Insurance Issues

Monday night I had a last minute problem with insurance approval process. I had turned in my sleep study to the scheduling nurse and when she talked to Blue Shield they told her she didn't need to fax the report over to them. That was two weeks before the surgery, so they waited until the day before to tell the scheduling nurse that I wasn't approved. Mona called to tell me that I'd have to reschedule if she couldn't convince them to expedite it.

Thankfully right after I got off the phone with Mona, my sister, Erika called. She has had to deal with a lot of insurance people over the years and so she gave me the advice that I should call the insurance company myself so that there are two people making the request so they can't ignore you.

So, that's what I did. The first woman I talked to, Lorraine, who Mona had talked to earlier in the day, was very rude. I started explaining the situation and she said in a snotty tone, "You are my 86th call so you're going to have to give me your ID number." So, I gave it to her, even though I was taken aback. I asked to speak to a supervisor and her response before transferring me over was "If it makes you feel better."

Instead of getting angry I stayed calm and was transferred to a woman named Sue who was very professional. I explained the situation and she asked for my number and asked whether I wanted a call back or to be put on hold. I opted to be put on hold, since that would be added pressure to look into my situation immediately.

Mona was on the line with another insurance woman--reading the sleep study results over the phone before that woman finally had her fax it to her. They were able to get me the confirmation code at 4:45pm and let me tell you how relieved I was!

Since I am a single woman, I had to arrange for someone to take care of me (my sister's mother-in-law, Scotti) and she is going out of town on Friday. I don't have a spouse or close family that can use sick time to take care of me so rescheduling the surgery would have been inconvenient. Not to mention that I timed my surgery so my absence at work would be felt minimally by my coworkers.

I was saying thank you LORD when I got the approval!