Pining For The Fjords

I had all sorts of things to write about this week, but nothing I wrote could get my mind off the topic I’m about to tackle. Yes, it has a bit of a self-indulgent aspect, but there’s a life lesson in here worth exploring, if only for a moment or two. On Tuesday last, June 7^th, we marked the second anniversary of Steve’s passing according to the standard calendar. [For those who understand the secret handshake, his yahrzeit begins this Friday at sundown.]

By the time he was really sick, Steve had already left his job and we had to COBRA his health insurance. I had been in contact with Aetna, and paid exactly what they told me to pay, sent in all the paperwork, and was told all was covered. A month into the Cobra, it was clear Aetna agents had no idea what they were doing. Cashed cheque or not, they were telling the oncologists we had no insurance…which was completely wrong since Steve also was on my insurance and Aetna knew that. There were lots of calls back and forth until Aetna finally saw the error of their clerical ways and said they would get everything fixed. 

Then they told me I would have to hospitalize Steve because they didn’t think home hospice was “adequate.” Excuse me???? Steve was livid and announced, “I am not going to a hospital.”  I agreed. Steve stayed home where he belonged and we contracted for hospice through my insurance. We told Aetna in writing that we would end the COBRA on May 31^st.

Steve died on the 7^th of June, 2009. On the 8^th, I was standing in Hodroff’s funeral home selecting his casket (religious box: you get A or B... with a star of David or without… he got the star) when  Tamika from Aetna called. I told her my husband had passed away. That didn't stop her. She was calling to tell me it was too complicated to fix the insurance problem, so they were going to cover Steve for July instead of May.

Huh?

I asked her to repeat what she’d said, and she did indeed say that even though he was dead, they would extended his insurance “for free.”  I couldn’t help myself; I shouted at her. “WHAT PART OF DEAD AREN’T YOU GETTING??????” 

Does a certain Dead Parrot sketch come to mind? It should. It was like standing in the middle of the sketch only it was my husband not pining for the fjords.

I spent the next six months battling Aetna. I was pretty sure I was out of the fjords and into Dante’s 8^th circle of Hell, the one reserved for those who intentionally perpetrate fraud.

Then, Saint Tina of Health Advocates arrived on her white e-horse and said, “No problem; let me take care of it.” She did. For the next eighteen months.

On Wednesday June 8th, 2011, I received word from Allina's billing office that the last Aetna screw-up was handled, and the balance on the account was $00.00.

Two years and one day after Steve slipped away, I was able to close the white book for the last time.  

I underestimated the profound sense of relief. The Nightmare-Part Deux is finally over. No giant bill for a zillion dollars is going to fall out of the sky to crush me.

How the hell did this take two years to resolve? It wasn’t that complicated. It was straight forward, no hospitalization, and nothing weird.  But TWO years for relatively simple tests and procedures?

This isn’t about the hospital or the doctors. This is about insurance companies…or in this case, just one company. Their obfuscation and dissemination of misinformation was the rule, not the exception. When was the last time someone went through monumental illness and didn’t come out hating the insurance industry?

If Congress wants to fix what’s wrong, go after the health insurance companies and the so called “health care” providers who prey on the sick and profit from the misery of others. Get hospitals back to being not-for-profit and concerned only with the dignity of the patient and the outcome of the illness.

Stop making disease a profit churning industry. We deserve better than that.

Wifely Person’s Tip o’the Week
courtesy of Jan Leichter

Are the baby bunnies eating your petunias?

Put a cut up jalapeño pepper in a big jar of water and let sit a couple of days. 
Transfer some to a spray-bottle then spray away!