I HATE insurance companies...

Okay, so I REALLY try not to use the word hate when I really mean "strongly dislike", etc...but today I am really HATING ours!!!

Now, on the plus side...we are insured and nine times out of ten they pay claims with no difficulties...

On the minus side...if they don't pay a claim, it is a pain in the you-know-what to get them to review it...

Today I talked to some guy named Michael (since he shares a name with approximately 25% of the American male population, I feel no guilt in posting his name!) NOT HELPFUL AT ALL! See, this is a claim that we had for Charlie when we took her into the ER at the ADVICE OF THE 24 HOUR NURSE LINE THAT THE INSURANCE COMPANY HAS FOR US TO USE!!!! Fortunately, she was fine...so, it got coded as something that the insurance didn't like. The visit was in DECEMBER of 06...

I have called the insurance company AT LEAST once a month over this...I have also called the hospital at least once a month (and their billing office, and the clinic, and the medical records department, etc.) LAST MONTH the hospital told me they had sent out the information requested, so when I got a paper in the mail stating that the insurance company needed the information that was already sent to them, I called in.

Michael informed me that the information that "they" sent in was for the wrong date in October...then he got mad that I wasn't understanding what he meant since Charlotte was born in November. It was a claim for ME from a different HOSPITAL, in a different CITY, with a different BILLING OFFICE, etc. etc. etc...then he treated me like crap because I didn't have the account numbers from the hospital bills (which I have only recieved one of...) and the phone number from that paper, and instead tried to give him the hospital phone number (it is a small hospital...it has ONE main phone number...) Finally, I talked to someone higher up who was at least as unhelpful...

Then I called the hospital, and they read me back everything that had been done (every mailing, every time I called, every time they called the insurance company, etc.) and told me that they were sending out the information again tomorrow...

So, my insurance company likes to pass the buck all the time...

Nothing makes me quite as crazy as people who won't take responsiblity for their own organization's screw ups!