I've spent almost all day working on my book...sort of. I spent hours on the phone chatting with a friend who is designing my book cover, and she mentioned getting a Facebook page going for it. What a brilliant idea! "It takes care of itself," she told me. So, Year of Shadow and Light now has a Facebook page. I figure I hate writing, so I need people watching me and eagerly awaiting updates to keep me on my toes. And if I can get interest for the book and awareness of IIH and its potential effects moving before the book even gets published, all the better! Now, I just need to get a website going and get the book written (won't be done until at least October 2010), published, and printed, and we'll be all set!
If you're on Facebook and haven't already received an invitation, check out the page by searching for Year of Shadow and Light. Become a member, and tell all your friends!
* Stringham high: The book cover is in progress.
* Stringham low: Nadda today.
* Stringham super-high: Shameless self-promotion rocks!
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Friday, April 23, 2010
"We are--all of us--blind beggars, with genuine hurts and handicaps"
* Stringham high: Rain!
* Stringham low: Still no driving.
* Stringham super-high: Hope
Note: The title links to a theological article from which this title is a quote. Although I don't agree with all the conclusions the article makes, it is a good discussion, and one that is difficult, if not impossible, to find in any religion other than Christianity, though I think it is valid in any religion.
Well, today's post is a bit of an updater. We think we have resolved the debt-collection issue through a couple of fronts. The lovely Ms. L at my doctor's office (and the doctor) and Ms. C at my Medicaid company did their work, and they pulled through on the same day. We should hear no more about that big surgery debt...at least unless the surgery center wants to be reported to the state.
I went earlier this week to have a 30-2 threshold test on my eyes. Basically, that means my eyes were tested to see how large my visual fields are. I had also wanted to be given the test that determines if your overall periphery is large enough for driving in Indiana. The doctor there didn't do any of the tests, he just walked up to me after the 30-2 test and, not really looking at me, said I wouldn't be able to get a driver's license anyway so there was no point in doing the test. He said something about me hitting a kid before I'd even realize the kid was there, and then he walked off. I was disappointed, and a little peeved. And I've been more peeved since then, realizing he didn't even give me a chance to ask questions, he didn't give me the courtesy of speaking to me in an exam room (he stood in the hall to tell me this), and he assumed that my eyes don't dart everywhere when I drive and that I would be so irresponsible as to drive in busy places where things are really likely to jump/run out into the road. *sigh* But that's enough of that. I have done some research and found the requirements and process to request a license in Indiana if you are visually impaired, and the optic aids that the state allows, etc. I have it all tucked away for when I believe I am ready to drive again. (Although I hoped to be able to drive this time, I really wanted the test this time for a baseline measure of my overall periphery.)
Anyway, I got a copy of the 30-2 test results and, as soon as I got home, went on the Internet to find out how to read them. The graphical representation used for we laypeople makes it look as if my vision is getting better overall, though it's possible I've lost some field in my left eye but gained some in my right eye. But then as I researched, I learned that the grayscale image provided is really not all that representative of what the test actually finds. And I learned how to read what the test diagnosed but that it really takes a skilled clinician to compare the findings of multiple tests and come to any good conclusion about improvement, worsening, or staying the same. (For the record, my overall impression is that my vision has improved a little in my left eye and a little better in my right eye, with a very slight enlarging of my visual field in my right eye. But I'll have to wait until I see Dr. Lee to get a confirmation or denial of my possibly faulty understanding of the test results.)
Yesterday, the best news of all thus far showed up to cheer me along. I have made vague allusions to a "promise" or a "feeling" of getting my vision back. First, the background so you know what I've been referring to. Basically, when I was in the hospital (and a couple of times since), I heard a voice "in my head" telling me that my vision would be restored to me. Since then, I've tried reasoning that it was just my subconscious, me trying to comfort myself, but such explanations always seemed hollow. And every time I started to question such things, I was given dreams in which I had my vision back. Sure, I reasoned, but that's just the brain's way of acting out what I can't have in real life. But then I'd have a dream about someone and a need to speak to them, and I'd email them or call them up and tell them what had happened in the dream, and it was always perfect timing--they needed the message I had from the dream or just to hear from me, something in particular I had to say that day. So, here was whoever was watching over me telling me to quit being so thick, and yes, the communication lines are working properly, and I have been hearing a communication and not just the noise in my brain. This has happened numerous times over the past few months, this "testing," any time I've started to truly doubt that the message I received in the hospital and in my prayers and meditations was really true. This doubt arises generally when I read the literature or speak with the doctors about the extent of my vision loss--this kind of damage is irreparable, the retina cannot repair itself, much like the conventional wisdom about the brain cells. I always try to chase such doubt away by reminding myself that more of my vision returned than my surgeon ever expected and that it has continued to do so, that I, in fact, have already had a small miracle. But surely I'm not worthy of miracles, I reason, so the doubt resurfaces, and then I remember tales of people who have been blind and who have had their sight miraculously restored. Those "miracles" could probably be explained away with today's medicine and science, but that's not the point...they would be no less miraculous to the people who experienced them simply because science had an explanation.
But back to the point, the provider of this message, whenever I really begin to doubt, always sends me another message (or two, or three, as I'm so damn stubborn) that essentially says, "Hey, you numb skull, stop doubting and trust me, will ya?" I say "provider of this message" because although I believe the ultimate authority of it comes from God/Allah/the Divine/Yahweh/Wakan Tanka, I think the message likely comes through a mediator, call it what you like--spirit guide, angel, dead loved one, whatever. It's a messenger who takes the form that the person can most easily accept a message from at the time...that's my theory.
So, now that we are all on the same page and some of you are surprised that I have gone utterly Looney Toons and others have just had it confirmed, I can tell you this good news that I learned yesterday. In one of my support groups for IIH (PTC), I saw a message from a woman who said she was completely blind for an entire month in the summer of 2005 before she was diagnosed, and now she has 90% of her vision in one eye and 50% in the other. It has come back very slowly, but it has come back.
Let's stop and really think about this. She was completely blind for a month; I was mostly blind for two to three weeks. It has taken four and a half years, but a great portion of her vision has come back. I know to those of you who think about these numbers, 90% and 50% still seem very low, but for someone like me who currently has partial vision in about 38% of her good eye, 90% and 50% are tremendous numbers. So, how does this give me hope, and what does it have to do with that promise of restored vision?
In every way, and everything. It gives me hope because it lets me know that there IS a precedent out there, even though the literature may not mention it, even though it may be an outlier. It reminds me that although we like to envision miracles as happening suddenly, miracles are everywhere. We like to overuse the phrase sometimes, and often we use it so much that we don't realize how much it really means--like the miracle of pregnancy and the miracle of birth. They are tremendous miracles--just ask anyone who works in reproductive health. It's a miracle that the human race is able to propagate, honestly. And the promise I have been made is reinforced--my faith in it is reinforced again--as I am reminded that although I was made a promise, that promise is on God's time, not my time. And because this promise is confirmed, I know that the other promises that have been made will also be kept--yes, they will require effort on my part, but what better way to truly appreciate a gift than to work toward it and on it and know how hard it is to attain on your own? Whether the miracles are for ourselves or others, shouldn't we all be instruments in the miracles that are worked in the world?
* Stringham low: Still no driving.
* Stringham super-high: Hope
Note: The title links to a theological article from which this title is a quote. Although I don't agree with all the conclusions the article makes, it is a good discussion, and one that is difficult, if not impossible, to find in any religion other than Christianity, though I think it is valid in any religion.
Well, today's post is a bit of an updater. We think we have resolved the debt-collection issue through a couple of fronts. The lovely Ms. L at my doctor's office (and the doctor) and Ms. C at my Medicaid company did their work, and they pulled through on the same day. We should hear no more about that big surgery debt...at least unless the surgery center wants to be reported to the state.
I went earlier this week to have a 30-2 threshold test on my eyes. Basically, that means my eyes were tested to see how large my visual fields are. I had also wanted to be given the test that determines if your overall periphery is large enough for driving in Indiana. The doctor there didn't do any of the tests, he just walked up to me after the 30-2 test and, not really looking at me, said I wouldn't be able to get a driver's license anyway so there was no point in doing the test. He said something about me hitting a kid before I'd even realize the kid was there, and then he walked off. I was disappointed, and a little peeved. And I've been more peeved since then, realizing he didn't even give me a chance to ask questions, he didn't give me the courtesy of speaking to me in an exam room (he stood in the hall to tell me this), and he assumed that my eyes don't dart everywhere when I drive and that I would be so irresponsible as to drive in busy places where things are really likely to jump/run out into the road. *sigh* But that's enough of that. I have done some research and found the requirements and process to request a license in Indiana if you are visually impaired, and the optic aids that the state allows, etc. I have it all tucked away for when I believe I am ready to drive again. (Although I hoped to be able to drive this time, I really wanted the test this time for a baseline measure of my overall periphery.)
Anyway, I got a copy of the 30-2 test results and, as soon as I got home, went on the Internet to find out how to read them. The graphical representation used for we laypeople makes it look as if my vision is getting better overall, though it's possible I've lost some field in my left eye but gained some in my right eye. But then as I researched, I learned that the grayscale image provided is really not all that representative of what the test actually finds. And I learned how to read what the test diagnosed but that it really takes a skilled clinician to compare the findings of multiple tests and come to any good conclusion about improvement, worsening, or staying the same. (For the record, my overall impression is that my vision has improved a little in my left eye and a little better in my right eye, with a very slight enlarging of my visual field in my right eye. But I'll have to wait until I see Dr. Lee to get a confirmation or denial of my possibly faulty understanding of the test results.)
Yesterday, the best news of all thus far showed up to cheer me along. I have made vague allusions to a "promise" or a "feeling" of getting my vision back. First, the background so you know what I've been referring to. Basically, when I was in the hospital (and a couple of times since), I heard a voice "in my head" telling me that my vision would be restored to me. Since then, I've tried reasoning that it was just my subconscious, me trying to comfort myself, but such explanations always seemed hollow. And every time I started to question such things, I was given dreams in which I had my vision back. Sure, I reasoned, but that's just the brain's way of acting out what I can't have in real life. But then I'd have a dream about someone and a need to speak to them, and I'd email them or call them up and tell them what had happened in the dream, and it was always perfect timing--they needed the message I had from the dream or just to hear from me, something in particular I had to say that day. So, here was whoever was watching over me telling me to quit being so thick, and yes, the communication lines are working properly, and I have been hearing a communication and not just the noise in my brain. This has happened numerous times over the past few months, this "testing," any time I've started to truly doubt that the message I received in the hospital and in my prayers and meditations was really true. This doubt arises generally when I read the literature or speak with the doctors about the extent of my vision loss--this kind of damage is irreparable, the retina cannot repair itself, much like the conventional wisdom about the brain cells. I always try to chase such doubt away by reminding myself that more of my vision returned than my surgeon ever expected and that it has continued to do so, that I, in fact, have already had a small miracle. But surely I'm not worthy of miracles, I reason, so the doubt resurfaces, and then I remember tales of people who have been blind and who have had their sight miraculously restored. Those "miracles" could probably be explained away with today's medicine and science, but that's not the point...they would be no less miraculous to the people who experienced them simply because science had an explanation.
But back to the point, the provider of this message, whenever I really begin to doubt, always sends me another message (or two, or three, as I'm so damn stubborn) that essentially says, "Hey, you numb skull, stop doubting and trust me, will ya?" I say "provider of this message" because although I believe the ultimate authority of it comes from God/Allah/the Divine/Yahweh/Wakan Tanka, I think the message likely comes through a mediator, call it what you like--spirit guide, angel, dead loved one, whatever. It's a messenger who takes the form that the person can most easily accept a message from at the time...that's my theory.
So, now that we are all on the same page and some of you are surprised that I have gone utterly Looney Toons and others have just had it confirmed, I can tell you this good news that I learned yesterday. In one of my support groups for IIH (PTC), I saw a message from a woman who said she was completely blind for an entire month in the summer of 2005 before she was diagnosed, and now she has 90% of her vision in one eye and 50% in the other. It has come back very slowly, but it has come back.
Let's stop and really think about this. She was completely blind for a month; I was mostly blind for two to three weeks. It has taken four and a half years, but a great portion of her vision has come back. I know to those of you who think about these numbers, 90% and 50% still seem very low, but for someone like me who currently has partial vision in about 38% of her good eye, 90% and 50% are tremendous numbers. So, how does this give me hope, and what does it have to do with that promise of restored vision?
In every way, and everything. It gives me hope because it lets me know that there IS a precedent out there, even though the literature may not mention it, even though it may be an outlier. It reminds me that although we like to envision miracles as happening suddenly, miracles are everywhere. We like to overuse the phrase sometimes, and often we use it so much that we don't realize how much it really means--like the miracle of pregnancy and the miracle of birth. They are tremendous miracles--just ask anyone who works in reproductive health. It's a miracle that the human race is able to propagate, honestly. And the promise I have been made is reinforced--my faith in it is reinforced again--as I am reminded that although I was made a promise, that promise is on God's time, not my time. And because this promise is confirmed, I know that the other promises that have been made will also be kept--yes, they will require effort on my part, but what better way to truly appreciate a gift than to work toward it and on it and know how hard it is to attain on your own? Whether the miracles are for ourselves or others, shouldn't we all be instruments in the miracles that are worked in the world?
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Blood from a Turnip
* Stringham high: Planting!
* Stringham low: Cold front after a week of gorgeous warm weather.
* Stringham super-high: Daffodils in bloom.
(By the way, as soon as I can find the time, I'll have pictures up of what we did last weekend around the place. It was a lot!!!!)
So, I've done this before with emails, but now with my blog. I'm ranting a bit, but now you get to be my "witnesses" to what I have to deal with. And this is just one more way for me to help show that I'm documenting my plight and making efforts, in case things keep disappearing from other people's records (see below).
Pushed and pulled in so many directions. Got a call yesterday (Wednesday) from the collections agency (IMC), from J. She tried to get me to settle, by knocking off “a substantial” part of the bill from Beltway, but I’d have to pay quickly and in a lump sum---more than $7000--to not get it to adversely affect my credit (and other nasty implied things). The entire bill is $8666.60. That may seem like a substantial amount knocked off to her, but not substantial enough from where I’m sitting. So I told her Mike was at work and I’d have to talk with him about it, that I’d call her back today (Thursday).
Long story short, I ended up making more calls yesterday and more this morning and have just finished spending about an hour and a half on the phone this afternoon with Dr. Lee’s office, IMC, and MHS (for Medicaid), you name it...
I’ve been told by MHS that there is now no record of Dr. Pearce’s bill in the system…no record of me calling in about it or of them sending those letters to him, nothing, nada, zip, zilch. I’ve been told that I should contact his office and tell them to resubmit that. When I called IMC, they basically asked if that meant the bill was supposed to be resubmitted, and I said that’s what I took from what MHS told me. Then the gent at IMC seemed to ignore that bit of information and go straight for the Beltway information. So I explained that C at MHS was still researching information there and was supposed to be getting information for me and calling me back today or tomorrow. On a later call, J (at IMC) asked if we could pay nothing on the bill. I didn’t want to get caught in it and required by law to pay for it by agreeing to settle, because another $7000 is just more than we can handle right now. I explained that we’re already just barely making our bills, and she asked if we couldn’t do anything for it. I said I’d have to talk to Mike again because we’re paying bills this weekend. She said she thought that was why she had waited overnight for me to call today, so I explained that because of Mike’s work shift, we have limited time to have any discussions and that he goes to work, comes home, we eat, go to bed, then get up and he goes again—that we know there is no way we can pay a $7000+ bill and we’ll have to discuss whether it's possible to pay even a smaller amount but that I still doubted it.
She said she’ll put the account on hold for the weekend and said that two things need to happen or they will have to mark the account as unpaid and Beltway will sue the account: the diagnosis needs to be changed or I need to pay a substantial amount on the bill. Well, I know there’s no way we can really pay a substantial amount on the bill. I explained she’s really been the first one to mention that the doctor would be the person who would need to change the diagnosis, etc. So I asked her how that worked. She explained, then said that in her 20 years, she’s only seen that work a couple of times. (Still, I figured, it’s my best hope. I’m not going to go into hardship to pay something I’ve been told I’m not supposed to pay. This is where it gets tough…I want them to get their money, and if I had the money, I wouldn’t mind paying it, even working out a payment plan (hard as that would be), and with an insurance company, I know that’s what we’d be obligated to do. But we have MHS (Medicaid) telling us that we should not pay it, because those providers are in the wrong for trying to bill me in the first place.)
But J emphasized that “the ball was in my court,” that I can’t just sit back and do nothing (which is ridiculous, really, when you think about it.) They’re telling me I’m supposed to act in spite of the research that MHS is doing. I can’t just sit around and do nothing. Right, because that’s all I’ve been doing, nothing. I’ve spent so much timing making phone calls to MHS and IMC and medical provider billing companies (who know nothing and care nothing except if you are paying, they don’t care about the details, unless the details are who is paying them, how much they are getting paid, and when they are getting paid) that I am now about a half a week behind in my editing—my livelihood—the ONLY way they MIGHT be able to squeeze blood out of this turnip. But I’m spending so much time on the phone with them doing THEIR jobs that they’re making it very difficult for me to earn enough money to pay my existing bills, much less come up with something they hope to wrench out of me. What a joke.
So, glutton for punishment that I am, I got off the phone with J at IMC and immediately called Dr. Lee’s office. First time through, I couldn’t leave a message in a general mailbox and didn’t know who the hell’s extension to leave a message on, so I called back again. Got a different message, this one saying the office was closed. Thought I may have gotten to a general voicemail box but wasn’t sure, so after leaving a message, I called back to check. (I figured I didn’t care if I left 20 messages, so long as one of them got someone to call me back with Dr. Lee’s information tomorrow.) So I called back immediately, and someone answered, even after the phones were already shut down for the night. I guess they got tired of hearing them ring. lol. People can only ignore a ringing phone so many times. I explained my conundrum and was told by the lady who answered that she would patch me through to Linda, but Linda might be home for the night but I could leave a message. I was tickled pink. That would be fantastic, I said.
L answered! L and I had a lovely chat. For a half hour, she and I discussed my issues and the back and forth I’ve been going through, and possible ways to work with Beltway Surgery Center if necessary. She explained that Dr. Lee is on vacation until next week (of course, just my luck!), but she and C (a nurse there) think that maybe it’s not the coding but a letter of explanation that might help. L is going to call their billing department first thing tomorrow morning to find out if they’ve had problems with their bill getting paid by Medicaid, because usually if their bills go through, so do Beltway’s, and vice versa, she said. And then she’ll figure out what we need to do from there, she said. We may be able to get Medicaid to pay for this, after all. Or we may not.
But L has connections. Linda knows people I can talk to at Beltway if we ultimately find out from MHS that, for some reason, we are liable for the cost of the surgery…not just the people who answer the phone at the billing center, no, but real live human beings who may be trained to do more than read from a decision tree and ask you if you are paying (Yes? Great! Will that be credit or check?—No? Well, you know, this is your responsibility because your insurance company has failed to pay, even if your insurance company was Medicaid. Are you sure you can’t pay?—You will pay? Great! Will that be credit or check?—You won’t pay? You know this will be turned over to collections and can hurt your credit if you don’t pay. We can send you an application for financial aid or let you talk to a social worker if you’re really sure you can’t pay.—You will pay? Great! Will that be check or credit?—You can’t pay? Would you like an application for financial aid, or would you like to speak to a social worker?—Financial aid application? Okay, I’ll send that out in the mail to you right away. Remember that you have to have that filled out and returned within 10 business days or this account will be turned over to collections and your credit will be damaged.)
Anyway, L is fabulous. L is helpful. (I can’t stop singing the praises of L.) She even had the nerve during our conversation to ask how I am…right in the MIDDLE of the conversation, she asked how I was doing, and how my vision has been doing. It’s after hours, and she’s supposed to be going home already, but she actually stopped to take time to ask how I was. L has restored my faith in people, at least for a little while. (I cried while I answered, I was so touched that she cared to ask and actually listened.) Anyway, L (I’m singing her name in my head to the tune of “Lo-la! L-O-L-A, Lola! Lo lo lo lo Lo-la-a!”) is going to make some calls and find out some things and call me back. She didn’t tell me I owe her office money (she’s checking on that, and if I do, she’s going to try to figure out how we can resolve the issue) and have to pay right away, and she didn’t tell me to sit tight and do nothing while she researches. She told me she’ll help me along the way.
(To be fair, the folks at MHS have told me that, too, but they now seem even more lost and confused than I do…I mean, they lost all record of one of my bills and of me calling about it numerous times and of them sending out numerous letters to the provider, for pity’s sake!)
Anyway, tomorrow, M and I go to the courthouse to see if there’s a way we can get some free legal aid if necessary if all this doesn’t get cleared up. I want it to show that we have done our due diligence and tried everything within our power (and even beyond, I think) to get these issues resolved.
So, all in all, it was just another day...I used to get paid well to be a project manager and do this sort of thing, making sure all parties involved were informed of what the others were doing, bridging the gap, keeping things properly greased up so the cogs and wheels were all moving along properly. But now I’m the project manager of something that should never have been such a project in the first place. (Is this what happens when we let the inmates run the asylum and no one knows HOW to take responsibility?) I’ve got at least two teams working “for” me and one team opposing me, and finally, I have competent “employees” on the case, but it has taken this long (4 1/2 months) for me to find out the right questions to ask, the right avenues to pursue, and for me to have the somewhat-restored mental wherewithal to understand half of what’s going on. So, yeah, I love being a project manager, I really do. Even better, I like getting paid for it, like I used to. But now it actually COSTS me money because it takes time away from my editing, you know, the little bit of blood that sometimes seeps through this turnip...
Well, at least things are looking brighter… Cheers!
* Stringham low: Cold front after a week of gorgeous warm weather.
* Stringham super-high: Daffodils in bloom.
(By the way, as soon as I can find the time, I'll have pictures up of what we did last weekend around the place. It was a lot!!!!)
So, I've done this before with emails, but now with my blog. I'm ranting a bit, but now you get to be my "witnesses" to what I have to deal with. And this is just one more way for me to help show that I'm documenting my plight and making efforts, in case things keep disappearing from other people's records (see below).
Pushed and pulled in so many directions. Got a call yesterday (Wednesday) from the collections agency (IMC), from J. She tried to get me to settle, by knocking off “a substantial” part of the bill from Beltway, but I’d have to pay quickly and in a lump sum---more than $7000--to not get it to adversely affect my credit (and other nasty implied things). The entire bill is $8666.60. That may seem like a substantial amount knocked off to her, but not substantial enough from where I’m sitting. So I told her Mike was at work and I’d have to talk with him about it, that I’d call her back today (Thursday).
Long story short, I ended up making more calls yesterday and more this morning and have just finished spending about an hour and a half on the phone this afternoon with Dr. Lee’s office, IMC, and MHS (for Medicaid), you name it...
I’ve been told by MHS that there is now no record of Dr. Pearce’s bill in the system…no record of me calling in about it or of them sending those letters to him, nothing, nada, zip, zilch. I’ve been told that I should contact his office and tell them to resubmit that. When I called IMC, they basically asked if that meant the bill was supposed to be resubmitted, and I said that’s what I took from what MHS told me. Then the gent at IMC seemed to ignore that bit of information and go straight for the Beltway information. So I explained that C at MHS was still researching information there and was supposed to be getting information for me and calling me back today or tomorrow. On a later call, J (at IMC) asked if we could pay nothing on the bill. I didn’t want to get caught in it and required by law to pay for it by agreeing to settle, because another $7000 is just more than we can handle right now. I explained that we’re already just barely making our bills, and she asked if we couldn’t do anything for it. I said I’d have to talk to Mike again because we’re paying bills this weekend. She said she thought that was why she had waited overnight for me to call today, so I explained that because of Mike’s work shift, we have limited time to have any discussions and that he goes to work, comes home, we eat, go to bed, then get up and he goes again—that we know there is no way we can pay a $7000+ bill and we’ll have to discuss whether it's possible to pay even a smaller amount but that I still doubted it.
She said she’ll put the account on hold for the weekend and said that two things need to happen or they will have to mark the account as unpaid and Beltway will sue the account: the diagnosis needs to be changed or I need to pay a substantial amount on the bill. Well, I know there’s no way we can really pay a substantial amount on the bill. I explained she’s really been the first one to mention that the doctor would be the person who would need to change the diagnosis, etc. So I asked her how that worked. She explained, then said that in her 20 years, she’s only seen that work a couple of times. (Still, I figured, it’s my best hope. I’m not going to go into hardship to pay something I’ve been told I’m not supposed to pay. This is where it gets tough…I want them to get their money, and if I had the money, I wouldn’t mind paying it, even working out a payment plan (hard as that would be), and with an insurance company, I know that’s what we’d be obligated to do. But we have MHS (Medicaid) telling us that we should not pay it, because those providers are in the wrong for trying to bill me in the first place.)
But J emphasized that “the ball was in my court,” that I can’t just sit back and do nothing (which is ridiculous, really, when you think about it.) They’re telling me I’m supposed to act in spite of the research that MHS is doing. I can’t just sit around and do nothing. Right, because that’s all I’ve been doing, nothing. I’ve spent so much timing making phone calls to MHS and IMC and medical provider billing companies (who know nothing and care nothing except if you are paying, they don’t care about the details, unless the details are who is paying them, how much they are getting paid, and when they are getting paid) that I am now about a half a week behind in my editing—my livelihood—the ONLY way they MIGHT be able to squeeze blood out of this turnip. But I’m spending so much time on the phone with them doing THEIR jobs that they’re making it very difficult for me to earn enough money to pay my existing bills, much less come up with something they hope to wrench out of me. What a joke.
So, glutton for punishment that I am, I got off the phone with J at IMC and immediately called Dr. Lee’s office. First time through, I couldn’t leave a message in a general mailbox and didn’t know who the hell’s extension to leave a message on, so I called back again. Got a different message, this one saying the office was closed. Thought I may have gotten to a general voicemail box but wasn’t sure, so after leaving a message, I called back to check. (I figured I didn’t care if I left 20 messages, so long as one of them got someone to call me back with Dr. Lee’s information tomorrow.) So I called back immediately, and someone answered, even after the phones were already shut down for the night. I guess they got tired of hearing them ring. lol. People can only ignore a ringing phone so many times. I explained my conundrum and was told by the lady who answered that she would patch me through to Linda, but Linda might be home for the night but I could leave a message. I was tickled pink. That would be fantastic, I said.
L answered! L and I had a lovely chat. For a half hour, she and I discussed my issues and the back and forth I’ve been going through, and possible ways to work with Beltway Surgery Center if necessary. She explained that Dr. Lee is on vacation until next week (of course, just my luck!), but she and C (a nurse there) think that maybe it’s not the coding but a letter of explanation that might help. L is going to call their billing department first thing tomorrow morning to find out if they’ve had problems with their bill getting paid by Medicaid, because usually if their bills go through, so do Beltway’s, and vice versa, she said. And then she’ll figure out what we need to do from there, she said. We may be able to get Medicaid to pay for this, after all. Or we may not.
But L has connections. Linda knows people I can talk to at Beltway if we ultimately find out from MHS that, for some reason, we are liable for the cost of the surgery…not just the people who answer the phone at the billing center, no, but real live human beings who may be trained to do more than read from a decision tree and ask you if you are paying (Yes? Great! Will that be credit or check?—No? Well, you know, this is your responsibility because your insurance company has failed to pay, even if your insurance company was Medicaid. Are you sure you can’t pay?—You will pay? Great! Will that be credit or check?—You won’t pay? You know this will be turned over to collections and can hurt your credit if you don’t pay. We can send you an application for financial aid or let you talk to a social worker if you’re really sure you can’t pay.—You will pay? Great! Will that be check or credit?—You can’t pay? Would you like an application for financial aid, or would you like to speak to a social worker?—Financial aid application? Okay, I’ll send that out in the mail to you right away. Remember that you have to have that filled out and returned within 10 business days or this account will be turned over to collections and your credit will be damaged.)
Anyway, L is fabulous. L is helpful. (I can’t stop singing the praises of L.) She even had the nerve during our conversation to ask how I am…right in the MIDDLE of the conversation, she asked how I was doing, and how my vision has been doing. It’s after hours, and she’s supposed to be going home already, but she actually stopped to take time to ask how I was. L has restored my faith in people, at least for a little while. (I cried while I answered, I was so touched that she cared to ask and actually listened.) Anyway, L (I’m singing her name in my head to the tune of “Lo-la! L-O-L-A, Lola! Lo lo lo lo Lo-la-a!”) is going to make some calls and find out some things and call me back. She didn’t tell me I owe her office money (she’s checking on that, and if I do, she’s going to try to figure out how we can resolve the issue) and have to pay right away, and she didn’t tell me to sit tight and do nothing while she researches. She told me she’ll help me along the way.
(To be fair, the folks at MHS have told me that, too, but they now seem even more lost and confused than I do…I mean, they lost all record of one of my bills and of me calling about it numerous times and of them sending out numerous letters to the provider, for pity’s sake!)
Anyway, tomorrow, M and I go to the courthouse to see if there’s a way we can get some free legal aid if necessary if all this doesn’t get cleared up. I want it to show that we have done our due diligence and tried everything within our power (and even beyond, I think) to get these issues resolved.
So, all in all, it was just another day...I used to get paid well to be a project manager and do this sort of thing, making sure all parties involved were informed of what the others were doing, bridging the gap, keeping things properly greased up so the cogs and wheels were all moving along properly. But now I’m the project manager of something that should never have been such a project in the first place. (Is this what happens when we let the inmates run the asylum and no one knows HOW to take responsibility?) I’ve got at least two teams working “for” me and one team opposing me, and finally, I have competent “employees” on the case, but it has taken this long (4 1/2 months) for me to find out the right questions to ask, the right avenues to pursue, and for me to have the somewhat-restored mental wherewithal to understand half of what’s going on. So, yeah, I love being a project manager, I really do. Even better, I like getting paid for it, like I used to. But now it actually COSTS me money because it takes time away from my editing, you know, the little bit of blood that sometimes seeps through this turnip...
Well, at least things are looking brighter… Cheers!
Thursday, March 25, 2010
This Just Keeps Getting Better and Better
* Stringham high: Springtime
* Stringham low: Cold, cold rain and collections agencies
* Stringham super-high: Thoughts of warm, sandy beaches and saltwater spray
I got another letter today from the same collection agency as last week—-this time for the Beltway Surgery Center bill—the surgery for my eyes. This collections agent was a little nicer, listening and taking more information from me, and gave me the name of the representative at the collection agency who would be handling this "account," so that was helpful. The agent told me that the hospital obviously thinks Medicaid isn’t going to pay, if they’ve turned the bill over to collections. And she asked if I knew why Medicaid had denied paying the bill. (Yeah, right, because they tell me.) But I explained all about how IIH is covered by pregnancy Medicaid and that the vision problems necessitating the surgery on my eyes were caused by the IIH. (I have explained this to I don't know how many people, but it never seems to matter. Maybe someday it will sink in somewhere and make a difference.) The agent said she’d pass that information on to the representative and said it might have just been a billing code issue that needed to be worked out by the hospital and Medicaid. She still tried to tell me that if Medicaid doesn’t cover the bill, I will be responsible for paying it.
Hmm, hospitals and collections agencies tell me I’m responsible for paying, but Medicaid representatives tell me I’m not. Who to believe?
Also had a very enlightening conversation today with someone at my chiropractor's office who keeps getting bills from the first doctor who sent my account to collections. This person keeps getting bills for tests that are done for their child (who has a chronic condition and requires constant testing and follow-up) and that this doctor then reads--apparently, that's all this doc does, that's all he did for me, read an X-ray and a CT scan. Yup, this person keeps getting bills from the doc that say they are required to pay the balance because their insurance company didn't cover, yadda, yadda, yadda. We wonder if this doctor is trying to double bill people. Wouldn’t be very nice of him. Or, come to think of it, maybe it's just ineptitude--maybe his office just doesn't know how to bill properly and he keeps going after the poor schmucks who had no say in who was to read their scans. Either way, it's not very nice or responsible.
* Stringham low: Cold, cold rain and collections agencies
* Stringham super-high: Thoughts of warm, sandy beaches and saltwater spray
I got another letter today from the same collection agency as last week—-this time for the Beltway Surgery Center bill—the surgery for my eyes. This collections agent was a little nicer, listening and taking more information from me, and gave me the name of the representative at the collection agency who would be handling this "account," so that was helpful. The agent told me that the hospital obviously thinks Medicaid isn’t going to pay, if they’ve turned the bill over to collections. And she asked if I knew why Medicaid had denied paying the bill. (Yeah, right, because they tell me.) But I explained all about how IIH is covered by pregnancy Medicaid and that the vision problems necessitating the surgery on my eyes were caused by the IIH. (I have explained this to I don't know how many people, but it never seems to matter. Maybe someday it will sink in somewhere and make a difference.) The agent said she’d pass that information on to the representative and said it might have just been a billing code issue that needed to be worked out by the hospital and Medicaid. She still tried to tell me that if Medicaid doesn’t cover the bill, I will be responsible for paying it.
Hmm, hospitals and collections agencies tell me I’m responsible for paying, but Medicaid representatives tell me I’m not. Who to believe?
Also had a very enlightening conversation today with someone at my chiropractor's office who keeps getting bills from the first doctor who sent my account to collections. This person keeps getting bills for tests that are done for their child (who has a chronic condition and requires constant testing and follow-up) and that this doctor then reads--apparently, that's all this doc does, that's all he did for me, read an X-ray and a CT scan. Yup, this person keeps getting bills from the doc that say they are required to pay the balance because their insurance company didn't cover, yadda, yadda, yadda. We wonder if this doctor is trying to double bill people. Wouldn’t be very nice of him. Or, come to think of it, maybe it's just ineptitude--maybe his office just doesn't know how to bill properly and he keeps going after the poor schmucks who had no say in who was to read their scans. Either way, it's not very nice or responsible.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Something is Broken
* Stringham high: Spring
* Stringham low: Crazy financiers and politicians
* Stringham super-high: All we need is love, and yes, love does keep us together.
Today I received a notice in the mail from GE Money Bank saying my line of credit account had been closed. They cited my credit report, citing “length of time since last delinquency,” something else about a delinquency of trade, and too large a percent of my credit limit is used. Well, the credit limit percentage used is partly because we closed my Target Visa, we know…the rate was just going too high, and we were tired of the interest rate creeping up over and over again, so we closed it. But delinquencies? I have NO delinquencies. They cited changes on my TransUnion report. Wondering if this was something showing up from the healthcare bills and collection agencies impacting my credit report (but not thinking so because my credit monitoring service hasn’t notified me of any changes yet), I called the number the GE Bank statement gave for TransUnion. It was completely automated. I had to enter information, which basically resulted in the automated system giving me a spiel about how the credit report is great but is nothing compared to the score and how the score is used to determine your creditworthiness, and then it asked if I wanted to purchase my score. I chose the option for No. Then it asked again, as if I had not heard the question properly the first time. I chose No again. Then it told me about how they have a credit watching and reporting service you can purchase. I chose the option for No, just trying and waiting to speak to someone. Then it went on a minute-long spiel about how vital credit monitoring is to protecting your credit, blah, blah, blah, blah. Again I chose No, thank you. Then I was told a copy of my credit report would be in the mail and I could expect to see it in a week or two. Then I was disconnected. Seriously.
What a freaking scam.
So then I called GE Money Bank and asked them what was going on. I was told that GE was doing away with the Lines of Credit. So this is happening to everyone? I asked. Yes, the lovely Indian woman told me. So why, I asked, were things like delinquencies and issues with my credit report cited? Well, she said, they also do use credit reports when doing this.
Seriously? They’re closing all Line of Credit accounts anyway, but they feel the need to do checks into everyone’s credit reports? Sounds fishy. And expensive.
And so now I’m going to have another impact on my credit score—my percent of credit used…Oh, and this was AFTER GE already had lowered my account limit to below the amount I owed on it…seems to me GE has been fucking over my credit on its own initiative so it can say it can drop me because of unfavorable reports on my credit score. Honestly, what the hell is happening in this world?
Our financial lives—hell, even our jobs—are now determined by our credit reports and credit scores, but we now have no control over our credit and those reports. We’ve been dutifully paying down my debt for the past two years, without adding any more, other than the house and the heat pump. The credit cards are never used. And we somehow manage to funnel every spare (and not-so-spare) cent into those debts so they don’t grow. And now, my credit is taking a hit because some douchebag bankers couldn’t properly manage MY money, and they’re laying the blame on me and causing MY credit to suffer for it. All this with the healthcare system (don’t get me started) and people trying to hold me responsible for debts that AREN’T mine?
What the fuck happened to the accountability in this country? I’ve played the game, I’ve played within the system, playing it like I was supposed to, like a dutiful little consumer, and now that I’ve been trying to break out of the system, I’m getting screwed over (just like every other American, I know…right now I just feel like I’m being singled out, what with all these issues converging.)
I’m self-employed and lose basically 45% of my income to taxes. Yep, you read that right…FORTY-FIVE PERCENT…so if I make as much money before taxes as I did as an employee of someone else right now, I’m actually bringing home far less money. Plus I don’t get health insurance. (So no, I don’t feel bad about applying for public aid whenever things are lean right now—I’m now paying double for it.) Mike is now working a factory job, which we’re happy about. He has a job! But he now makes less money there than he did on unemployment. He has to work a 40-hour week plus about 9 hours of overtime just to make before taxes what he got from unemployment. And still no health insurance (nope, he’s got to make it through 6 weeks as a temp, then 60 days as a full employee before he can even HOPE to apply for health insurance). Oh, and that overtime is mandatory. He’s going to have at least 48 hours this week, probably 56. No, he can’t turn it down even if he wanted to…not without getting points.
I know, it’s a challenge millions of Americans have faced through the years. I grew up with parents working in factories and having mandatory overtime. And low wages are a sad reality. But I just have to ponder today…how broken is this economy? A healthcare bill just got passed that’s going to require us to start paying in taxes in 2011 but won’t start providing benefits until 2014. For three years, people are either going to be paying twice for healthcare, or paying and not receiving any. Or they’ll be charged a penalty for “willingly” not paying for health insurance. All this was supposedly to save Americans money in the healthcare system. But instead of controlling costs, all it’s doing is requiring insurance companies to provide benefits to everyone. Gee, thanks, Gov’ment. I already could have found insurance for myself, if I had wanted to pay enough. This isn’t going to help me at all. Way to attack the symptom, and not the problem. It’s like giving penicillin to someone who needs an antibiotic but is allergic to penicillin. Brilliant!
Honestly, why do we have this incredible need to DO SOMETHING! even when we know it’s not the right thing to do. Do we ever stop to consider what’s the right thing or the wrong thing to do? Have we forgotten that choosing to do nothing is still doing something, that sometimes there’s just no bandage big enough, that sometimes bleeding the patient, giving an antibiotic, shooting the lame horse is not the answer? Can’t we just let the body fix itself? We’ve become too dependent on artificial systems, on financial systems and insurance systems that WE’VE created…they’re artificial markets. Instead of trading goods and services for other goods and services, we’re playing with imaginary money and imaginary percentages and the ability of money to triple in value by doing nothing, going nowhere, and not actually being spent. And who has really been hurt? The people who put their money in banks, the people who had to live in a society that runs EVERYTHING based on your credit history—your ability to get an education, a job, a car, a house. Average people.
And the insurance companies that were once created to help spread risk across groups so people who weren’t so healthy could still receive care without having to pay for the cost have been dicked around by health care providers, and then the health care providers got dicked around by insurance companies, and on and on it went in a spiral, until now, there are people who companies won’t insure because they’re too expensive, and those people no longer just have to pay for the high cost of their care—they have to pay for the high cost of care that health care providers can’t recoup from insurance companies because of the dicking-around spiral that’s been going on for decades. And who has really been hurt? Patients.
Average people have been hurt. Over and over again. The system is broken. Beyond any government repair. Government can’t even fix itself. Decision makers, policy makers, rate-setters…people too innumerable to count, and faceless…have broken things…no, CREATED a golem, a broken, ridiculous parody of reality, and we pay the consequences.
But all is not without hope. We aren’t our healthcare or financial systems. We have to live with them, among them, navigating them, as broken and twisted, mangled, smoldering as they are in their ruination, but we have each other, and that makes us, the average people, strong.
* Stringham low: Crazy financiers and politicians
* Stringham super-high: All we need is love, and yes, love does keep us together.
Today I received a notice in the mail from GE Money Bank saying my line of credit account had been closed. They cited my credit report, citing “length of time since last delinquency,” something else about a delinquency of trade, and too large a percent of my credit limit is used. Well, the credit limit percentage used is partly because we closed my Target Visa, we know…the rate was just going too high, and we were tired of the interest rate creeping up over and over again, so we closed it. But delinquencies? I have NO delinquencies. They cited changes on my TransUnion report. Wondering if this was something showing up from the healthcare bills and collection agencies impacting my credit report (but not thinking so because my credit monitoring service hasn’t notified me of any changes yet), I called the number the GE Bank statement gave for TransUnion. It was completely automated. I had to enter information, which basically resulted in the automated system giving me a spiel about how the credit report is great but is nothing compared to the score and how the score is used to determine your creditworthiness, and then it asked if I wanted to purchase my score. I chose the option for No. Then it asked again, as if I had not heard the question properly the first time. I chose No again. Then it told me about how they have a credit watching and reporting service you can purchase. I chose the option for No, just trying and waiting to speak to someone. Then it went on a minute-long spiel about how vital credit monitoring is to protecting your credit, blah, blah, blah, blah. Again I chose No, thank you. Then I was told a copy of my credit report would be in the mail and I could expect to see it in a week or two. Then I was disconnected. Seriously.
What a freaking scam.
So then I called GE Money Bank and asked them what was going on. I was told that GE was doing away with the Lines of Credit. So this is happening to everyone? I asked. Yes, the lovely Indian woman told me. So why, I asked, were things like delinquencies and issues with my credit report cited? Well, she said, they also do use credit reports when doing this.
Seriously? They’re closing all Line of Credit accounts anyway, but they feel the need to do checks into everyone’s credit reports? Sounds fishy. And expensive.
And so now I’m going to have another impact on my credit score—my percent of credit used…Oh, and this was AFTER GE already had lowered my account limit to below the amount I owed on it…seems to me GE has been fucking over my credit on its own initiative so it can say it can drop me because of unfavorable reports on my credit score. Honestly, what the hell is happening in this world?
Our financial lives—hell, even our jobs—are now determined by our credit reports and credit scores, but we now have no control over our credit and those reports. We’ve been dutifully paying down my debt for the past two years, without adding any more, other than the house and the heat pump. The credit cards are never used. And we somehow manage to funnel every spare (and not-so-spare) cent into those debts so they don’t grow. And now, my credit is taking a hit because some douchebag bankers couldn’t properly manage MY money, and they’re laying the blame on me and causing MY credit to suffer for it. All this with the healthcare system (don’t get me started) and people trying to hold me responsible for debts that AREN’T mine?
What the fuck happened to the accountability in this country? I’ve played the game, I’ve played within the system, playing it like I was supposed to, like a dutiful little consumer, and now that I’ve been trying to break out of the system, I’m getting screwed over (just like every other American, I know…right now I just feel like I’m being singled out, what with all these issues converging.)
I’m self-employed and lose basically 45% of my income to taxes. Yep, you read that right…FORTY-FIVE PERCENT…so if I make as much money before taxes as I did as an employee of someone else right now, I’m actually bringing home far less money. Plus I don’t get health insurance. (So no, I don’t feel bad about applying for public aid whenever things are lean right now—I’m now paying double for it.) Mike is now working a factory job, which we’re happy about. He has a job! But he now makes less money there than he did on unemployment. He has to work a 40-hour week plus about 9 hours of overtime just to make before taxes what he got from unemployment. And still no health insurance (nope, he’s got to make it through 6 weeks as a temp, then 60 days as a full employee before he can even HOPE to apply for health insurance). Oh, and that overtime is mandatory. He’s going to have at least 48 hours this week, probably 56. No, he can’t turn it down even if he wanted to…not without getting points.
I know, it’s a challenge millions of Americans have faced through the years. I grew up with parents working in factories and having mandatory overtime. And low wages are a sad reality. But I just have to ponder today…how broken is this economy? A healthcare bill just got passed that’s going to require us to start paying in taxes in 2011 but won’t start providing benefits until 2014. For three years, people are either going to be paying twice for healthcare, or paying and not receiving any. Or they’ll be charged a penalty for “willingly” not paying for health insurance. All this was supposedly to save Americans money in the healthcare system. But instead of controlling costs, all it’s doing is requiring insurance companies to provide benefits to everyone. Gee, thanks, Gov’ment. I already could have found insurance for myself, if I had wanted to pay enough. This isn’t going to help me at all. Way to attack the symptom, and not the problem. It’s like giving penicillin to someone who needs an antibiotic but is allergic to penicillin. Brilliant!
Honestly, why do we have this incredible need to DO SOMETHING! even when we know it’s not the right thing to do. Do we ever stop to consider what’s the right thing or the wrong thing to do? Have we forgotten that choosing to do nothing is still doing something, that sometimes there’s just no bandage big enough, that sometimes bleeding the patient, giving an antibiotic, shooting the lame horse is not the answer? Can’t we just let the body fix itself? We’ve become too dependent on artificial systems, on financial systems and insurance systems that WE’VE created…they’re artificial markets. Instead of trading goods and services for other goods and services, we’re playing with imaginary money and imaginary percentages and the ability of money to triple in value by doing nothing, going nowhere, and not actually being spent. And who has really been hurt? The people who put their money in banks, the people who had to live in a society that runs EVERYTHING based on your credit history—your ability to get an education, a job, a car, a house. Average people.
And the insurance companies that were once created to help spread risk across groups so people who weren’t so healthy could still receive care without having to pay for the cost have been dicked around by health care providers, and then the health care providers got dicked around by insurance companies, and on and on it went in a spiral, until now, there are people who companies won’t insure because they’re too expensive, and those people no longer just have to pay for the high cost of their care—they have to pay for the high cost of care that health care providers can’t recoup from insurance companies because of the dicking-around spiral that’s been going on for decades. And who has really been hurt? Patients.
Average people have been hurt. Over and over again. The system is broken. Beyond any government repair. Government can’t even fix itself. Decision makers, policy makers, rate-setters…people too innumerable to count, and faceless…have broken things…no, CREATED a golem, a broken, ridiculous parody of reality, and we pay the consequences.
But all is not without hope. We aren’t our healthcare or financial systems. We have to live with them, among them, navigating them, as broken and twisted, mangled, smoldering as they are in their ruination, but we have each other, and that makes us, the average people, strong.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
The Debt Collector Calleth
* Stringham high: More (slight) improvement in Steph's vision this week!
* Stringham low: See today's entry below :(
* Stringham super-high: Mike has a job!!!!!!
Got a letter from a collection agency today for one of the doctors who’s been billing me since October—for reading the X-rays and CT scan they took when I first started having my headache and a lot of pain. I’ve called Managed Health Services (the company who was managing my insurance through Medicaid) every time I’ve received a bill, and they’ve sent letters to this guy two or three times, and they’ve tried to call his office to talk to him because he shouldn’t still be billing me. But when they’ve tried to call him, they’ve not been able to get through. So today, I called them again and told them about the collection agency, and I was told it would get turned over to Pam, the lady who contacts whese companies and reminds them that they cn’t keep billing me or they will lose their ability to treat Medicaid patients.
And then I called the collection agency and told them (as much as they would let me) what was going on, so they took my Medicaid number and said they’d try to get reimbursed for this from Medicaid but that this might hurt my credit anyway because it’s gone to collections. I said I understood but it is what it is because I can’t do much about it.
Meanwhile, I feel like shit because when I call these billing places, they make me feel dirty because I’ve got Medicaid or I’m not paying, or whatever. And they try to make you feel bad and tell me that I’m still liable for it, even if Medicaid doesn’t cover it. The whole time I’m told this, I keep thinking this is ridiculous. This is a fight between Medicaid and the provider, and the provider (any of them) keeps telling me that I’m responsible for paying whatever Medicaid doesn’t pay. Sure, if you have medical insurance, you’re liable for whatever they don’t cover, but Medicaid works a little differently. I mean, really, if I had the money, I wouldn’t have to have had Medicaid, would I? So I felt like crap, because I’m between a rock and a hard place, in between two fighting dogs, and I’m the one who’s going to get hurt from it, my credit score, anyway. I told Mike about everything, and I just started bawling because these phone calls always make me feel crappy and worthless and, most of all, frustrated, because I feel powerless. I’m told by one side not to do anything and by the other side that I’m completely responsible. And all I want to do is understand what the hell is going on. And I want to be left alone while they duke it out. Why do I have to keep getting bit by the dog? ugh.
Anyway, because I was crying, Mike was trying to tell me what I needed to do, to call MHS and make sure the problem goes to someone who will do something more than just “pass it to Pam.” I told him to feel free. So he started calling. He tried to take care of it, but they had to talk to me, so I had to try to stem my tears of frustration and talk to these people again. This lady was incredibly understanding and patient (and knowledgeable—jackpot!)—but maybe that was because Mike had already told her I was in tears and that’s why he was calling. It was the lunch hour (of course), so she tried to find Pam, or her own boss, but couldn’t. But she has told me that she’s trying to find a different number for this doctor who keeps billing me (and apparently ignoring the warning letters from MHS) but can’t seem to be reached. And she’s supposed to call me before the day’s out to let me know what’s going on. She said this situation needs to be escalated, the letters and calls just aren’t enough anymore, because this has been going on for too long (yeah, that’s why I’ve been so damn frustrated…I’ve been getting bills from him since December). So here’s hoping that she can get her coworkers to cooperate and really get something to happen. Because if this one isn’t resolved, I’ve got two MUCH larger bills coming down the pike that will go much the same way…
The more I deal with crap like this, the more I’m convinced that health care providers and collection agencies like this (and other insurance companies) eventually get their money by strong-arming, lying, and just wearing people down. Most people will eventually pay because they don’t have the time to deal with this and will cave in and pay out of fear or frustration, even if it means they rack up credit card debt or something. (Seriously?!) I may not know much, but I know better than that. I figure I’ve got three things going for me: (1) I’ve got the time (well, I can make it) to deal with this, (2) I’m incredibly organized and can provide documentation for every phone call and bill and letter, and (3) I hate being strong-armed—the more they try it, the more pissed off I get, and the less likely to do what they want me to do, especially quickly—if I get flustered or rushed, I retreat to gather my thoughts—screw that rushed decision crap.
In the meantime, I have to write a letter to the collection agency to show that I contest that I owe this money, and I’m going to give dates for everything, phone calls, and copies of letters. And copies are going to the provider and MHS, too. Seriously, IF this is going to hurt my credit, at least I can hold my head up high and have documentation.
All this instead of just having a brand-new beautiful baby in my arms this month…Mike and I sure would have preferred the baby. :)
* Stringham low: See today's entry below :(
* Stringham super-high: Mike has a job!!!!!!
Got a letter from a collection agency today for one of the doctors who’s been billing me since October—for reading the X-rays and CT scan they took when I first started having my headache and a lot of pain. I’ve called Managed Health Services (the company who was managing my insurance through Medicaid) every time I’ve received a bill, and they’ve sent letters to this guy two or three times, and they’ve tried to call his office to talk to him because he shouldn’t still be billing me. But when they’ve tried to call him, they’ve not been able to get through. So today, I called them again and told them about the collection agency, and I was told it would get turned over to Pam, the lady who contacts whese companies and reminds them that they cn’t keep billing me or they will lose their ability to treat Medicaid patients.
And then I called the collection agency and told them (as much as they would let me) what was going on, so they took my Medicaid number and said they’d try to get reimbursed for this from Medicaid but that this might hurt my credit anyway because it’s gone to collections. I said I understood but it is what it is because I can’t do much about it.
Meanwhile, I feel like shit because when I call these billing places, they make me feel dirty because I’ve got Medicaid or I’m not paying, or whatever. And they try to make you feel bad and tell me that I’m still liable for it, even if Medicaid doesn’t cover it. The whole time I’m told this, I keep thinking this is ridiculous. This is a fight between Medicaid and the provider, and the provider (any of them) keeps telling me that I’m responsible for paying whatever Medicaid doesn’t pay. Sure, if you have medical insurance, you’re liable for whatever they don’t cover, but Medicaid works a little differently. I mean, really, if I had the money, I wouldn’t have to have had Medicaid, would I? So I felt like crap, because I’m between a rock and a hard place, in between two fighting dogs, and I’m the one who’s going to get hurt from it, my credit score, anyway. I told Mike about everything, and I just started bawling because these phone calls always make me feel crappy and worthless and, most of all, frustrated, because I feel powerless. I’m told by one side not to do anything and by the other side that I’m completely responsible. And all I want to do is understand what the hell is going on. And I want to be left alone while they duke it out. Why do I have to keep getting bit by the dog? ugh.
Anyway, because I was crying, Mike was trying to tell me what I needed to do, to call MHS and make sure the problem goes to someone who will do something more than just “pass it to Pam.” I told him to feel free. So he started calling. He tried to take care of it, but they had to talk to me, so I had to try to stem my tears of frustration and talk to these people again. This lady was incredibly understanding and patient (and knowledgeable—jackpot!)—but maybe that was because Mike had already told her I was in tears and that’s why he was calling. It was the lunch hour (of course), so she tried to find Pam, or her own boss, but couldn’t. But she has told me that she’s trying to find a different number for this doctor who keeps billing me (and apparently ignoring the warning letters from MHS) but can’t seem to be reached. And she’s supposed to call me before the day’s out to let me know what’s going on. She said this situation needs to be escalated, the letters and calls just aren’t enough anymore, because this has been going on for too long (yeah, that’s why I’ve been so damn frustrated…I’ve been getting bills from him since December). So here’s hoping that she can get her coworkers to cooperate and really get something to happen. Because if this one isn’t resolved, I’ve got two MUCH larger bills coming down the pike that will go much the same way…
The more I deal with crap like this, the more I’m convinced that health care providers and collection agencies like this (and other insurance companies) eventually get their money by strong-arming, lying, and just wearing people down. Most people will eventually pay because they don’t have the time to deal with this and will cave in and pay out of fear or frustration, even if it means they rack up credit card debt or something. (Seriously?!) I may not know much, but I know better than that. I figure I’ve got three things going for me: (1) I’ve got the time (well, I can make it) to deal with this, (2) I’m incredibly organized and can provide documentation for every phone call and bill and letter, and (3) I hate being strong-armed—the more they try it, the more pissed off I get, and the less likely to do what they want me to do, especially quickly—if I get flustered or rushed, I retreat to gather my thoughts—screw that rushed decision crap.
In the meantime, I have to write a letter to the collection agency to show that I contest that I owe this money, and I’m going to give dates for everything, phone calls, and copies of letters. And copies are going to the provider and MHS, too. Seriously, IF this is going to hurt my credit, at least I can hold my head up high and have documentation.
All this instead of just having a brand-new beautiful baby in my arms this month…Mike and I sure would have preferred the baby. :)
Friday, March 5, 2010
Hope Springs Eternal
* Stringham high: Mike has job leads! Manual labor, to be sure, but better than the nothing that was facing him.
* Stringham low: Mike's unemployment funds ran out today.
* Stringham super-high: The sun in shining, the weather is above freezing, and choruses of birds are singing! Not just crows, but birds! Songbirds! Spring! SPRING!
I thought we'd start with all that stuff this time, as it's so important. The Divine has been good, providing for us this week, answering my very scared prayers, sending job leads and apparent immediate openings, once you jump through the appropriate hoops.
We have seeds, we just got more gardening books today, and we're ready to plant. We just need warm weather. M's planning to begin tilling this weekend so we can start planting potatoes when they arrive. Soon, we'll be starting seeds inside, too! Who knows, maybe I'll get my vision completely restored for an Easter/Ostara miracle and we'll have another Stringham on the way before the year is out! (Guess that spring breeze blowing in, bringing the smell of warm earth with it is really good for my outlook!) Okay, I'm not completely crazy. I think my vision's more likely to sneak up on me slowly, in a slow-acting miracle culminating around Samhain/Halloween! I'm not picky. A bit in a hurry, sure, but not picky. :D
In all seriousness, I'd like to take this opportunity to remind everyone to take a moment to pause, look around, and enjoy the world that's around you. Really, REALLY stop and indulge in all of your 5 senses for just 10 minutes. Honestly, you never know when ANY one of those senses can be taken away. Just a few months ago, I wasn't sure if I'd ever be able to see the world this brightly (literally or figuratively) again, and I'm not about to take it for granted again. Neither should you.
Also, it's not the "season" of Thanksgiving any longer, but I'd like to thank all of you who have expressed your concern and given assistance or support in any way over the past few months, including recently, as I've continued to recover, especially emotionally and spiritually. Thank you for all being so understanding and helpful and gracious. Thanksgiving is always in season, and that's something I'm also trying to remember and practice. My heart goes out to all of you, and I remember you all in my prayers.
And now, as Monty Python would say, for something completely different: A link to a blog of a very good, very funny author who is offering some insight today (March 4, 2010) on the publishing industry: http://www.maxbarry.com/2010/03/04/news.html
(Oh, and remember, if you go to my actual blog page, the titles usually link to YouTube videos or other fun sites.)
* Stringham low: Mike's unemployment funds ran out today.
* Stringham super-high: The sun in shining, the weather is above freezing, and choruses of birds are singing! Not just crows, but birds! Songbirds! Spring! SPRING!
I thought we'd start with all that stuff this time, as it's so important. The Divine has been good, providing for us this week, answering my very scared prayers, sending job leads and apparent immediate openings, once you jump through the appropriate hoops.
We have seeds, we just got more gardening books today, and we're ready to plant. We just need warm weather. M's planning to begin tilling this weekend so we can start planting potatoes when they arrive. Soon, we'll be starting seeds inside, too! Who knows, maybe I'll get my vision completely restored for an Easter/Ostara miracle and we'll have another Stringham on the way before the year is out! (Guess that spring breeze blowing in, bringing the smell of warm earth with it is really good for my outlook!) Okay, I'm not completely crazy. I think my vision's more likely to sneak up on me slowly, in a slow-acting miracle culminating around Samhain/Halloween! I'm not picky. A bit in a hurry, sure, but not picky. :D
In all seriousness, I'd like to take this opportunity to remind everyone to take a moment to pause, look around, and enjoy the world that's around you. Really, REALLY stop and indulge in all of your 5 senses for just 10 minutes. Honestly, you never know when ANY one of those senses can be taken away. Just a few months ago, I wasn't sure if I'd ever be able to see the world this brightly (literally or figuratively) again, and I'm not about to take it for granted again. Neither should you.
Also, it's not the "season" of Thanksgiving any longer, but I'd like to thank all of you who have expressed your concern and given assistance or support in any way over the past few months, including recently, as I've continued to recover, especially emotionally and spiritually. Thank you for all being so understanding and helpful and gracious. Thanksgiving is always in season, and that's something I'm also trying to remember and practice. My heart goes out to all of you, and I remember you all in my prayers.
And now, as Monty Python would say, for something completely different: A link to a blog of a very good, very funny author who is offering some insight today (March 4, 2010) on the publishing industry: http://www.maxbarry.com/2010/03/04/news.html
(Oh, and remember, if you go to my actual blog page, the titles usually link to YouTube videos or other fun sites.)
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