My argument with my insurance

The other day, I got a bill for an ambulance.  I got charged the entire $700+ dollars.  Don't get me wrong - those paramedics were fantastic.  I was having severe chest pain and within seconds, they had an IV inserted, my BP checked, nitro sprayed into my mouth and 1 mg of morphine plus some atrophine in my IV and a nasal cannula.

However, I'm being billed the entire amount because the ambulance company is "out of network.".  This will not do.  I dealt with insurance companies and appeals for almost 10 years and I won't put up with this.  I rarely lost appeals then and I don't plan on losing this one.

I called the insurance, telling them that at the time, I was having severe chest pain, nobody was home and I was afraid I was having an MI.  I asked the stupid insurance if the 911 operator was supposed to put me on hold while I'm in a potentially serious situation so she can call them to verify which ambulance company to send.  I also asked her if I was supposed to do same, seeing as how I could barely speak and couldn't get a deep breath without a stabbing pain in my chest.  They told me to send an appeal.  I'll tell you - it's taken me a couple of weeks to calm down about this to where I can send an appeal without words that would make my mom wash my mouth out with soap.  They will not win this.  I'll appeal it all the way to the state insurance commissioner if necessary. 

What idiots!  I don't begrudge them their network physicians, hospitals, labs, etc.  But there's no way they should be allowed to regulate ambulances.  What the 911 operator did was call the one closest to my house. 

Oh, the severe chest pain and trouble breathing were due to that serious illness last summer.  When I becames septic from letting the UTI go untreated for 10 days, my body became ravaged with one infection after another and it left several areas inflamed.  My chest pain was caused by a bad case of pleurisy and costochondritis.  Gosh, I've been on 7 antibiotics over the last 5 months now. 

What's ironic, is we had a reverand who used to come preach at our church.  I just loved him.  He was charismatic when he preached.  He never lost your attention.  He took pauses to let things sink in.  Since we finally found a full time minister, I've had to rely on the tapes that Rev (Parr) makes.  I have about 20 sermon tapes of his and they are fantastic.  The first one I pulled out of the drawer the other day to listen to was about how your physical health is affected by your spiritual mindset.  He talks about carrying grudges for 20 years and that they only eat you up, making you physically sick.  It's a long sermon and I plan on transcribing it in the near future.  If anyone would like a copy, e-mail me at favresvikings@gmail.com.  It will take a little while for me to get it done but I'd be happy to forward the transcript.  He talks a lot about forgiveness, resentment, anger, etc.  I listened to just one of his tapes last year, and had me hooked.  I'll have to get ahold of him and see if he has any new ones (he doesn't charge for them but takes donations.  They are priceless to me, so I always pay him).  I also go watch him preach whenever he's in town.  Oh, he's unusual in one way - he's a presbyterian minister and he's African American.  Generally, they lead toward being Baptist ministers (I know it's not a rule that all Baptist ministers are black and all Presbies are white but the percentage of each is not that high).  Anyway, he does get loud at times, so don't say I didn't warn ya.  ;-)  I think some of you would love the transcript, especially if you're going thru some bad times. 

Take care!