We received a bill from the hospital in Mount Pilot yesterday. The bill covered The Teenager's emergency appendectomy and arrived in the amount of $18,000.00.
$18,000.00 that our insurance had declined to pay. You know, despite the fact that our plan has an out-of-pocket maximum of $11,000.00 for the family and $2,500.00 out-of-pocket maximum per individual.
I am so frustrated, I can't even begin to form a coherent thought. Well, that's not technically true; I have coherent thoughts, they just aren't very pleasant thoughts.
So, today I get to hit the phones, where I will undoubtedly have to spend precious hours of my time trying to figure this mess out. With any luck, I will be able to uncover some simple mistake that is easily corrected. Worst case-scenario; there was no mistake, or, the mistake is such that we fall into a catch-22 wherein we actually owe a hospital $18,000.00, in which case; I smell a lawsuit against the insurance company in my very near future. We have dutifully paid our premiums for years and we deserve to be protected against this kind of situation.
At least, that's my stance on the matter.
On the bright side, if we do end up having to pay the bill, I hear there is a lot of money to be made in the black market organ trade.
Hell, an appendix alone is apparently worth $18,000.00
Wonder if they're gonna pull some "out of network" shit on that. Totally unreasonable. Good luck with the phone campaign, and keep a civil tongue until they say "well, ok, we'll pay".
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