Monday, July 7, 2008

Battling the paper-pushers

Fighting with my insurance company so I can self-inject my interferon is nearly as painful as the radiation burn I’m nursing. I’m getting conflicting stories on exactly what Regence will cover, and for how much. Under one scenario, Regence charges a small co-pay for self-injectables but under the other, I’d be on the hook for $3000/mo.—which clearly ain’t going to happen. I formally appealed Regence’s ruling on this over a month ago, and haven’t heard back yet. Phone calls are going unanswered this morning.

Meanwhile, the burn appears to have gotten no worse over the weekend. I haven’t had a treatment in a week, so I’m hoping the skin will begin to heal now. I have one more week before I resume my shots, so it would have been nice to have had this time to do more, but unfortunately I’m not very mobile. I guess that makes it a good time to do battle with the paper-pushers at Regence.

The irony in all this is that once I resume my shots, I may go back into an interferon haze. It's been nice to have a clear head the last couple of weeks.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Peter: I'm only too well aware of the misery of dealing with health plans and insurers. And on an almost daily basis. But having to do this while fighting for your life is what they count on- you'll be too weak or ill to put up a good fight. Hang in there!
Keith

Anonymous said...

Dear Peter,
Keep fighting in the good sense the big guys and doing what is right.
I am with you in agreement to pray for this insurance issue.
Just don't let them imposed their own will and sometimes bad polycies. Keep asking and asking until they listen to you.