It is Finished. Sorta...

Wrapping it up and setting the bow!

I don’t hear anything back from the insurance company, and after calling get another rep. She also tries to call the Insurance Billing Department of XYZ Supply Company. She actually gets through in just a few minutes and is able to speak with someone. She comes back on the phone with me; they have re-submitted my claim electronically (mmhmm…heard that before) and it will be processed as soon as it is received. I asked how long it typically takes to have a claim show on the website and she tells me that, if it is submitted electronically, the claim usually shows within 48 hours.

Flash forward to today, 5 days later, and still no claim. Anyone surprised at this point?

Some may say, at this point or any time in the past 2 months, that it’s not worth the eight dollars to keep fighting this. And honestly, the eight dollars probably isn’t worth it to me. Eight dollars isn’t going to break my budget. But sometimes, eight dollars is a lot of money. Sometimes it has to stretch until next payday. I’ve been there before, and just because I’m not there now doesn’t mean that I don’t remember the panic that you feel once you realize that truly is all the money you have left.

The main reason that I refuse to let this go is that if this is happening to me, it HAS TO BE happening to other people too. As much as I joke about it, there cannot be some notation in my medical records that says to jack with my billing as much as you can. I mean, I guess there can be, but the likelihood of it is very very teeny tiny. And if there is some such notation, I will find the person who put it there and we are gonna have words. Big, ugly, nasty, words.

Now, I have to wonder. Do they do this on purpose? Do companies do things like this and then try to wait out the patient? To see if putting the patient off long enough will cause them to get tired of fighting it, or just lose interest? Is it just me, or is that someone’s job? I am almost certain that supply companies employ whole departments whose sole purpose is to take the notes of what a doctor or facility did and assign it a number so that it can be sent to the insurance company. I would like to think that surely it’s just an error, someone had a bad day and I just happened to keep getting people who were having bad days, but after almost 3 months my faith is beginning to waver.

I call XYZ Supply Company yet again. When the guy answers, I ask to speak to the person in charge of Insurance Billing.

“I may be able to help you, what’s wrong?”

What’s wrong is that I ordered supplies in February; it’s May now and the order still hasn’t been claimed on my insurance.

“Oh I can look into that for you, what is your account number?”

Sigh. Ok, let him try. I give him my information and he pulls up my account; he spends about 30 seconds looking at it, if that.

“Well it looks like the insurance has been working on hit since we submitted it, so you will just need to wait-“

*Nope. Insurance has no record of this claim. Still. I want to talk to someone who can resolve this today. *

“I can send you to a level 2 person and see if there is something they can do about it.”

More hold music. Not even good hold music!

“Hello, is this Sarah? I was just talking to rep and he was explaining what’s going on with your account. We show that this has been submitted to your insurance company and we’re waiting on response from them.”

I’ve heard that before. I’ve also heard that it’s been resubmitted three times and printed and mailed in. Every time I call I get a different answer on what’s going on so I have no idea what the deal is with this claim. I just want it filed and done.

“Well let me look here and see.”

Dead air. There is nothing more annoying when you call in to customer service and get dead air. Argh. Another tip-don’t have dead air. Even if you just make a noise and halfway read notes to yourself, let the caller know you’re still there. Please. For the love of all that is Holy.

“Oh I see here where it looks like they sent it up for a write-off adjustment. Not sure why they did that, but because of the small balance they’re just going to write it off”

What do you mean write it off, like not file it at all?

“Right, they are just going to write off the balance.”

Ok, then I want my money back.

“Um, what do you mean?”

I mean that when I placed the order in February I paid for it. If you’re going to write it off, I want my money back. Today.

“Oh yes it does look like there is a balance available for refund. Would you like that sent by check or returned to your card? A check would be faster.”

Cut me a check. Please.

I have to wonder though, if I had never called would the refund have been issued? Or just sat as a credit on my account? Interesting. I’m betting it would have just sat there and I never would have known that they wrote it off. How many times does that happen every week to some unsuspecting patient?? But alas, I have no way of knowing. Not that I’m upset about that, but still. I get curious.

So now, 11 weeks and 4 days after the date I placed my order, it is finally done. Well it will be once I get the check from them. And rest assured, if I don’t receive it on business day 11 I will be calling again.

Here’s hoping that this is the last time I have to deal with XYZ Supply Company. I have found another provider for my CPAP supplies and will be placing an order with them soon-their billing department can’t be as bad as what I’ve been dealing with since February. Not to mention, deductible season has to be over by now. Maybe XYZ’s billing department can get their stuff together.

Tomorrow…final thoughts.