A pain, not in my back, but in the you-know-what...

Most health plans, including mine, recommend a first colonoscopy at age 50. I managed to put off the procedure for eight years, but two years ago, at age 58, I finally got around to having it done. It's a good thing I did, because the doctor found several polyps of a type that, left untreated, are likely to become cancerous. Those polyps were removed, but because they are aggressive and tend to grow back, he scheduled another colonoscopy in two years. Last month I had the second colonoscopy, and the results were good, so I now have a three year period before I have to have another.

This morning I got a letter from a subrogation services company contacted by my insurance company "to get more information about the injury or care you received". The first question on the Questionnaire included with the letter read: Was your treatment due to (please check one below) auto accident? home injury? work accident or injury? medical malpractice? liability, like a slip or fall? other/not an accident (explain below). The letter had a case number that I'd never seen before, but no other information about what they were asking about: not the doctor involved, or the facility; not the treatment or procedure; not even a date of service.

I sighed and called the 1-800 number. After spending some time going through a number of annoying steps in the electronic processing procedure, I was put on hold. Eventually, a claims representative came on the line. I told her that I thought the letter must have been sent to me by mistake, because I haven't been in an accident.

"That doesn't mean anything," she exclaimed cheerfully.

"Why not?" I asked.

"Because," she said distinctly, and I could practically hear the unuttered DUH! "You could have been injured in an accident without being in an accident!"

Huh?

After I provided my date of birth, she began to unravel the Gordian knot. The inquiry was related to my recent colonoscopy. Apparently, my insurance company would like to get out of paying for this procedure. Never mind that it wasn't an emergency procedure, and I had to be pre-approved before it was scheduled, and they'd been apprised two years ago of the results that would require this to be done again in two years time.

"It says here you had this procedure due to back pain," the claims rep said.

I told her I did not have the procedure because of back pain; I had the procedure because I previously had a certain type of polyps that requires regular screening in case they come back. She blithely disregarded me, exclaiming, "Back pain is what the nurse put down!"

"Well then the nurse got it wrong!"

"Was the back pain due to an accident?"

"I DIDN'T HAVE BACK PAIN!" I exclaimed, although I was beginning to have another sort of pain trying to get her to understand this.

"I can't change the record, but I'm making a note that the back pain wasn't due to an accident, so you can tear up that paperwork," she said.

I hope the new health care plan is able to eliminate some of this idiocy, but I'm not counting on it.

Things I Did Today...Sunday, 21 March 2010

1. Cleaned and cleaned and cleaned and cleaned...and still there's more to be done...

2. Went online and ordered skins for my Macbook (a blueberry Macpad, and I was tempted by a Spidey gelskin for the cover, but ended up ordering The Great Wave for now)

3. Picked up a script at the pharmacy

4. Did a couple of loads of laundry

5. Paid bills

6. Went to Blue Mesa for dinner, where I had goat cheese enchiladas while reading Sue Grafton

if seven maids with seven mops...

So this morning I got an email from my (new) boss asking me to estimate how many hours I think I'll spend working next year handling complaints for a new product that's not yet launched. Huh? I can't fault him; he's been asked to get the information, but to me, this sort of idiotic question smacks of MBA mentality. I handle all product complaints for all consumer products that we make, foreign and domestic. I can tell him approximately how many hours I spend per complaint received, by dividing the number of hours for which I'm paid each year (40 hours per week times 52 weeks) by the number of complaints handled, but I can't break that down by product. Some products are so obscure that I get no complaints for that product most years, or maybe one complaint or three complaints. Other products, more widely distributed, result in hundreds of complaints routed to me. I should add I have absolutely NO information about the new product, other than that it's scheduled to be launched eventually.

He might as well ask me how much I think it would cost me to live for a year on Mars, at some time in the future when/if Mars is colonized. I have GOT to start looking for a different job.