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Mittens and the Gang all talk about "repeal and replace," but they absolutely refuse to say what they'd replace with. Even on their own propaganda channel, with Chris Wallace ever-so-briefly channeling the investigative spirit of his dead father, watch Yertle the Turtle dodge the question:
No, kids. They want to "replace" it with what it is- a private corporate based pyramid scheme built on the collection of premiums and the denial of payment. Here's how that hit home this morning.
Emily had her wisdom teeth out in mid-April. The oral surgeon insisted on full payment up front, which we came within about a day of not having due to BS over transferring money into one of those Health Savings Accounts the Right loves so much. Once they got paid, they lost all interest in being the least bit helpful in getting her reimbursed through her insurance for part of the cost. Hers is school-based, through Aetna- the only choice RIT gives them. So much for free-market competition, huh.
Anyway. Before she left school for the summer, we made sure that she'd turned in all the paperwork from the surgeon to the school so she could get reimbursed. Nothing. Health Office people urged her to be patient, but now that we're into yet another month, she got them to confirm that the paperwork had all been sent.... and that they were refusing to pay because we hadn't submitted an "itemized invoice" with the provider's tax ID number on it.
See what they did there? They got to hold onto her premium money for almost three full months, and then try to trick her into going, "Oh well, can't fight Aetna Hall" and giving up.
Not OUR child. And not even with our helicoptering on her behalf- yet. SHE got back on the blower to the surgeon and got them to at least spit out their TIN. She then told the carrier that her previous statement already WAS itemized- it lists the type of procedure for each of the four teeth (extraction of #s 1 and 16, impact-partial bony for 32 and impact-complete bony for #17). She next heard the carrier tell her, nope, not good enough- we need the diagnostic codes. You've seen these (in this country at least) if you're over about the age of 10- the medical industry used to pass out these carboned forms with the procedures circled and their magic codes next to them. Well, with the advent of electronic medical recordkeeping, those have been replaced by computer-generated THINGS that contain no codes. They still use them, but they input them direct to the carriers when they're billing TO the carriers....
but when you've already paid, and you're trying to get reimbursed? Sorry, Charlie. She actually got hung up on trying to get them to give her four stupid numbers to add to the request.
As it happens, Eleanor is at her (and Emily's) regular dentist right now- the guy who referred Em to this schlemiel. (Seriously- that's more or less his name.) And their regular dentist is going to get an earful about the customer service given to his own patients when he refers them.
Best of all? This is all over maybe a $500 reimbursement. Imagine how much fun this all is when there are major dollars at stake.
----
This just in: Em got back from his orifice. They reluctantly wrote down the magic codes on her original estimate page, which she can now submit for a chance at it. But she had to go there in person and stare them down in order to get them to do it.
No, kids. They want to "replace" it with what it is- a private corporate based pyramid scheme built on the collection of premiums and the denial of payment. Here's how that hit home this morning.
Emily had her wisdom teeth out in mid-April. The oral surgeon insisted on full payment up front, which we came within about a day of not having due to BS over transferring money into one of those Health Savings Accounts the Right loves so much. Once they got paid, they lost all interest in being the least bit helpful in getting her reimbursed through her insurance for part of the cost. Hers is school-based, through Aetna- the only choice RIT gives them. So much for free-market competition, huh.
Anyway. Before she left school for the summer, we made sure that she'd turned in all the paperwork from the surgeon to the school so she could get reimbursed. Nothing. Health Office people urged her to be patient, but now that we're into yet another month, she got them to confirm that the paperwork had all been sent.... and that they were refusing to pay because we hadn't submitted an "itemized invoice" with the provider's tax ID number on it.
See what they did there? They got to hold onto her premium money for almost three full months, and then try to trick her into going, "Oh well, can't fight Aetna Hall" and giving up.
Not OUR child. And not even with our helicoptering on her behalf- yet. SHE got back on the blower to the surgeon and got them to at least spit out their TIN. She then told the carrier that her previous statement already WAS itemized- it lists the type of procedure for each of the four teeth (extraction of #s 1 and 16, impact-partial bony for 32 and impact-complete bony for #17). She next heard the carrier tell her, nope, not good enough- we need the diagnostic codes. You've seen these (in this country at least) if you're over about the age of 10- the medical industry used to pass out these carboned forms with the procedures circled and their magic codes next to them. Well, with the advent of electronic medical recordkeeping, those have been replaced by computer-generated THINGS that contain no codes. They still use them, but they input them direct to the carriers when they're billing TO the carriers....
but when you've already paid, and you're trying to get reimbursed? Sorry, Charlie. She actually got hung up on trying to get them to give her four stupid numbers to add to the request.
As it happens, Eleanor is at her (and Emily's) regular dentist right now- the guy who referred Em to this schlemiel. (Seriously- that's more or less his name.) And their regular dentist is going to get an earful about the customer service given to his own patients when he refers them.
Best of all? This is all over maybe a $500 reimbursement. Imagine how much fun this all is when there are major dollars at stake.
----
This just in: Em got back from his orifice. They reluctantly wrote down the magic codes on her original estimate page, which she can now submit for a chance at it. But she had to go there in person and stare them down in order to get them to do it.