For the past several months I've been trying to take care of some medical issues for Sarah. The first was finding a new neurologist. Her original neurologist, the one who told us she would never walk, discontinued his practice and went into teaching, to which we said good riddance. We were referred recently to a second neurologist who didn't really listen to anything we said and then gave us a diagnosis that we don't believe or agree with. So the search continued. A friend of mine took her daughter to a neurosurgeon (yes, there is a difference, and apparently neurosurgeons do NOT like to be called neurologists) in Fort Worth and loved him. In fact, she said he was very attentive, kept eye contact and asked a lot of questions. I don't know if you've ever been to a neurologist, but nobody ever gives a neurologist a glowing review. They are too smart for their own good, are extremely arrogant and have the worst bedside manner. So when this friend told me she found a wonderful neurologist, and she's seen a lot of doctors over the years, I had to go see him.
I called to make an appointment and the first question they asked is, "Who referred you?" Believe it or not, they do not really like to hear that you were referred by a friend instead of someone from the medical community. So I explained my story and how I had seen another guy that I didn't like and my friend really liked this guy so I wanted a second opinion. I'm not sure how I even got past that point, but then she tried three different ways to tell me this was not the guy for me, until I finally said that Sarah's therapist thought that surgery would some day be an option. Again, that surgery thing is key. So she finally was willing to let me make an appointment, but first Sarah needed an MRI. She gave me all the information for the MRI facility and I called them. No problem, but in order to get an MRI you have to had a script from the doctor. Hmmm, how do I get a script from the doctor for the MRI when I can't see the doctor without the MRI? Believe me, it takes talent. This is why being a mom is a full time job, at least in my house.
I finally got it all worked out going back and forth between this office and that office and Sarah had her MRI on Friday. Everything just came together that week and they had an opening. Otherwise it would have taken us at least a month to find a time when we could do it. It was a little scary to her but we went to this amazing children's facility to have it done and it went very smoothly. We'll see the neurosurgeon in July and hopefully he will be able to do something for us or at least refer us to someone who can.
My other issue was the insurance for Sarah's therapy. We switched insurance companies in January, which is probably the third insurance carrier we've had in three years. I know why they do it, to cut costs, but it's just such a pain if you have ongoing medical care. Every time we switch insurance companies the first bill of the year they get for therapy gets denied. So I have to make a million phone calls and try to figure out why it was denied and get everybody to work together to get it all resubmitted. It's never permanently denied, it's just a major hassle. Well, on Thursday, that's JUNE 2, I found out that Sarah's insurance for her therapy has been getting denied since January. People, the year is half over and I'm just finding this out now. Ugh.
There are two things that tip me off that there is something wrong with the claims getting sent to insurance. First, I get outrageous bills from the therapy office. I thought the three phone calls I had already made should have fixed this problem, but no, the fourth one was the icing on the cake this year. The second clue is our flex spending account sends me really large checks (to cover what they think I paid out of pocket). This was the case this time. The huge bills said we had no insurance on file, the big flex spending checks say, "we have your insurance information but we are going to charge you ridiculous amounts of money anyway." My question, how come nobody figured this out until JUNE 2?
Everything is all fixed now. We will see the neurosurgeon next month and our insurance will be covering Sarah's therapy. I just wish it wasn't so difficult, and I really hope we don't get yet another new insurance company next year.
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