So obviously I have terrible health insurance. We all know that.
For the past six or eight years, our administration had been giving us a $1000 discount on our health insurance if we complete a "wellness check" in November. (Basically a check on our BP and other details.)
In the past, doctors came to the university and did the check there. The last two years, we've been told to see our primary care physicians for the check.
You can imagine the paperwork this generates, as well as the opportunity for errors.
This year, I get to be one of the errors! I went to my PCP in November for a wellness check, but somehow the insurance company has decided that my visit didn't count as a wellness check. No discount for me!
There's a way to appeal, but I'm not optimistic, since the insurance company is the final arbiter, and I can see them letting go of $1000. Not likely.
Also: the sheer amount of paperwork that this nonsense generates has to cost a ton of money. That's why American health care costs so much -- administrative costs.
3 comments:
My share of the Great Kidney Stones Affair, btw, is now $1,345.
And we aren't anywhere near done. I have to go in for more outpatient surgery next Friday.
Oh jeez, I need to check this for me too. There's some place I can check online to make sure it happened.
I am optimistic for the appeal though! You may have to involve your PCP in it (possibly a number got transcribed incorrectly), but I think with enough appeals it will get fixed. Because insurance companies often get things egregiously wrong in their favor and then roll over in appeal for the people who actually appeal because they're in the wrong and don't want to take it to the point where someone is going to sue or take up a huge amount of their time. It's part of the secret business model I think. Once in graduate school a billing mistake didn't get fixed until it went to collections, but the nice collections ladies got the money for the hospital from the insurance company.
Apparently a lot of people were effected this year, including my Chair, so I'm more optimistic about winning the appeal now.
I'm definitely going to fight it.
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