Hi all,
Well, I am looking into a support group led by a therapist in my town. The insurance companies sure make you feel very small begging for help from them after we pay them so much money to get care....then they act like they are doing us a favor by helping us and put us through hell to get the help, then make it impossible to get the help...
I have been fuming with anger at all the demeaning treatment I've felt by them and the hospital... and the ridiculousness that they have put me through to try to get into this group program only to continue to not authorize it and make me hang on pins and needles and feel like an idiot....wondering if they will or won't!
what a bunch of cra*******...anyone else have such experiences?
I am going to try to volunteer at an organic farm and also get into the group led by the single therpist...
I have been feeling angry and so discouraged lately...
I have so many issues that are eating me inside and I need to talk about...and need a group environment in my area....
Marishka
I saw a therapist for several years beginning in 1997. She had every session authorized BY the insurance company and had the paperwork to prove it. I had already had the insurance for 12 years. Suddenly, the insurance company said I was not covered during the period of time that I was seeing the therapist. Now what the hell does that mean? They owed her $2500 and I honestly don't know if it was ever paid. I told her that I would arrange a payment plan so that she could get her money, because it wasn't fair to her that I received treatment and she was not paid. She told me to forget about it, that her insurance people would deal with mine, and if all failed, she could write off the loss on her taxes. But it made me furious. I even drove to the local representatives of my insurance plan and showed them my insurance ID card covering the period of time they said I was not covered. I didn't expect them to have compassion, but I did expect them to live up to the provisions of my policy, which they did not.
Another time, I was admitted to the same hospital I had already been in many times. My insurance had always paid them in a timely manner. When I was admitted, they copied my insurance card and put it in my file. At the end of my stay, 5 days later, the hospital collections officer came up and informed me they did not accept my insurance and I would be responsible for the $5600 bill. Their policy states that if you are not properly insured, and it is not a dire emergency, they are responsible for informing you before admission so you can choose to be transferred to a different hospital. So for about a year, I just ignored all the threatening collections letters and either the problem was resolved, or they, too, could write it off on their taxes and did so. Because after that year, they never sent me another bill. How stupid.
And then I have been involved with my mother's insurance company (a medicare advantage plan) several times to try to straighten out their mistakes. It is like talking to a blank wall.
Donna