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Lovely Lunch

When I saw Snickollet's post and FB status that she was having a sucky Tuesday, I offered to bring her some delicious food from Native Bowl for lunch on Wednesday.  The timing of Wednesday didn't work out, but we were able to sit down for a bowl today.  It was, as expected, delicious!  And good conversation.  Two things that should not ever be taken for granted.

Avery did fairly well at entertaining herself while we ate and chatted.  I didn't try to get her to eat anything since she'd downed a whole avocado before we left for lunch and I figured that was good enough.  Avery isn't great at eating food when she's not seated with utensils (unless it's Christie's food, then she'll eat anything that Christie has and ask Christie for more food.  I'm pretty sure that Christie is going to start billing me after our playdates with her.)

Newsflash: Health Insurance companies are trying to screw us over

I document this in my blog mostly because this is where I come to look up stuff when I have to figure out what happened and when, which I will need to do when Aetna still fails to fix the problem.

First, on the never-ending-claim: I got a call back from the Urgent Care facility.  Aetna tried to tell me it was the facility's fault this time, not Aetna.  No, it's still Aetna's.  They're still telling the facility that I owe two copays for one visit, which in turn produces a number of billing errors which in turn produces a bill for me. Another three week turn around and Aetna may get it right.  Fortunately, the facility now has it documented they've talked to four different people at Aetna, all of whom assure them the issue is taken care of and that I owe nothing, so hopefully they'll at least contact me before sending anything erroneously to a collection agency.

Second, we now have another claim in the mix ... because we went to the doctor again and any visit to the doctor, results in mistakes on Aetna's part.  This is a $5 mistake and I'd be willing to bet more than $5 that it's deliberate on Aetna's part.  They basically sent it through the system as me having a $20 copay rather than $15.  I called and asked Aetna why I owe $5, she said, "Hmmm, I don't know why it would bill as a $20 copay, I'll send it back."

When I think back, I know I paid so many bills where I thought, "I thought I was totally covered except for my copay.  Oh well, it's only $25," and then I just paid whatever the bill was.  I wonder how many other people do that?  Because the thing is, those visits are totally covered and I shouldn't be paying more than my copay.  And the customer representatives always agree with me when I call to inquire, but if I don't call, I get billed more on EVERY SINGLE CLAIM.

To this I say fuck you insurance companies and bring on nationalized healthcare. We're no where near that yet, but I think my friend Chuck (husband to a former ER doc who is now an infectious disease doc) said it best:

The fact that there is a finite amount of money to pay for health care will ALWAYS generate controversy (and worse). I heard someone express it best as "It all comes down to who you want making decisions about paying for your health needs: a disinterested government bureaucrat, or an insurance company that has a financial stake in denying you coverage." Personally I'll take the bureaucrat any day.

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Car seat battles are now daily and exhausting.  They never happen when we're leaving the house, but happen about 50% of the time we are going from one place to another, or are heading home after being out and about.  Today, I didn't want to spend 20 minutes trying to get Avery into her car seat while our food got cold, so I did something I'm a little embarrassed (maybe I'm a lot embarrassed?) to admit: I bribed Avery with TV on my iPhone.  It worked immediately.

In theory, I'm against bribing for behavior and actions that are expected.  For example, it is not necessary that Avery put her hair up, therefore, it is acceptable in my theory to bribe her with a treat if she allows me to comb her hair and put it up.   I would not, however, be comfortable with offering a similar bribe for going to bed.  I expect her to go to bed at a certain and with minimal fuss, so I'm not going to start bribing her with treats or whatever for doing it right.  Thus my conundrum with the car seat.  I'm so tired of the battle. I cannot even say how exhausting I find it.  It's also nerve wracking because sometimes the battle ensues before we reach the car and she starts to bolt - in a parking lot, along a street, wherever.  Not fun.

Right now I'm considering downloading a few episodes of some TV show with five minute segments.  Given what I've said above, a little (anonymous) poll: