I just have to vent for a minute. It seems that with every medical bill there is something that drives me crazy! There has been nothing but problems with our Insurance and the most irritating part is that when we reviewed all the plan options for this next year, it was still the best one offered!! I never had any problems with my medical stuff in Utah as a teacher. The benefits were great and if there was ever a mistake, it came out that I owed less than the original amount. In fact, a few days ago I got $40 from my doctor in Utah because somewhere somehow I overpaid one year-and-a-half ago! So much for pleasant surprises! Here, my surprises are all negative and I end up owing up to $400 more than the estimations and the way it all works makes it seem like we're paying more out of our pocket than they are helping! I think I would like to add up what we pay monthly and then what we pay for our deductible (for each person) and then our co-pays and co-insurance and whatever random stuff it seems like we have to pay for and see how much the Insurance really is helping!!
Now I know that we probably have better insurance than a lot of people so I probably shouldn't complain, it's just that coming from my situation as a teacher in Utah where there were no problems, it gets so frustrating!!
The current issue is that I received the bill for Annalee's 18 month check up only to see that the Insurance covered $0.00!! What?! I called the number on the bill and they told me that usually the Insurance companies don't know that there are several mandatory well-visits during the child's second year and so I just needed to tell them it was a mandatory visit and it should be ok. So I call the Insurance and guess what? Our plan only covers two well visits during the second year which were met with her 12 month and 15 month visits! Never mind that she has to have these visits, it's not part of our plan. The crazy thing is that they help with the immunizations, but not the office visit. So can I just take her for the immunizations and not the office visit??
Another irksome thing is that on that particular visit she picked up a bug (I'm assuming it was from that, but I really don't have proof...but it's a safe assumption and was even suggested by the doctor himself!). So for those of you who don't know, Annalee's body overreacts to illness and it gave her a fever that spiked too quickly and made her go into a seizure shortly after we were even aware she was sick! I watched my baby convulse for several terrifying moments as I thought for the second time in her short life that I was going to lose her! The Ambulance showed up and assured us all was ok since her fever had gone done and she stopped convulsing and we just had to keep her fever down. I had to take her back to the doctor two days after her well visit so they could try to figure out what bug she had, if it was serious, and if they could help in some way. After all the extra tests, they couldn't figure it out. Nevertheless, this second visit is on the same bill and guess what? The Insurance covers their part of the charges! So why the heck don't they cover a mandatory regular office visit?? Next time I'm going to tell the doctor that she is sick and they can send the bill in as a sick visit instead of a well visit so the Insurance will pay up!
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