Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Naughty Asian Schoolgirls

...are not here. I just thought I'd steal Joe's idea for more hits.

The hospital saga is over except for months of painful recovery and at least a year of paying bills. It would take forever to detail all the agony I'll be facing - physical, spiritual, financial, lack of bunny girlfriendial - so, here we go.

Okay, I'll just say that I contacted everyone billing me and made arrangements. Some are allowing payments over time, others gave me a huge discount to put it on my credit card. The main three hospital bills, the bulk of the money I owe, are supposed to be reduced to $0 at the end of this month. Of course, they were supposed to be reduced to $0 at the end of last month too. In the meantime they continue to bill and threaten me for not paying the bill that's not supposed to exist. I'm told the process is automated and can't be stopped.

I called Chamberlin Edmonds, the people who sent me a letter saying they could help with government aid, and after navigating their menu, being sent to the wrong department, and being put on hold, a very nice lady said they couldn't help because I'm too young and have no children. Normally people shoot me down because I make too much money, so this was a fun treat. If you want to help me with the no children bit and you look like this,

then come here, baby.

Ironically, by working and not having insurance, I may end up paying far less than if I did accept my employer's crappy insurance plan. Considering how little it pays, how few procedures are covered, the $1,000 deductible and the $40,000 annual limit, I would be paying several times what I am now if I had to pay everything it didn't cover. And all that for just a little over $70 per week.

One last billing twist: amidst my usual junk mail I got an offer for a Capital One credit card that sounds decent - no annual fee, 25 day grace period, and no interest for a year. I already have two credit cards and don't really want another, but the no interest for a year would give me a chance to save money while paying all these hospital bills. Does that sound like a good idea? It does to me, although I haven't forgotten that I'm the guy who said "I think I'll drop my health insurance. If I get sick, the VA will take care of me."

13 comments:

tiff said...

You know? I'm really surprised you could drop your insurance at all.

That being said, I know no single Asian hotties, and thus will stop commenting now. For today.

Crys said...

i'm extremely happy the big bills are being reduced down to $0, Grant.

Enemy of the Republic said...

Say no to more credit cards--that leads to the Dark Side!

Hospitals love to send out duplicate bills-- it is an old trick. If insurance has paid it, they will lie and say that they never got the payment. Then you call the insurance and they tell you that they paid it on such and such a date. Then you call the hospital who will want a fax from your insurance--blah, blah, blah.

Usually paying the bill does the trick, but I've done that and still kept getting bills. One doctors group dropped me because they claimed that I wouldn't pay my bill even though I walked into their office, asked them what did I owe and their computer screen said nothing. The whole system is a mess.

Unknown said...

Enemy, I thought you liked the dark side?

Do you make a lot of money in Zimbabwe's currency?

Stacy The Peanut Queen said...

Come to the dark side.
We have cookies.

;)

The PK and I had to live off credit cards after he had that rotator cuff surgery (he was out of work for about six months). I make pretty decent money but I couldn't pay all the bills by myself so the groceries and the gas went on our credit cards. Ran those bitches up and had to refinance our mortgage (which we ALMOST HAD PAID OFF) to get enough money to pay them all off.

So think long and hard about that credit card thing. Just sayin'.

Joe said...

Does it sound like a good idea? Erm...no.

So I'm on the web searching for naughty asian schoolgirls and...well...you can imagine my suprise when I clicked a link and wound up at your blog.

The main reason it was a surprise is because I generally start here when doing searches of that nature.

Grant said...

tiff - the insurance they offer is so awful they probably included the option to drop it just to avoid lawsuits.

crys - it hasn't happened yet - I've just received a promise to write off my bill.

eotr - but we like the dark side. I agree - the whole hospital system is a mess.

sj - not since I refinanced my home and invested in super viagra.

pq - I'm working again and so not living off credit cards, but I'm going to have to pay my hospital bills with them. That plus the amount I already racked up while out of work will keep me in debt for at least a year. I don't really want another card, but it seems my choices are to either pay on the ones I have with interest, or get another one with a year interest-free.

joe - there should be enough whacking material on my blog so that you don't need to go anywhere else.

Monogram Queen said...

Um, not a fan of credit cards.

Hospital Bills are a PITA. We have to go in two weeks and get the summary of all we owe on Madison's dog bite adventure and get that paid. Good times.

Deb said...

Medical billing is frig'd up to begin with and in my opinion, it's ALL a business. (At least in our country.) Then we have a heart attack from seeing the duplicates, which leads to death which leads to funeral bills.

It. never. ends.

That's why the Japanese gals live so long!

Anonymous said...

Make copies of everything as you pay them.Then, when they claim non-payment, you have proof. They hate patients who do that.

Your bunny is cute. If I find her, I will make out with her, just to be sure she is worthy of your attention.If not, I may keep her longer to giv her a few lessons.

Thank me later.

Kira said...

I'm surprised at all these negative reactions about credit cards. I have three of them, and I never ever carry a debt. If you're RESPONSIBLE with them, they can be used perfectly in this sort of scenario. All you do is put the debt you can't pay on that credit card and pay it off within the year while it's still at 0% interest, then CANCEL THE CARD so it's not tempting to use for other purchases. 0% is better than the whatever percent interest on the other cards, so it may even be good to transfer debt to that card and CANCEL ANOTHER CARD.

I realize most Americans get into trouble with credit cards and keep charging until they hit the maximum allowed, but since I don't have that issue and always pay them off at the end of every month (and I managed that even when I made $19k a year AND had two kids to support off of that salary), I rather like the use of them. Just MAKE A PLAN and STICK TO IT so you don't end up with more debt in the long run.

Kerry said...

I think I see her muff in that pic!

Grant said...

mq - tell Madison to quit biting dogs.

~deb - since you are what you eat, I'm going on an all Japanese woman diet.

metalmom - be sure to post pictures of the bunny makeout session.

kira - but if you have a credit card you are supposed to carry debt or else the terrorists will have won.

kerry - then you're staring harder than me.