Thursday, December 16, 2004
It Just Figures
I had a physical therapy appointment today. Physical therapy is basically the last step in this whole back fiasco. This is where I’ll learn how to do things without hurting myself again and where they’ll get all of my muscles back in shape. This could take some time since my muscles haven’t gotten much use since this all started. I’m very excited about the therapy because it means that all of this is almost done; I’ll be set free into the real world again.
So, I got to the office and filled out all of the paperwork and waited for my therapist to show up. After a short wait I was called back and we started talking about what’s been bothering me and how we would work to fix it all. All pretty routine.
All of a sudden there was a knock on the office door. It was some lady from the front office. She told me that she called my insurance company and they told her my policy expired back in October. If I wanted to have any more therapy I’d have to pay out of my pocket. Being unemployed, this was a big problem. They told me that when I got my insurance straightened out I could come back. So, I got up, grabbed my coat and left.
Now, here’s the problem with all of this. I’ve spent eight months, with a six month insurance policy, going from doctor to doctor trying to get this all taken care of. I’ve done everything they’ve told me to do and now that I’m feeling mostly better, they won’t let me do one of the most important parts of the healing. You may ask, “Why don’t you just renew your insurance?” I wish it were that easy. I do make enough on disability to pay for insurance but my insurance company won’t cover me anymore. I had temporary insurance and once it expires the only way to get more coverage is to prove that you are totally disabled. I don’t think any of my doctors are going to sign off on that paperwork.
“Why not get insurance through someone else then?” Any insurance company I go to will consider my back a pre-existing condition. No one will cover a pre-existing condition, that I know of. So, it appears that there is no way for me to get insurance to cover this.
The only way to get my physical therapy now is to pay cash. I was prescribed 2-3 appointments a week for 6 weeks. That’s a total of 18 appointments. Each appointment is about $150 except the first one, which is $200. Yeah, I’m sure I can come up with $2,750 in the next six weeks. Did I mention that I’m moving to California in about six weeks? I think I have that kind of extra money sitting around the house somewhere.
For right now, I have no idea what I can or will do about this all. Wish me luck.
Song Of The Day:
“Stupidity Tries” – Elliott Smith
So, I got to the office and filled out all of the paperwork and waited for my therapist to show up. After a short wait I was called back and we started talking about what’s been bothering me and how we would work to fix it all. All pretty routine.
All of a sudden there was a knock on the office door. It was some lady from the front office. She told me that she called my insurance company and they told her my policy expired back in October. If I wanted to have any more therapy I’d have to pay out of my pocket. Being unemployed, this was a big problem. They told me that when I got my insurance straightened out I could come back. So, I got up, grabbed my coat and left.
Now, here’s the problem with all of this. I’ve spent eight months, with a six month insurance policy, going from doctor to doctor trying to get this all taken care of. I’ve done everything they’ve told me to do and now that I’m feeling mostly better, they won’t let me do one of the most important parts of the healing. You may ask, “Why don’t you just renew your insurance?” I wish it were that easy. I do make enough on disability to pay for insurance but my insurance company won’t cover me anymore. I had temporary insurance and once it expires the only way to get more coverage is to prove that you are totally disabled. I don’t think any of my doctors are going to sign off on that paperwork.
“Why not get insurance through someone else then?” Any insurance company I go to will consider my back a pre-existing condition. No one will cover a pre-existing condition, that I know of. So, it appears that there is no way for me to get insurance to cover this.
The only way to get my physical therapy now is to pay cash. I was prescribed 2-3 appointments a week for 6 weeks. That’s a total of 18 appointments. Each appointment is about $150 except the first one, which is $200. Yeah, I’m sure I can come up with $2,750 in the next six weeks. Did I mention that I’m moving to California in about six weeks? I think I have that kind of extra money sitting around the house somewhere.
For right now, I have no idea what I can or will do about this all. Wish me luck.
Song Of The Day:
“Stupidity Tries” – Elliott Smith
