An Insurance Company Rant

Considering the focus on health care reform in Congress and from the Obama administration, I though that my insurance company rant is a perfect post for today. On August 12, my daughter went to see the neurologist. She’s been having headaches and so he ordered an MRI. I called the nurse on 8/24, still no approval. I called on 8/28, still no approval. I called on 9/1, still no approval. This is not a rant about the nurse, because every day I called her, she called the insurance company. Instead, this is a rant about the insurance company.

Can you please explain to me how a STAT MRI request takes three weeks to approve? This is ludicrous! We are fortunate enough to have group insurance through my husband’s employer. Approval for the MRI was given the same-day. Ava’s secondary insurance is through the state’s Division of Developmental Disabilities. It is managed through the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System – the same system manages healthcare for the state’s MedicAid-eligible children and families. So a STAT MRI request takes three weeks for the state’s health care system to approve. Un…acceptable.

I even asked if I could just pay for the co-pay or whatever my share of the procedure would be. Alexander’s MRI was several thousand dollars and our co-pay, had he not had secondary insurance, would have been several hundred. I wouldn’t mind paying it if it meant Ava could get in and get the MRI STAT (like it was ordered).

So I called the insurance company and “got mommy” on their asses. Guess what I had when I got off the phone, an authorization code. Now don’t misunderstand me, I was very respectful to the representative. Having worked on the phones before, I understand that the job is a high-stress position and the nice gal that helped me was not responsible for the delay in approval.

I am an advocate for my children, in all aspects of their life but most definitely when it comes to their health. I can only imagine that other parents who either don’t understand the system or don’t know the importance of advocacy have to deal with in regards to their child’s healthcare procedures.

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