Why Insurance is Stupid

In an ideal world everyone would be able to get the care they needed when it comes to health without having to worry about money. Families wouldn't go bankrupt and lose everything because someone had an illness. And hormonal pregnant women wouldn't have to deal with spelling their name and restating their date of birth 15 times because they're not in the system right.

But we don't live in an ideal world.

First I must admit that I have deep seeded anxieties about dealing with money issues on the phone. The majority of my financial phone calls have been with credit card companies and student loan officers - all of which are bound by the rules and scripts of the company they work for. So in spite of the fact that they feel awfully sorry for you, you're still screwed because there's nothing they can do. I firmly believe this would be different if these issues were dealt with in person. I suppose big companies like Sallie Mae don't want human decency to interfere with their bottom line. At any rate, most phone calls I make of this nature end with me sobbing uncontrollably and feeling like I just want to crawl in a hole and die.

Today I called the hospital where I'm supposed to get my ultrasound. I scheduled my appointment two weeks ago. I called because iCal for some reason thought it was necessary to delete my appointment from my calendar, so I wanted to verify my appointment time just in case I remembered it wrong. My appointment was earlier this morning and I missed it. This brought on the water works. One of the worst feelings in the world to me is when I feel like I'm out of control because I got my schedule confused. I was sure it was on Friday. I'm waiting for them to call back to reschedule.

I also got a call over the weekend saying my insurance was having issues. This is probably the fourth or fifth time that a provider has had problems figuring out my insurance. The first time was with the chiropractor. They say the insurance company won't reimburse them. The birth center had problems getting our insurance to recognize me. I had my first ultrasound scheduled at Providence because my insurance website said there in network. Four phone calls the day of my appointment deemed that they weren't covered so I had to frantically reschedule elsewhere. Now Legacy is having issues. The website says they're covered. I'm going to lose it if the insurance company tells me they're not.

I'm beginning to think my insurance doesn't actually have any in-network providers. So now I'm on round 3 of phone calls today with Legacy and my insurance company, and so far all I've managed to figure out is that I owe my chiropractor a bunch of money that I don't have. The stupidest part of it is that had I just gone to the chiropractor without insurance it would have been cheaper.

At the very least, I am very relieved that I don't have to deal with this more than I already do. I had to talk to five different people at legacy for one appointment. One appointment that I may not even be able to have! At least with Andaluz I only deal with 3 people ever: the receptionist and my two midwives who have cell phones I can call directly. For the most part, I deal with them in person. I have one bill and it includes everything. No surprise bills in the mail saying..oh by the way, this thing you thought you paid for already, actually now you owe more money for it.