When Liam has his echocardiogram done at the end of December, we applied for a supplemental insurance. We were told by the financial coordinator that it could take as much as 6 months to go through. It is the government we’re dealing with. She also said that if we get a bill to call and let them know we’re pending insurance. So as the bills came, I called and was always assured it wasn’t a problem. I also wrote down the date of the call and who I spoke to and any additional comments. Well, Saturday we receive a letter from a debt collector regarding the bill at Childrens. I called this morning and was told that he didn’t care who I spoke to or what documentation I had, this bill was overdue so unless I had some other documentation from the insurance that we had to pay. First, it’s not an ungodly amount of money. My credit card bills are often much higher than this bill. But, why would we pay it if insurance is going to cover it? So, I called the state agency. They want a case #. I don’t have one. We were never given any documentation when we applied for the coverage. I’m waiting on a call back from them anyway.
Depending on what the state has to say, I may be calling the financial coordinator at Childrens to see what is going on. But, I have a serious feeling that we’re going to have to pay this bill because someone fucked up royally. We’re lucky that Liam doesn’t really have any severe health problems so that hopefully this crap will be few and far between. But if this is what’s going to happen anytime we have to deal with this, this fucking sucks.
Anyone have any tips on how to deal with this shit? If someone dropped the ball, is it still possible to re-apply and cover retroactively?
Fuck.
Man that sucks! We are fighting with our insurance company too. They are saying that we have to pay now for the same Dr. that we have been seeing forever because he moved. The thing is he accepts all insurances. So I refuse to pay. I have called the Dr. office and they know what it going on and said that the insurance company had said everything was fine before the Dr. moved, so we are in limbo right now waiting to see what the insurance company’s next move is. It is so aggravating.
I wouldn’t pay that bill. You need to call Children’s Hospital and talk to someone about it. Tell them what is going on and give them #’s and names of your contacts. They might be able to get something through quicker for you.
Oh, insurances just suck. When I had my first child, the doctor on the paperwork had moved out of the office (though it was the same code number for everyone in the office) and the insurance tried to tell me that since she had moved and I hadn’t designated anyone else that I was responsible for more than I should have been. Luckily, my husband’s company had a wonderful insurance liaison person and she took care of it for me after many calls on my part.
I know it doesn’t help your situation except to know that it does suck. I hope it all works out.
I haven’t had a pregnancy where something WASN’T messed up. But too, we’ve not paid for the mix up, ever. I just kept calling, and xeroxing, and faxing until the mistakes were corrected. I am very very stubborn like that…
Yes, I agree with everyone. You might also be able to get a caseworker at (your) insurance company to step in. If you have the stamina, don’t pay the bill.