Need to Vent Ins Drama

Ok, so my doctors office faxed all my chart information Thursday last week, I called to check up on the progress yesterday, and was told from my Ins carrier (Amerihealth Admin) that they had sent out pre-determination letters to four doctors (Surgeon, GI, Psych, and PCP) no one has responded!!  So I got on the phone made about 50 calls to the doctors offices, then the billing departments, then to medical records and back around again, they all say they never received the paperwork, AHHHH!!! 

So I called Ins, they are so RUDE I got all the fax numbers and the ATTN to people and asked them to fax the forms directly instead of being mailed to the claims addresses which goes to the "main billing offices", not much help!!  They were so RUDE and acted like I asked the forms to be hand delivered to the doctors offices.  So after she agreed with much attitude to fax the forms she advised me that it can take up to TWO WEEKS to input the chart information and then it has to go to Pre-Determination another TWO WEEKS, then it goes to Pre-Auth another TWO WEEKS, then to case review where the final decision is made within 48hours.  I feel like I am NEVER going to get a reply, I am trying my best to be patient!!! 

Hang in there - getting thru this part can be the most frustrating, and chances are it won't take nearly as long as she's telling you - I think they give you worst case scenarios in case they get backed up and it might have to take that long. Aetna told me it could take a couple of months once they got all my paperwork and when I called to check to make sure they had received everything the guy came back on and said I was approved! This was after about a week - I was shocked because the best I was hoping for at that point was him telling me they have received everything and it was being processed.

So hang in there - I know it can be tough but this whole thing is a journey and this is just one small part of it...keeping my fingers crossed for a quick reply for you.

Thanks, for the encouraging words!!  I have my fingers, toes, legs, arms, eyes, ankles, thumbs and anything else I can cross, crossed!!

Let me second that! My insurance journey was way too much drama.

At a pre-op group I attended, I asked what the most difficult part of the whole process had been for the facilitators.

The answer? Waiting. Insurance. Waiting.

They say that patience is a virtue...

I agree this can be the most frustrating part of the whole process. I had Medicare went through the whole approval process, and at the very end of it ended up qualifying for Medicaid and then had to jump through a bunch more hoops for that approval. It ended up adding another three months or so to my wait. Just hang in there. The end result is SO worth all the frustration you go through to get there. It is a process and you do learn alot along the way. Good luck with everything.