Monday, April 18, 2011

I hate Insurance Companies

Better yet- I have had it with my ob/gyn. I am still bitter about having to switch to a new doctor when I was 17 weeks pregnant with Jack. Since I arrived at the office of what was 2 doctors and 2 midwives all that is left is one doctor with whom no one seems to get along with and a midwife who is leaving at the end of the month. I still have an open incision so I am going to great lengths to get it healed so I can leave too. So back to why I hate insurance companies. The fabulous doctor I described above refused to do Jack's circumcision  in the hospital because "she doesn't do circumcisions- that is the midwife's job." The midwife had that weekend off that I was in the hospital because the doc was to go on vacation for the following week and a half and she would be the only one on call. The doctor told me it would be done in her office by the midwife as soon as I was discharged. I asked if it would be a problem with insurance since I was already precertified for the procedure in the hospital. She said it wouldn't and it was done frequently so I thought nothing of it even when the nurses gave me a look when it was not done in the hospital. So when I went to the office and they asked me for a referral I was shocked. I couldn't produce a referral yet since Jack didn't have his own insurance (he was covered under mine for the first 31 days) but they kept telling me I needed one from his doctor. They even called his pediatrician whom Jack had not yet seen and they told them they couldn't give a referral because he wasn't their patient yet and he had no ID number. This went on for an hour and a half with all of us including the ped calling the insurance company to see how we could handle it. I was in hysterics wanting to leave, Paul was trying to calm my post partum mood swing and keep Jack happy when finally the secretary said it was cleared that Jack could have the circumcision- they got the ok from the insurance company.

SO WHY did I get a statement of the insurance company refusing to pay and the office telling me they refused to eat the bill?? So today I spent almost an hour and a half on the phone with three different people and got three different answers as to why they are not paying when finally someone said that the office sent the bill to the wrong place and that is why it wasn't covered. Well now we will really see if that is true. Stay tuned- I am sure this is not the end of this! All the while my mom and Jeanine came and entertained the kids while I fought with these nasty people. UGH!

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