With a new job comes all sorts of new, strange, and
oftentimes, head-ache inducing things.
One of those new things that came with going back to teaching was having
different insurance. For the first time
in many moons, I have my own health insurance, instead of being covered under my
husband’s. When we were crunching the
numbers, it just made sense financially for our household that I use one of the
‘perks’ of my new gig.
So with brand spankin’ new insurance comes crazy paperwork,
keeping fingers crossed that my current doctors will be in-network, and hiring
a weekly housekeeper with all that money we’re saving!! (okay, I made that last part up. Seems like we are quite adept at finding
other places to spend that newfound cash.
Namely, the orthodontist. And
Spec’s. ;)
Fortunately my primary care physician was in-network, as
well as my OB-GYN (with emphasis on the GYN, as I am ‘all-done’ with the OB
part of her title. Fo sho.) So this is fabulous news, since I am kind of
attached to those two. Not only because I
am very loyal, but also because, well, um… change? Not so much.
But it was a fairly seamless switcheroo, as far as insurance
goes. Until today, that is.
Today? I got a letter
in the mail to let me know that a claim is ‘on-hold’.
Evidently the services were provided for a PRE-EXISTING CONDITION, and
my health care coverage includes a PRE-EXISTING CONDITION WAITING PERIOD. (By the way, are all those capital letters really necessary?? I don't think I like being CapsLock-yelled at by my insurance company.)
Anyway... It did not list what the PRE-EXISTING CONDITION was, but oddly enough, the claim was submitted by my OB-GYN’s
office, and the service date was for the day that I had my regular, yearly check-up
for all that regular, yearly ‘stuff’ we ladies are required to do on a regular,
yearly basis.
So, what I am getting from this is that my ‘pre-existing’
condition... is the fact that I am a WOMAN?
Yes, I guess that is definitely a pre-existing condition. It has existed, for… well, for a pretty long
time now.
The good news is that my doctor can re-submit the claim if
they can provide the information about when they first began treating me for
this ‘condition’. And if that doesn’t do the trick, then I am
invited to appeal the decision. I
plan to make a couple of phone calls tomorrow to try to get this all
straightened out. I hope that it is just a glitch or technicality that is easily
remedied, and that I don’t have to appeal to anyone’s common sense in
terms of said ‘condition’.
But then again, we are
talking about an insurance company… I may
have to come unhinged and yell at some poor customer service representative
over the telephone. In the end… proving
that not only am I, in fact, a woman, but that I have been a woman ( and a crazy one at that), for
a good long time.
WELL PLAYED, BLUE CROSS BLUE SHIELD.
