Silver lining in my cloud?

Greetings to all..... I need to vent and will try to keep it short. 1. Received a call today from surgeons office that I had a couple of abnormalities in my EKG, so now I have to see the cardiologist. Okay. Sigh. I can jump through the hoop because it is a GOOD THING to get the ticker checked out BEFORE surgery, and it is a GOOD THING that doc is as thorough and particular as he is. AND the nurse was going to try to set it up for next Wed am, since I will be spending the night for my sleep study. Different hospital, but same city, will save me 40 miles round trip. 2. Originally, insurance denied my surgical consult, as it 'wasn't covered'. BUT.... 'IF' I were to be approved, it would be re-submitted and would possibly be covered. The same was true for the psych eval. "Won't pay it now, but if you get approved.....yadda yadda yadda....." The kicker with the psych eval is that it was REQUIRED by the ins co. To get insurance approval, I had to jump through numerous hoops for 'Intracorp'. They are the company my insurance company uses to determine if procedures are medically necessary. I was approved in late August. I rec the approval letter, my surgeons office rec the letter. I assumed (I know, never ass-u-me ) that the insurance company had rec THEIR letter. Well, imagine my surprise when I get a call from the hospital saying I have this 'bad debt" ($450 worth of 'bad debt') that has to be paid before we can proceed with surgery....... So....I call the insurance company.......they have NO RECORD that my surgery has been approved, therefore they won't pay those 2 claims. This caused more stress then finding out I have a glitch in my ticker!!! Next step, call Intracorp. They are totally aghast that the insurance company doesn't have record of the approval. They assigned me a new case number and as I was on the phone, sent another letter to the ins co and one to me. So now we play more wait and see..... Alas, the silver lining in all this, is that Lynne (docs nurse) said I was probably looking at a date within the first 2 weeks of November. (That is, of course, that all goes well with the cardiologist. Which I know in my heart it will (pun intended ) See, I feel better already. You people are so good And November is truly just around the corner!! And I don't care that I won't be having moms dressing at T-giving time....is such a small sacrifice for such great ultimate reward! HA!...so much for keeping it short..... Thanks for the ears Sheila

Sheila, It will so be worth it to sacrifice the dressing for a new dress size!!! Tee hee hee Insurance companies.... when I get ready to cuss them out I think about my friend who needs WLS really bad and it is not covered by our insurance company. Good luck honey... Melinda

Keep looking on the positive side, Sheila. It makes it much easier & thank God that Dr. G is so particular. Ha, just last year at this time, he was really on my sh_ _ list! One of my tests revealed something growing in my abdomen & he postponed my surgery until it was removed & I healedup. A whole 3 months I had to wait! I knew it wasn't his fault it had to be postponed & I also knew it was best to get it out of there but I still resented it. Imagine the horrible things that could happen during surgery if there was something wrong with your heart and no one knew it. It is so much better to know if there is something wrong now instead of being too late. I have faith that all will turn out for the best & you'll be having yor surgery before we know it. Now if only the dumb insurance company gets on the ball. Good luck. Keep us informed. Dixie

Sheila, Ohhhhhhhhhh man - what a pain in the pattoottie!!!!! INsurance companies can be a pain. Be sure to document every conversation that you have - get names, etc. just to be on the safe side. ON a good note, be confident that you have a surgeon that cares about that ole ticker. Want to keep it healthy throughout!! Hang in there, God bless, Andrea