Health Insurance, part 12

I just called the pathology billing people again, this time using the account number they had finally given me. I didn't have any time to call last week, unfortunately, so I called them this morning. They said the reason Argent was still getting in touch with me was that the process of removing a claim from collections often takes a month or so. Why the heck is that?

I asked also whether the coding change had taken place. No dice. They said to call back in two weeks if I still hadn't heard.

Health Junx, part 11

Quick note, since this is my personal method of keeping track of all this info.

Argent called me today, essentially asking me what's up with my charge. I asked whether the pathologist had been in touch with them. No, they said they hadn't. Argh!!! No wonder things aren't getting taken care of! I asked the Argent lady whether she wanted the pathologist's number (last time I had asked them for the number, they hadn't had it, so perhaps they would want to call them now and help get it sorted out, ya think?). "No, that's not necessary." Apparently what is necessary is to keep not trusting me and telling me I need to deal with this thing. I'm sorry I didn't call yesterday when I said I would, but the pathologist billing office said they would call instead and that that would be better. Awesome.

I should next try to figure out why the pathologist didn't call Argent, but I don't have time to do it today. I'm leaving tonight for the weekend, so it'll have to be taken care of next week. Ugh.

I'm glad I get to deal with the lack of communication between these two groups, neither of which I knew even existed four months after my operation.

More later, obviously.

Dealing with Health Junx, part 10

Part 10? Are you serious?

This is a good one, though. One call to the Pathology billing, and Emily from their office said, "Wait, the bill collectors shouldn't be calling you anymore. Your account should be on hold with them." She said she would call them back and work things out. I've decided not to call Argent back, as it seems every time I talk to them, they do something out of line with what I'm trying to get accomplished.

Emily said that the review on the coding for my bill had been started, on August 27th, and the entire thing should be completed in at most 30 days. She also gave me my account number with them, should I need it in the future.

I also got a message from BMC's special billing office, so I called them back. They said they wanted the money from my bill. I explained my situation (again) and they said they could give me a month (so I have until Oct. 5th) to figure it out. I said that might not be enough time, as I wouldn't necessarily have the appeal filed by then if I don't hear back from the pathology billing in time. Unfortunately, they seem to think I'm avoiding them. That might seem reasonable, until you remember I asked them for my bill in the first place.

I think a lot of these places will be happy when I can finally say to them, "I filed the appeal on blahblahday." I hope that happens soon.

-Kyle

Dealing with Health Insurance, Part 9

I just talked to Diedre (spelling?) from Argent (bill collectors). For my own use, that number is: 1-800-422-1364 x6355. They said that as of August 28, the bill had been rejected by the insurance. Why was it rejected? The code had had the operation listed as a routine procedure.

Routine? This was the exact problem that I had had before, and that I'd been working since the spring to fix! Argh! The pathologist billing office (I don't know how to get in touch with the actual pathologist) had told me:

1) This was not a routine procedure and shouldn't be getting billed as such.

2) Nothing the bill collectors could do would cause this to be messed up.

Clearly one of those two things is happening. The plan is to call the pathologist back tomorrow, then call Argent and try to explain to them what's going on.

Ugh.

-Kyle

This is what makes College Football so great... unfortunately!

Hi. I'm a college football fan. More notably, a Michigan Wolverines fan.

I've been pretty excited about the beginning of this season for the past 8 months, ever since watching the Big Ten crumble during Bowl Week in January.

Well, the unthinkable has happened. Michigan lost their opening game, 34-32, against Appalachian State, a AA team (albeit, the AA National Champion for the past two years). We are the laughing stock of the NCAA right now, and it is certainly laughter that is well-deserved. Very few Wolverines showed up to play today, and every single Mountaineer came with the full desire to win.

I've heard a lot from people I know about high-end college teams scheduling fluff teams to play during the season. They think it's disgraceful. Well, today we have seen just how awry things can go in college ball. This is why I love this sport. Every week is do-or-die. Michigan forgot this, and they have perished.

I will not place any blame in this post. I will say that Mike Hart had an amazing game, and the team should continue to play strong, if only to bolster his Heismann chances (and Mesko's too, of course!). Nono, today I am here to defend college football's practice of scheduling these "cupcake" games, though after today's debacle, this defense is likely not needed by many, even the most stalwart NFL-only lovers.

I'm a mathematical monkey, so we'll start by explaining our assumptions and/or concessions.

First, I concede that the college season is short. I don't think there's anything that can really be done about this, mostly because these players are, in fact, students. Yes, I hear all the arguments about how they are not performing real college degrees, etcetc. I can't argue for or against this point, and I'm sure it varies from school to school, but there are certainly players hoping to graduate and get a real degree from these universities.

Secondly, the BCS system needs revamping. Being a computer-science monkey, I think 1) it should be determined whether a REAL and FEASIBLE ranking algorithm exists which satisfies some real, universal traits everyone can agree upon. If it exists, then 2) Voting should be removed from the system, and the algorithm put in place.

Okay, who knows whether we'll even need those assumptions. Here goes.

NFL-only fans seem to claim that these cupcake games are disgraceful. Big teams, such as Michigan, schedule two or three games against teams which they assume they will win. Very seldom is this not the case. These games are played at the big team's stadium, seriously off-balancing the number of home games played (Michigan has 8 home games, in a 12-game season this year).

Seems unfair, yes? Well, I'll attempt to unprofessionally defend the unbalanced number of home games first. As I understand it, the smaller teams are usually willing to come play on the big teams' home turf, as they will reap a large portion of the revenue from the game. Big teams have huge stadiums, thus this revenue comes as a boon to the visiting smaller schools.

Remove those 2 games, and the schedule is 6 home and 4 away, far more balanced. Not perfect, but better.

Still, those games are a cake-walk. In a time of teams striving to schedule 12 games, many teams are still scheduling these teams instead of replacing one of these fluff teams with a stronger opponent.

Arguing this from the NFL-perspective comes with a price, however. The NFL has a preseason, college does not. If you asked NFL teams whether they would like to replace preseason games with real games, they would certainly disagree. This is the same reason college teams do not want to replace their "fluff" games with difficult opponents. Even though tougher opponents would help their strength-of-schedule, college teams need some time to see their team on a low-risk field. In the NFL, the only risk of preseason games is injuries. In college, big teams can actually lose these games, just as happened today.

Thus, it seems to me that the Cakewalk-Games-Make-College-Football-Dumb argument is only valid if you are also an advocate for banishing preseason NFL games.

Please discuss!

Any harassment due to Michigan's loss today is painful, but likely well-deserved. We are the laughing-stock of the nation, and that's just the way it is. Anything can happen in college football, and it happened today, with dreadful results. No more National Championship for Michigan this year, and we're only one game into the season.

There are still plenty of things to cheer for, however. Michigan will still face all its grand rivals this year, and we can only hope for the best. Mike Hart still has Heismann possiblities, and it will be good to see whether the defense can be reassembled. I'm going out to the Oregon game next week, which will be excellent!

It's STILL great to be a Michigan Wolverine :) Go Blue!