After speaking with the internal medicine
nurse, it took her a few moments to realize that it would be another two days
before she would know what lay ahead of her - maybe. A new matter had been
brought to her attention to add to her already distressed mind - she would need
to correct an insurance problem. This
would be the deciding factor as to whether or not she would be able to go back
to the clinic, that had been following her since 2008 and knew
everything medically about her, or would she have to find a new health care
provider.
She did her best to contact the insurance
company, on her cell phone, as she worked through that Wednesday morning helping
a local company deliver flowers for pre-Valentine’s Day, but found the ability
to multi-task, while on the road, proved dangerous when she was lost in a
community and nearly ran into the back of a parked car. As much as she just
wanted to drive to the nearest emergency room for an answer, she had found the ability
to convince herself that it was easier to stay calm and refrained from any spontaneous
decisions until she got home that afternoon to rectify the insurance dilemma.
Immediately after her last delivery was made,
she went straight home to contact Tri-care. From 2:30pm to 5:05pm it was a
constant repeating of the problem as she was transferred from agent to agent,
within the insurance company, all asking the same question, “Can I help you?”
and all revealing the same answer, “Your online payments had not been set up
correctly causing your coverage to lapse,” and there was nothing they could do
to fix it. She found herself feeling a mounting sense of desperation as she
spoke with a representative that refused to let her speak with a supervisor. Her
words become uncontrolled as they left her mouth. She made it very clear that
if her condition was indeed breast cancer and she couldn’t be treated by her
doctor - because of a paperwork glitch - she was going to have someone’s ass
for it and that she was not making anything threats - it was a promise. It didn’t
matter how much strength she could try to muster up, her ability to remain
composed was lost when she stood up and slammed the phone down on the table. She
had been gripped with tremendous trepidation
“WHAT DID I DO TO DESERVE THIS!?” She
screamed at the top of her lungs into the silence of the room as she abruptly
sat back down. Her boys had been home that day and knew that she was very upset
by the events that were unfolding. They never asked if she was ok as they knew
she would regain her composure, if they left her alone - she would find a way
to make things right. She got herself back together before making one last
phone call that would be to a Tri-care supervisor who had the ability to make
modifications to a policy depending on the type of situation.
Recalling the date and place when she had sat
in an office of a Tri-care representative at the Naval Academy on the morning
of Nov 2, 2012, she went on to explain that on that day she had sign the waiver
to keep her primary care manager, in spite of the insurance company wanting her
to have a shorter commute. During that meeting, she had also been talked into
setting up auto payments to take the burden off her shoulders when it came to
remembering payment dates and amounts, while being asked as she filled out the
required paper work, about the best music for a bride to come down the aisle on
her wedding day.
As she continued to speak with a Tri-care
supervisor on the phone, she was finally given a solution. That if the person
she had filed the paper work with would provide either a copy of the payment
request form or a notice of missing document letter, they would reinstated her to
full coverage status. A sense of hope came over her briefly taking the anxiety
of the unknown medical situation out of her conscious mind - temporarily.
With her financial situation already grim,
recovering from this type of error would be a costly blow - the price would be
a one year suspension and reduction of coverage. Meaning full payment out of
pocket costs to another provider, because she was no longer in Prime status and
had been reduced to basic coverage. She knew it was her fault for assuming that
someone had done their job correctly and not following up to confirm her
assumption.
She knew the representative in the office,
that she went to in November, very well and knew that there was only one way to
get to the bottom of the problem - go back to Naval Academy to get an answer,
but that would have to wait until her lunch break the next day, as she still
had to finish her second day of flower deliveries.
Her night consisted of constant jumbling of
thoughts that ranged from rage to fear and everything in-between. The clock on her nightstand ticked away, one
minute at a time, making the unknown feel like a nightmare and the bad guy was
lurking to strike when she least expected it. The only solution was that she
knew the representative at the Navy Academy would remember her and all would be
resolved – If only it was that simple.
To be continued….
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