Dinner with Vicki #1 - a short post

 

The original Lefteris Gyro in Tarrytown.  This is one of my favorite go-to places when I want Greek food, and the place where I've gone with Vicki #1 most often when we want Greek food. I've had a hankering for this cuisine for a while, and it was about time to go back to sate this craving.

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Last night, I wasn't able to get much sleep.  So I was concerned that I would be over tired by the evening came.  There were only two things on my docket for today - fixing the problem with my lab test bill, and having dinner with Vicki #1. When my alarm rang at 8 am, I simply hit the snooze button (figuratively) and didn't get out of bed until 11 am.  Since I was still very tired, I tried a nap for a while.  But I had to be fully awake for the first item on my docket - the phone call to the lab test company to deal with a billing issue.

Around 3:45, I finally called the lab test company and waited for 45 minutes for a human to get on the line. This was the 3rd time I reached out to the firm, and I reached a friendly person.  Once I explained the situation (based on information from my prior 2 calls), the lady saw that my Medicare insurance number was recorded incorrectly.  But even worse, Medicare was not my primary health plan in their records.  Instead, the insurance company associated with my former employer was listed as my primary insurance company, with no secondary insurance company on file.  So, I got the lady to correct this problem, and list Medicare as my primary insurance provider and my Part-N provider as my secondary.

When I was done with the Lab Test company, it was time to get showered and dressed to meet Vicki. On my way out the door, my next door neighbor complimented me on the dress I was wearing.  It was nice to know that I look nice when presenting as a female.  But I had no time to chat - I had to get to Vicki's house.  By the time I reached Vicki, I was 30 minutes late, and was glad to have warned her that I was going to be at her place by 6:00.  About 15 minutes later, we were at Lefteris Gyro, ready to enjoy a nice Greek dinner.  As usual, we had a great chat over dinner, and all too soon it was time to go home for the evening.

Insurance Bills - I hate dealing with them.

 

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!

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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.