Everything Old is New Again

[rachelmanija]

I am still getting dunned for having an emergency CAT scan at 2:00 am last April, in an emergency room, when I was fully covered and presented my card. All my other bills have been paid by Blue Cross except that one, apparently because it was charged by another department. I've now called them at least ten times, and each time they say they'll pay it and don't. The ER has now turned it over to a collection agency. Jesus H. Roosevelt Christ.

What had happpened, incidentally, was that my doctor neglected to send me to the ER until my ear infection had gotten into the bone, so I went without authorization when a med student friend (now a full-fledged doctor) said, "Oh my God, go to the ER immediately." I ended up flat on my back for a month with vertigo. It was really boring.

Yes, I think we should have universal health care. Yes, it would make me very happy if George Bush's head were to spontaneously explode, like in SCANNERS. (Note to FBI: SCANNERS is science fiction. That was not a threat. Note the use of the word "spontaneously," meaning "without a cause." Thank you.)

I called Blue Cross again. They've assured me it will be paid immediately.

The CAT scan, incidentally, was emailed to New Zealand to be interpreted, because it was working hours over there. An hour later the results came back. "That's how Peter Jackson and his team have been editing LORD OF THE RINGS," I informed the doctor when he came in to tell me the results. He smiled. I've always wondered if he knew what I was talking about, or thought I was exceptionally responsive to all the painkillers they'd shot me up with.

Comments

[yhlee.livejournal.com]

Yikes. Hope that gets straightened out quick. We've hadour run-ins with bureaucratic health insurance issues and they're never fun.

[kate_nepveu]

It may be time to start sending polite but very firm letters to Blue Cross, confirming what they'd told you on the phone (this time, and last time, and the time before that), and cc'ing the collection agency.

If you haven't already done so, of course.

[klwilliams.livejournal.com]

Maybe it's time to write to Action Line (or whatever the L.A. paper's equivalent is).