Insurance, Part 18

I sent the appeal on Friday, at the very end of the day. I was supposed to contact the otolaryngologist billing office after sending out the appeal. We had a long weekend, but I returned to the city on Tuesday. That day, I found a notice from a collection agency that my bill with them had been moved to collections.

I immediately called the otolaryngologist. I asked why my account had been moved, and they said it had been on hold too long.

I wish I could disagree with them, but I hate the fact that this has gone on over a year!

I said I had just sent the appeal. They told me I would have to contact this new non-Argent collection agency. (Peter Roberts & Associates)

Ugh.

I just did that. This time I was not greeted with haste and annoyance. I explained my situation and the guy said, "oh, well let's put this on hold then!" I didn't expect that! I asked whether I should send them a copy of my appeal. "That would be great! We have some people here who can help put pressure on the insurance company, blahblahblah..."

Wow! Okay, great! :-P

I'll let you know how that turns out. Right now I'm planning to send copies of my appeal to the following people:

1) This agency.

2) The Otolaryngologist.

3) BUMC

4) Someone at BU in charge of this kind of junk. For this last one I'll write a long cover letter.

More later!

-Kyle

Insurance: Part 17

Dang. I really don't know what's been happening now.

I got another letter from Argent in the mail today. Just now. I had a few minutes, so I figured I'd call.

Call Argent? No! What would they be able to tell me? "We want your money."?

This bill says it's from the Pathologist again. Okay. But it's neither the $500-some charge it was before, nor the $11 that I actually owe the pathologist. Well... what is it, then? $400-some dollars. Where does this come from? Quick call to the pathologist's billing office. Two points:

1) I ask about my current address. They still don't have it correct. I fix it. Apparently we're only fixing one letter at a time.

2) I ask about this bill. She says, "well, you still have a charge with us, and it's in collections." I ask: "And how much should I owe them, 'cause I have an explanation of benefits which shows I owe $11?" Her: "Well, how much is the bill they sent you for?" Me: "$400-some". Her: "What? I'll forward this explanation of benefits on to them so they can send you the correct bill." Me: "So they'll send me a bill, not you?" Her: "Yes, well it's gone to collections. It's been there almost a year!" At this point I wanted to scream, since I have done nothing but try to get this bill out of collections, where it should never have gone. Instead I say "Okay, thanks. Have a good weekend."

On another note, I sent my appeal today. I hope it gets taken care of soon; I'm tired of this nonsense!

Insurance: Part 16

Sorry for the long delay in posts. I know there are people keeping up with this now! Wooo! Thanks for reading, and sorry this is so horrible and boring.

It looks like things might actually be coming to an end. Here's the news:

I received the Explanation of Benefits from this Pathology bill at the end of November (11/29/07, to be exact). A real one. One which didn't simply say "We don't pay for routine examinations". The amazing thing is: this one they covered!

Wow! All I have to pay now is a little over eleven dollars. It took me nearly a whole year, but trying to figure out what was going on saved me over $500. I wish I could say that the time I took off working was worth that amount. It's hard to say when you're a graduate student.

Well, I just opened that bill yesterday. Why so late? 1) I assumed they had denied it and 2) I didn't have time to start writing the appeal until yesterday.

Yes, that's right, I'm writing my appeal to the insurance company. That's the other big news. I hope to send it out by the weekend. Later I'd like to post it up here somehow.

In any case, I guess it paid off a bit to be vigilant. I'm glad I never caved to the Argent people! I will continue to keep you updated... if anyone is still reading this ;)

-Kyle