accounting mess

Hi,
I have found the solution to cleaning up the health care problems in the USA. Kill the accounting department. They seem not to be able to keep anything straight and they are causing this mess we try  and call 'health care'.

In the last week I have had three, count 'em, three occurrences of health care accounting problems... and I'm only one little person. Multiply this by the 300 million that use the system here and you get about one billion problems per week, times that by 50 weeks and you start to see the magnitude of this. The system has to go, along with the pea-brains who are working in it.

I received a bill in January, for services that I received in November. Right away you have a 60 day delay in receivables. That would cause a flag in most businesses. When I sent in payment, promptly, using our health credit card (a pre-loaded VISA that covers off health costs with tax benefits... complex, but stick with me). I get a notice in February that the account is "over-due". Four phone calls later I realize that they received my payment but didn't know what to do with it since it wasn't a cheque, so they threw it in the "over due" pile. No where on the statement does it say they only except payment by cheque, not credit card. I finally get to a person who understands that if she takes my credit card info over the phone I will clear up the payment due. It's now over 90 days since this health service should have been accounted for, and several hours of working time have been wasted trying to collect on the payment. Waste, waste and more waste. That was issue number one.

The chiropractor I see at the club where I work assured me that when I saw him, back in December, there wouldn't be any further payment necessary, the insurance would cover the visit. February I get a bill for chiropractic care from a place I don't recognize but the date of appointment looks like the one I had in December. I call the number on the bill and ask if it is for this chiropractor at the NAC. The woman says 'yes, but don't pay it'. Their accounting service has messed up and sent out bills that are already paid by the insurance companies.... a great way to double-dip if you aren't honest to admit this has happened. Good thing I called first before I started sending in payments. Issue number two.

While I was chasing down the first problem I had to try and see if payment had gone through on our account. This is the most difficult process you can imagine. Marshall's company controls this and the web site you have to use is so complex it's mind boggling. I can't solve the mystery as to whether anything has been paid or not but I do notice that I'm not getting 'health credit points'. These credit points turn into money in your health savings account. You get points for seeing doctors or dentists regularly, filling out a personal health record, taking tests, dressing pretty... who knows. Well, I'm not getting credits for medical appointments I know I've been to and should get credit for. We had this happen last year and we missed out on over $1000 worth of credits. I can't even chase this down because Marshall is the employee, I'm just a lowly wife. They want him to waste his time on the phone dealing with this stupidity. That costs Tyco a huge amount of money and his time down the drain. More waste, issue number three.

I want to barf, it makes me so sick. Oh no, don't get sick, that will cost more waste!

xox
m