In October I issued a letter of appeal to my insurance company after they denied coverage for a bone marrow donor search(read the appeal here). After receiving nothing back for weeks, I took the advice of a friend’s father and resent the letter certified. It cost $5.40 but did force a response, couldn’t use the it must of been lost it in the mail line on me this time. The jist of what they said was I have failed to provide a specific diagnosis (the third sentence of my letter includes”diagnosed with severe aplastic anemia,” check for yourself if you like) or the necessary procedure codes(got me on that one), and therefore could not provide a definitive answer to my appeal. Their response went on to instruct me to check with my physician for my diagnosis and procedure code(s). I can’t be trusted to pass along anything regarding my illness, even’s it’s common name.

Letters like the last one I recieved often make me want to just to say “the hell with these people, it’s all bullshit.” And while it is, to respond that why would be amount to even more long term bullshitiness. When I send my next letter—certified of course, and including procedure codes as well as a signed document from my physican confirming my diagnosis—the insurance company will again find a problem. Maybe the improper use of a semicolon, or failure to confirm what I ate for breakfast. And again I will receive a letter saying we cannot provide a decision due to this or that, with the standard inclusion of a discouragingly large packet of papers that the patient must read before further action. And it’s sad. It’s sad that this it’s about splitting hairs and banking on the inability of people to persevere through endless bureaucracy. But as I’m often reminded by those around me, it’s even sadder to surrender to the system’s nonsense.

In a recent conversation I was relayed a story about someone who was battling their health insurance  provider on the medicial necessity of a procedure. While on the phone with a  with a company representative, in which he was told his letter  of appeal was never received, he asked a worthwhile question. “Why is it that you guys never lose the envelopes I send with signed check in them?”

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