Stupid Insurance Company

I don't even know where to begin. This happened over a year ago, the start of it all. And I am still not reimbursed. Rakkie got hurt at school, clearing out brush from the river's edge. This is after the school knew he was allergic to anything green. Hello? Grass is GREEN. He is allergic to GRASS. Do not have him clean up your grass or around grass. He got poison ivy so bad that his skin started to split in places. He actually agreed to go to the doctor's office. He got two shots in his butt. Not fun at all. Made him almost faint. Manuela had to hold him up when we walked out to her car. I paid for the visit at the time - $96 cash. Got the receipt. I called the school's office, asking how to get reimbursed, since he got hurt there at school, during school hours. They sent me the claim forms. I sent them in, and included the bill, showing I had already paid it in full. Mind you, this is in September, of 2007. This is now December, of 2008.

After playing phone tag with these people, I gave it a rest. Every couple of months, I would start calling them again. They explained it was a lengthy process, it could take several weeks. I reminded them several times it had already been several months.

Then, I figured I was going to need the $96 for the Nipsco gas bill this month. This decision came in early November. I started to call several times a week, asking for the status, explaining that this had been going on for over a year. They said they needed certain papers. Ok, I sent them. No, the ones I sent didn't have all the information they wanted. So I sent more. Still, not good enough. I had the doctor's billing office's very nice lady named Amy send paperwork. No, those papers didn't have everything needed, either. I ended up with one office on the house phone and the other office on the cell phone. The billing office faxed it. They got it at the insurance company alright, but it was too light, and they said they couldn't read it. Amy mailed it out in hard copy. Not good enough. Amy sent it again.

Then, the insurance office called me on Monday night. They sent the check out. I asked where they sent it. Well, to the doctor's office, of course. (Silly me.) I asked """WHY?""" Oh, that is the rule when there is no receipt. WHAT?!?!?!!?!?! They had receipts. Plenty of copies, written up different ways. They had lost the first copies I had sent along with the claim papers, which were the original receipt papers. These were the ones I had gotten from the doctor's office staff when I paid the bill. The insurance company said it was not good enough that the papers they had said 'self pay' and had the bill for services, with a 'payment received' slot, and a 'balance' slot of $0.00. I asked if they would accept another document from the billing office, in the form of a receipt, and they said yes, but that it would take another two weeks before they could get me a check. I asked if they could expedite it like they had already done with the one they now needed to put a stop payment on. The answer was 'I guess so'. So I called Amy back, gave her the new fax line number, and asked her to please send a receipt this time. Right now, I don't know what the status is, but as soon as I have the cash in my hand, I am complaining to the school system. This is utterly ridiculous.