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PSA. health insurance
Jul. 21st, 2011 02:18 pmThere are things in life that get a lot easier with practice.
Unfortunately most of them do not have a "kiddie pool" where you can get used to the water, nor do they have a "practice frame" like with bowling.
If you have to go to the hospital, it's astonishing how screwed up the paperwork can get. So everything is falling apart around you and people are angry and it's completely unclear what you're supposed to do. Turns out that's actually not terrible. You call the insurance company, right away, as soon as you can, after the incident. Then if you get bills, you call the insurance company and make sure they've been billed already. Sometimes healthcare vendors don't get your insurance information from the hospital. Sometimes they bill you because your insurance company is slow (or the paperwork was misfiled). And if your insurance hasn't been billed, you call the vendor and explain the problem and give them the contact number for the insurance support person handling your file.
Today I called my current health insurance because I got one of those notices saying they weren't paying anything on a claim. But I don't think I should owe $800 either. When I called, I had my name, my DOB, my membership ID number, the claim reference number, and the date of the claim all ready to go. I was polite, I waited mostly patiently. I explained that it was much easier to sort these things out before people were angry, so I'd wanted to call right away... and it was a paperwork issue. It's one of those magic charges that disappears into the ether if you have insurance and kicks your ass if you don't, but there has to be a paper trail for the etherealization. It looks really scary when I got it though.
The woman at the insurance company thanked me several times for my patience, organization, and not getting upset. I figured she was helping me, why would I get angry? And it's so much faster if I know what I want help with, plus it helps me adjust my mindset if I get everything put together before picking up the phone.
But I hear from everybody that they dread having a health emergency because their insurance won't cover things and they'll get all these bills. They just don't know what to do. I didn't know what to do. The only reason I learned was because the first time it happened I had bills for tens of thousands of dollars on my desk. I called anybody who might possibly help. The insurance company people were hard to get ahold of, but once I managed that, they'd fight my battles for me.
I think it would help a lot of people if there was somewhere to look up what to do in the aftermath of a health crisis.
Unfortunately most of them do not have a "kiddie pool" where you can get used to the water, nor do they have a "practice frame" like with bowling.
If you have to go to the hospital, it's astonishing how screwed up the paperwork can get. So everything is falling apart around you and people are angry and it's completely unclear what you're supposed to do. Turns out that's actually not terrible. You call the insurance company, right away, as soon as you can, after the incident. Then if you get bills, you call the insurance company and make sure they've been billed already. Sometimes healthcare vendors don't get your insurance information from the hospital. Sometimes they bill you because your insurance company is slow (or the paperwork was misfiled). And if your insurance hasn't been billed, you call the vendor and explain the problem and give them the contact number for the insurance support person handling your file.
Today I called my current health insurance because I got one of those notices saying they weren't paying anything on a claim. But I don't think I should owe $800 either. When I called, I had my name, my DOB, my membership ID number, the claim reference number, and the date of the claim all ready to go. I was polite, I waited mostly patiently. I explained that it was much easier to sort these things out before people were angry, so I'd wanted to call right away... and it was a paperwork issue. It's one of those magic charges that disappears into the ether if you have insurance and kicks your ass if you don't, but there has to be a paper trail for the etherealization. It looks really scary when I got it though.
The woman at the insurance company thanked me several times for my patience, organization, and not getting upset. I figured she was helping me, why would I get angry? And it's so much faster if I know what I want help with, plus it helps me adjust my mindset if I get everything put together before picking up the phone.
But I hear from everybody that they dread having a health emergency because their insurance won't cover things and they'll get all these bills. They just don't know what to do. I didn't know what to do. The only reason I learned was because the first time it happened I had bills for tens of thousands of dollars on my desk. I called anybody who might possibly help. The insurance company people were hard to get ahold of, but once I managed that, they'd fight my battles for me.
I think it would help a lot of people if there was somewhere to look up what to do in the aftermath of a health crisis.
