Fighting

It all began yesterday with a phone call. They are going to release Thing 1 from the hospital because insurance is done paying for it. I started making phone calls and found out that my insurance company had denied the request from Thing 1's doctor to keep her until treatment is completed.

I got a serious run around, I talked to person after person at the insurance company and left five voice mails. Three hours of talking got me no where. I decided I'd go up to the hospital and wait for the phone call and we'd have a conversation with the doctor, the insurance company, and myself. I was going to make sure there were no misunderstandings about what was going to happen.

I know insurance is a numbers game. It's very simple at its core, payments come in and payments go out. They make a profit if more payments come in than go out. I've got NOTHING against insurance companies making a profit. They are necessary and when you need them you really need them. I had three kidney stone treatments a couple of years ago called lithotripsy that were nearly 25k apiece and it cost me $150.00 total. That's value and that's what I pay them for.

What I have a problem with is that they have a doctor there who has the power to deny treatment without ever speaking to the patient. Making no evaluation other than what is written down about that patient. The doctor is in California the patient is here.

I was left with one alternative by the end of my fight and that was to file an appeal, the insurance company now has seventy two hours to get a third party doctor, again in California, to go over the medical records and agree or disagree with our doctor's assessment.

Plan B is in place though and thank everything holy that there is a plan B. They will cover outpatient treatment twice a week and medication. While that's good I don't feel it's what is necessary right now.

The fight will continue Monday when I step back into the ring.