Calling in Sick....{My Ramblings}

I am off to the Walk-in clinic this morning..I am one sick puppy and I am in insurance limbo.  We have been paying COBRA payments up until this month...wooohooo...done with the COBRA payments this month!  We started with our new insurance policy this month but...yup...almost the end of the month and although they have taken the $ we have no insurance cards.

So...this leads me to the walk in clinic....I will have to pay ca$h and seek reimbursement...we shall see how this goes...I have such strong opinions on insurance companies ... we have been dealing with the bureaucracy of insurance companies for a while now...don't get me wrong...I am grateful to have insurance but the headaches they can cause...I will give you a prime example.

When my daughter was pre-transplant we desperately tried to make arrangements for an air ambulance for when "The Call" came letting us know an organ was available.  We lived in Florida..her transplant hospital is in Pennsylvania.  We knew we would have a limited amount of time to arrive at the hospital once the "harvesting" of the organs began.  No commercial flights were available in the evening times from our home to Philadelphia so this was not an option....we checked.  There are some {amazing} Angel Flights with amazing pilots who actually donate their time and planes but the distance was too far for them....we checked. 

The insurance company said they would not pay for the air ambulance because Savannah would have been outpatient.  After many supervisors we kept explaining that it made no sense to us because the SOLE purpose of getting an air ambulance to transport a dying child to a hospital was to allow her to become inpatient...no stops at the mall, no stops at the beauty parlor...just going directly to the hospital for an organ transplant...can't get more inpatient then that.

The insurance company argument...the moment she steps on the plane she is outpatient and will not be inpatient until she arrives at the hospital....service denied.  The last supervisor whom was very empathetic and finally said that if it were their child they would be going ballistic because it did make no sense but policy was policy.  This was what led me to move away from my husband and take Savannah to New Jersey.  I remember telling him that I didn't care if I lived in the parking lot in a car with her....she would be near the hospital if we got "The Call"....I think I said the same thing to the hospital social worker and she knew I was serious so arrangements were made for me to stay at our beloved Ronald McDonald House in Jersey.  I wasn't about to allow transportation to be the reason my child died...that was just lunacy to me.

So, Savannah's first birthday, her first holidays all at a wonderful place called the Ronald McDonald House while my husband flew back

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and forth every weekend for months to visit with his dying child all because of a "technicality"....my yellow, dying, adorable baby was denied.  You can see why I have formed some strong opinions about insurance companies and policies....

Whew...that was a rambling and as usual I digressed...I simply need some antibiotics...

Wishing each of you a Happy and Healthy Weekend!