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An idiot is someone who lets their education do all of the thinking
Good news: slept something like eight hours. Migraine seems to have passed off. Feel vaguely flensed and lightheaded.
Bad news: have spent entire afternoon calling doctors and wrangling insurance instead of working in preparation for travel to Providence.
News that is ultimately good but for God's sake: after two separate phone calls and a lot of time on hold, I found out what happened to those twice-submitted proof-of-eligibility documents that I was told this very afternoon were not on file and would need to be faxed in yet again, delaying our reinstatement by another four days at least. They were on file. Under my husband's name. Even though I am head of household as far as the state of Massachusetts is concerned and the person whose name is at the top of all the bills. Both sets were right there in the system, the original sheaf from May and the emergency fax from last Thursday, correctly timestamped and totally divorced from the relevant account, i.e., mine. I just got lucky with the second phone call and got someone who thought to check under my spouse's name as well as my own and has consequently referred the whole megillah to the verification office with extensive notes about how we should not be punished for institutional male chauvinism. (The emergency fax had a cover sheet headed with my name and identifying information, account number prominently included!) By Friday this mess should be starting to sort itself out and then I will be able to see doctors without going broke and afford the medications I need in order not to bleed internally. But this is stupid.
Bad news: have spent entire afternoon calling doctors and wrangling insurance instead of working in preparation for travel to Providence.
News that is ultimately good but for God's sake: after two separate phone calls and a lot of time on hold, I found out what happened to those twice-submitted proof-of-eligibility documents that I was told this very afternoon were not on file and would need to be faxed in yet again, delaying our reinstatement by another four days at least. They were on file. Under my husband's name. Even though I am head of household as far as the state of Massachusetts is concerned and the person whose name is at the top of all the bills. Both sets were right there in the system, the original sheaf from May and the emergency fax from last Thursday, correctly timestamped and totally divorced from the relevant account, i.e., mine. I just got lucky with the second phone call and got someone who thought to check under my spouse's name as well as my own and has consequently referred the whole megillah to the verification office with extensive notes about how we should not be punished for institutional male chauvinism. (The emergency fax had a cover sheet headed with my name and identifying information, account number prominently included!) By Friday this mess should be starting to sort itself out and then I will be able to see doctors without going broke and afford the medications I need in order not to bleed internally. But this is stupid.
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I can only offer a simultaneous yay and aarghhh for most of this post, really. I'm glad you at least got some sleep before you had to start battling with bureaucracy.
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Did I ever tell you about the Royal Ontario Museum lost a whole dinosaur in the filing system for thirty years?
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Thanks, Robert Newton.
Did I ever tell you about the Royal Ontario Museum lost a whole dinosaur in the filing system for thirty years?
No! That's actually kind of wonderful. How did they find it? (Is it now on display?)
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The skeleton’s nickname is “Gordo.”
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Appreciated and understood!
I'm glad you at least got some sleep before you had to start battling with bureaucracy.
Thank you. It really was feeling Kafkaesque enough without adding hallucinations.
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I hope your insurance issues can be sorted out quickly so you can get what you need.
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Thank you. We have to call back on Friday and make sure they are in fact sorting as planned, but at least now they're supposed to.
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I told her she was a hero of the revolution, which she seemed to appreciate. Seriously, though, the first person I had spoken to had not cared at all.
But GAAAAHHH that that ever had to happen at all.
Thank you! It does feel entirely avoidable!
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I'm glad it was something so simple and fixable. I'm sorry that the burden fell on you.
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Thank you. I truly feel it did not need to!
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Basically that!
Thank you.
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I'm afraid I don't see how. It's legal to deny care in this country for all sorts of morally indefensible reasons and the misfiling of the documents appears to have been idiocy rather than malice. If our coverage is not reinstated or we are not reimbursed for the money we lost (having paid for services that we never received), then we might have some legal grounds and I will pursue them, but the fact that I am sick because our insurance messed up is just a hazard of being alive and not healthy and not wealthy in America.
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(evidently the migraine did not damage your reasoning faculties.)
Why is our super-duper-EMR-everywhere medical system still so damn dependent on faxes? Don't bother answering that.
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(Thank you. *rest of this sentence contained Tiny Wittgenstein and was swatted*)
Why is our super-duper-EMR-everywhere medical system still so damn dependent on faxes? Don't bother answering that.
I really suspect it's because we're in an '80's dystopia. Uncontrolled corporate power, reality tv dictator, faxes. It fits.
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Thank you!
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Thank you!
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Thank you on all fronts!
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(I sympathise so much because I have for the past decade had to, once a year, call my insurance company up and tell them that I have, still, not gotten any other insurance, assholes, and would you please process all of my claims already.)
Insurance companies are awful. I am glad you got it sorted, in the end, but it's awful that you had to deal with it at all.
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There has to be a better way to do it. If the goal is a healthy population rather than maximized profit, the current system has frighteningly failed, and if the goal is maximized profit, that plan of yours is sounding better all the time.
(I sympathise so much because I have for the past decade had to, once a year, call my insurance company up and tell them that I have, still, not gotten any other insurance, assholes, and would you please process all of my claims already.)
That sounds delightful. I had a relatively uncomplicated relationship with my health insurance until my health problems became chronic, from which point I have received the progressive impression that they would just like me to die.
Insurance companies are awful. I am glad you got it sorted, in the end, but it's awful that you had to deal with it at all.
Thank you.
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Thank you. I have to admit that I thought to check for all possible permutations of my name under which the documents could have been misfiled, but it did not seriously occur to me that I had just been assumed not to be in charge of our plan at all!
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Highest hopes this all gets sorted out by Friday at the latest.
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I've never had this problem before! I wasn't expecting it! I do not feel it was an experience I couldn't have missed!
Highest hopes this all gets sorted out by Friday at the latest.
Thank you. I will be calling back.
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Thank you! Yeah.
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Thank you!
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It may happen yet!
(An apology and our coverage reinstated is really the best-case scenario, but your proposal would be so satisfying.)
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And your state systems rely on a 'head of household?'? Boggle!
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Thank you.
And your state systems rely on a 'head of household?'? Boggle!
It's archaic. And Massachusetts healthcare provably sucks less than healthcare in much of the rest of the U.S. We were the model for the ACA/Obamacare. All's for the best in this best of all possible worlds!
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Ladies and gentlegerms, America!
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It's ongoing. We got more information today, not complete resolution. I am so tired of proving my case to stay alive.
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