The other day, I got a bill for services (Lab Tests) rendered in December. Normally, this would not be a problem, save for one thing - the cost. Knowing that Medicare (Parts A & B) plus my supplemental policy (Part N) should pay for all but my first $200 in expenses, I had to make some calls.
My first call was to the Lab Test company. After going through automated response hell, I got a response that said: "Your insurance carrier has questions about the bill before it can make payment." Well, I know that Medicare should have no questions, nor should my supplemental carrier. So my next call would be to Medicare.
It took me much less time to reach a human at Medicare than expected. After explaining my problem, the human at the other end found out that no bill was presented to them! Finally, I had an idea what the problem might be - the bill was sent to the wrong carrier. Now, it was back to the Lab Test company for more information.
I make my third call, and figure out how to get to a human at the lab test company. A woman answered, and told me that they sent the bill to the insurance company with whom my former employer used to insure their employees. (Although I had coverage with them, I used my Obamacare coverage, as it provided better benefits between January and July, when I started on Medicare This had to be a factor in why other lab test bills got screwed up.) I gave this woman my insurance information, and waited for her to pick up on the line again - and then, the line disconnected.
Now, I was a bit upset because at least an hour of my time was wasted on this problem. But I was calm when I reached another person at the lab test firm. He told me that the woman from my previous call got the insurance number wrong when she refiled the bill for payment, and I would have to make yet another call the next day to get this problem fixed. AARGH!
- - - - - -
I'm not sure if I mentioned this before, but I know that my doctor's office must have something to do with this. (Minor, compared with the computer and data entry screw-ups from before.) A while back, I asked her to see that all bills get presented first to Medicare when I turned 65. Obviously, I think she didn't contact the lab test company - and that their records never got updated. Yet, I could be wrong about this. I'm left feeling that America needs to scrap the system we now have and go to a single payer system. Is this a panacea? No. We will have just as many problems with a monolithic health care system as we do with a system run by oligopolies. But its complexities won't drive people away from getting health care. And that's something I am strongly in favor of.
No comments:
Post a Comment