Medicare - Ugh

1/12/2015

 For those of you who have not yet had the "pleasure" of being a Medicare card carrying senior citizen, be warned of the pitfalls of paperwork.

I have only had one (count it one) doctor's visit go off to the far lands of Medicare for processing.  Once the government takes care of whatever they deem appropriate to pay, then in round two the bill goes to your Medigap carrier.  Exhausted yet?

This morning I spent over an hour with both AARP, who handles my Medigap insurance and the doctor's office.  If all future bills are as difficult as this one, take me out back and shoot me!  For reasons known only to the doctor's office they told me that my insurance had terminated.  Yes, my insurance through IBM terminated at the end of November, but the bill in question was in December.  

AARP's coverage won't pay if Medicare doesn't pay.  Well guess what?  The doctor provided me with not one, but three different devices (walking air cast, etc.) to cure my plantar fasciatis (sp).  These devices were $400 each and according to AARP, Medicare didn't pay for such devices, so there would be no payment forthcoming from their end.  

It didn't help that my insurance with IBM was with United Healthcare.  My insurance through AARP is also United Healthcare.  As you can see things could and did get a little mixed up.  I wore myself out going back and forth between the doctor's office and AARP.

At the moment, I believe I have the doctor's office on the right path to receive payment from AARP.  

When it comes time for you to decide on a Medigap provider, I can't say enough good things about AARP.  The people are extremely helpful and there is little to no wait to talk to an actual human!

My wish for 2015?  That all future billings from doctors are easier to deal with than the one I am trying to handle at the moment.

P