Sunday, February 24, 2008
Miscellaneous Musings
I babysat my 2 year old granddaughter last night. She is such a cutie, and I always enjoy spending time with any of my grandchildren. They are not all easy children, and they have not had easy lives. We seem to take life the hard way somehow, and yet we go forward. Except for my one poor son, who somehow lost his ability to hold on, but I think that was a temporary lapse, and if he hadn't had the ability to leave this world, he would have stayed and been okay. I have him on my mind often, and he has interrupted my sleep the last couple of nights. I wish I could relive that one day, and maybe a few others, and let him know how very much I love him.
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3 comments:
Okay, so this comment doesn't directly relate to the post to which it is attached but I have to say, I like your blog!
Also, healthcare is on my list of very important issues. We got ourselves in a financial mess because we, being self-employed in a small business, had to pay $1,000 per month for our health ins. and then we had a $7,500 deductible! Unbelievable!!! No one can afford that without either starving or going into debt for the other things we need in life.
Also, I once had a necessary surgery for severe endo. which the ins. co. preapproved and then, after the bills came in they paid the surgeon, denied the anesthesiologist and denied the outpatient facility/hospital bill. When I called to complain they told me if I had been 55 and had the surgery they would have paid it but as it was it certainly was only related to fertility and couldn't possibly have been medically necessary. I had my appendix removed, for goodness sake! Anyway, at that same time they told me that if I chose to appeal their denial through the channels they would simply deny the surgeon bill too. I couldn't believe my ears and was apaplectic (sp?).
Longer story short, I spend the better part of a year 5+ hours per day on the phone with the ins co (mostly on hold) arguing with them, writing them letters, putting together appeal packages, inlisting the assistance of my surgeon, etc and finally, they paid. In the meantime, so as not to ruin my credit (b/c I wasn't going to pay the hosp. $35,000 when they were only looking for about $1,400 from ins.) I discovered that there is such a thing as a cash price. Another little known secret!
So, in the end, I paid the hospital $6,500 (the cash price) for a bill that on the ins. submission paperword was $35,000 Then, when the ins. co. finally paid the hosp. the $1,400 (or whatever it was) I was reimbursed by the hospital for the overage I had paid.
I was blessed that year to not need to work and was able to perform these mighty tasks and not have the ins. co. win by the law of attrition. Additionaly, I am a paralegal and know how to write and put appeal packages together for impact. Most Americans, I imagine, don't have the time or knowledge to navigate the maze of the ins. appeal process. Any person working certainly would not be allowed to spend 5+ hours per day on hold and/or talking with ins. co. while at their job.
My dad, a retired physician, was very angry at the whole situation as well. I believe one of the reasons he retired when he did was because the "art of medicine" which was why he became a physician had become the "business of medicine" with someone on the other end of a phone not examinging the patient telling the dr. how to do the doctoring.
I heard Rush Limbaugh (bless his heart) say the other day that health care is not a right but a privelege, and if people chose a wide screen tv instead of health insurance that was their problem. But it isn't just the lack of health insurance that is the problem, it is the way that insurance companies operate. They aren't in business to help patients, they are in business to make money for stockholders. Period. And the more coverage they deny the more money they make for stockholders.
He knew how much you loved him & he loved you very much. He is missed by many people who loved him very much. There are many times that I wish I would have stayed in contact more with him, maybe I could have helped him some how. You know I loved him very much. He is in my heart always.
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