Yesterday Rob managed to contact the physician and the insurance company. THIS time he was told that, yes, of course the physician’s office will contact the insurance company (as if they hadn’t told him that he needed to do that) but they need a copy of the worker’s comp rejection letter first. Okay… Sure would have been nice to know that earlier. So Rob faxes that over and calls back to make the appointment.
Now the lady says that he can’t schedule the appointment until he’s had a complete physical, which he needs to schedule at least two weeks prior to the surgery.
My reaction was a resounding WTF? [1. WTF, but not in acronym form.]
I mean, he could totally have had the physical anytime in the past couple of months if they’d just said that was a prerequisite. So Rob is calling around today, trying to find a primary care physician — because we don’t have one — so that he can get the physical before we leave for the holidays. And then AFTER he has the physical he can call back to schedule the appointment.
Mind you, this is for surgery that the physician wanted Rob to have right away in October
Both of us are so frustrated because of how many hoops we have to jump through just to get on the schedule. Since we’re both free-lancers we usually just pay out of pocket; write the check and you’re done. As Rob says, “It takes nine people just to make an appointment, no wonder insurance is so expensive.”
Uh, WTF indeed.
Oh, huge crankiness!!! Could he perhaps use your family doctor in chattanooga? The 2 week thing is ABSURD,especially given that this is basically an urgent care situation… what does the doctor who wanted the surgery in october have to say about this?
grrrr…
I can only imagine that if we did that, they would say, “Oh no. It has to be a New York doctor.”
And the surgeon? He’s leaving town and won’t be back until after the holidays. So… hello 2009.
Good luck- I hope that you can find someone soon! I can’t imagine the frustration.