me a letter stating that, which I should receive this week, and that should be that. My out of pocket maximum shouldn't double.
And you know, I would have done it anyway, but it's still a lot of money. You'd think that InsuranceCo could recognize that for a lot people, the difference between $5400 and $10800 is a pretty harsh reality. But who knows? Maybe the online person thought it was rupees or something.
But that's a relief. Now all I have to get through is the telephone appointment with the surgical nurse. I'm still somewhat stunned that they require that of a CI recipient, but there you go. We've already seen that expectations of logic are unlikely to end well.
The ways of the insurance companies are inscrutable (at least if you think their purpose is to provide health care for policyholders).
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