2:45 pm - Thurs 4.14.2011
Making A Call

Started writing an entry yesterday, which quickly shaped up to be pretty depressing - all about the audition that was so penny-ante I passed on it (Which I don't do very often), and the surprise audition yesterday (A straight-to-callback commercial audition for State Farm) where the only circumstance that went my way was it being a short drive from my Weight Watchers meeting in Santa Monica (That's where I was when I got the voicemail).

If I'd continued on last night, I would likely have gotten to my despair over having nearly $2000 in surgery-related medical bills to deal with.

(Under the heading of "Things Could Be Worse", at least my bank account is healthier than usual thanks to that recent Budweiser check...but it's hard for me to see a big portion of that beer money drained away as a good thing.)

I hadn't done anything about said bills - hadn't paid them, hadn't called anyone to question or dispute them (And I did think a lot of them seemed "iffy") - preferring to stick my head in the sand about the matter.

(Because pre-Budweiser, I didn't have the money to pay them, and post-Budweiser, I assumed I was going to be told things I didn't like that would basically amount to "pay up".)

But I finally took matters in hand this morning, and called my health insurance people, bills in hand (Five in all - from my Doctor, from the anesthesiologist for my surgery, from a lab, from the sleep study place, and from the place that did my neck CT).

And instead of being told, in one way or another, that I was on the hook for all of it, I found out that almost all the charges were mistakes (Mostly having to do with reference numbers that weren't on the paperwork sent to the insurance company, making it appear that said service providers weren't "in network")

I emailed them a copy of Dr's A. bill, because it required further study on their part, but was basically told the rest of it was either covered in full (The bill for the anesthesia, for example) or else I would end up owing 10%.

I've got to imagine more details about this matter would be pretty dull, and I've bored you enough by now - The point is that I (finally) took action on this matter, and as a result, an almost $2000 bill is going to be much more manageable.

Which should be a lesson - While occasionally procrastination and inaction work out, mostly not.

And when you think you're screwed, you should probably, instead of assuming the position and hoping it doesn't hurt too bad, maybe make a call, ask some questions, and so on.

Cause maybe you're not screwed. Maybe if you think something's "off" about a situation, something actually is off about a situation, and if you point it out to someone, they'll agree with you.

And on that educational note, I'm going to catch a little nap before Weight Watchers this evening...

previous - next