In June 2022, Beau had his port removed. Date of Service June 7th, to be exact. I have that date seared in to my memory because I have said, “Yes, Date of Service June 7th,” approximately 387 times in the last year.
I wrote about the port removal here and here. (Some of my best work, if you ask me.)
Boy, it’s been a year. The whole thing still makes me want to throw-up. How did we live with that little implanted device for over three years? How are we living without it…? The other day I accidentally knocked Beau in the clavicle and said, “Whoops, if you still had your port, that would have been terrible.” He replied, “Nah, it was on this side.”
I forgot which side it was on.
It’s in the forgetting that I completely loose my sense of time. It is in the forgetting that I can heal. It is in the forgetting that I worry I’ll forget forever.
I looked at his chest and imagined where his port had been, imagined how he had ever had a port at all.
It feels more like imagining, than rememberance.
Despite moving our lives right along, and forgetting the location of his port, you know who hasn’t moved on? Insurance.
Back in June 2022, the week prior to the port removal appointment, Children’s called and got a pre-Authorization for the procedure from Bright Health Insurance. Then, in the days following the appointment, Children’s submitted all the associated bills (for which there are around seven) to Bright Health…but, oops!, forgot to include the the pre-Auth, and, oops!, sent the bills to the wrong department.
Welp. The rest is history.
What do you think happened, dear readers?
Long story, tolerable: I currently have $1,700 on my credit report in medical default, and another $15,000 pending because no one wants to take responsibility for this bill.
The other day we were getting our credit checked for something and we found out that all of the Beau medical finances are linked directly to my credit, not Joshua’s.
Great, great, great, cool, cool cool. Years off both ours lives, but only points off my credit.
At around the same time, I was seeing if we could swap our Southwest Companion Pass from my Southwest account to Joshua’s since the points come from a shared credit card we both use. The answer was no.
So, yes, while I have all the financial troubles, I also have all the rewards…. Southwest miles for dayssssssss.
Anyway, what even is credit! Who cares!
Just kidding, I care a lot, but if I have learned anything over the last 4 years-it is that these are not the things we should spend much time caring over. It will all work out, at some point. Or it won’t, in which case I revert to: Anyway, what even is credit! Who cares!
So I try not to care, but you know what always gets me? Our child had an involuntary treatment for three years. We did not have a legal choice in how we treated him. During those three years, we paid, in-full, for our health insurance, every single month. We paid every out of pocket cost, every deductible, on time. Once he completed the treatment (this does not include relapse, CAR T, etc.) the cost of his treatment was tallied at over $1 Million. Add in the costs for both CAR T’s, and now we are nearing $2.5M.
So after three years and $2.5M in bills, we had to, by medical necessity, remove his port. The hospital got a pre-Authorization from the health insurance company, everyone agreeing to this procedure. But then,
BUT THEN….
The hospital submitted the bill incorrectly. Oops! Out of that, insurance says they cannot process the claim. Oops!
So we call, Children’s resubmits, probably, or they say they will. Bright doesn’t receive it, or does and doesn’t file it correctly, or maybe it’s submitted wrong, or maybe not, Children’s tells us it’s still being denied, we call Bright, who says they don’t have it. We call Children’s and they resubmit, probably.
Lather, Rinse, Repeat.
It’s been 11 months of this. Monthly check in’s on who is saying it is currently not their fault.
So my credit is being dinged, Children’s passes the buck saying, “[they] have no control over what [our] insurance does,” Bright passes the buck saying, “[they] cannot process a bill that is submitted incorrectly.” and I just lay in bed at night and pray Southwest doesn’t go under and ruin the only upside of all these finances moving through my credit card account.
Actually I don’t lay in bed at night and think about Southwest. Unless it’s Southwest in the context of where we are going next, and for that, the answer is Holly House. In two weeks, we return to that beautiful land of wonder and that’s a dream worth getting excited over.
Anyway, yesterday we decided we are submitting the issue to DORA- the regulatory agency for such things. Conveniently, Bright Health closed their business at the end of 2022 (which is why we are happily now with Friday insurance) and, seemingly, passed along the outstanding bills to a very poorly maintained call center in Southeast Asia. DORA can only engage in violations with insurance companies, not Children’s. That’s kind of annoying because, as pointed out above, this entire landslide started because Children’s submitted the bill incorrectly. (Which is fine, make a mistake, but please kindly don’t send ME to collections for it. Ok, thanks.)
Most days I don’t think too hard about these things. Actually, the $1,700 actively against my credit, I didn’t even know about so I wasn’t thinking about it at all. I have received nothing in the mail, no phone calls, nada. I have been hunted by collections before, because you better believe a similar cluster fook like this happened back in December of 2018. At least then, they let me know that I was being pursued. This time, nothing. That felt wild.
What else is out there, waiting for me…. Something good, I hope.
But yeah, most days I don’t think of it.
But then there are other days, days like today, where I sit down to write a simple blog post about a non-profit that helped us during our cancer treatment and as I explain the back story of why we needed help at all, suddenly my fingers are moving faster than I can explain and all I am typing is:
HOW IS THIS OK!?!?
Forget the fundraisers! Forget the non-profits! (Ok, don’t forget them, but honestly, sometimes they seem like a glittery, feel good, distraction to the actual systemic plague that is our medical system.)
Yesterday, Joshua conferenced me in on a phone call with Bright, to clarify, AGAINNNNNNN, the date of service, June 6th!!!!!!, to the 37th Bright Health representative who said they would “document the call.” It was at that moment that the call dropped, a clear sign from the Universe, and I texted Joshua, “I got dropped, don’t call me back. Ever.”
If it’s my credit, surely he can manage the phone calls. Right, babe? My (credit) life is in your hands.
Anyway, what even is credit! Who cares!
TLDR: insurance continues to be a pain.
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