Rich Z (WebSlave)

Originally Posted by bcr229

A worker at the Amazon ship center put your package into the UPS trailer, hence the "shipped" status. UPS will pick those trailers up and move them; their big trucks do run on Sundays and holidays even though they don't do deliveries and their ship centers aren't open.

Well, tracking info on the UPS site is still showing "The delivery date will be provided as soon as possible."

I feel like the entire world has turned against me to try to drive me insane.

It is probably working, but I am already too insane to recognize it. How would you know?

Well, sheesh. The package showed up today, after all.

I guess I am just on the razor thin edge lately. When I am tasked with doing something for Connie, it is the most important thing in the universe to me.

Haven't even looked at the generator problem yet. Besides the fact I just don't want to deal with yet something else on my plate, the weather station says if "feels like" it is 112.6 degrees out right now. I was just out there, and I agree. But I should put the station in the garage and see what it thinks about being in there. Coming outside is like coming out of an oven. Yeah, I have a small portable AC in there, but it is nowhere near being up to the task. If I needed to be in there during the hot part of the day during the hot part of the year, I would see about a better cooling solution. But if I need to work in there, midnight to 3am will have to do. Wish I could work on the generator during that time period, but I would have to have so many lighting systems out there, I would be tripping over wires and break my fool neck.

Besides, what does it matter? If a hurricane shows up on the radar, we would just bail out of here anyway. Presuming that Connie would be up to the trip, of course. If not, well, I can't even think about crossing that sort of bridge right now.

I was in a pretty foul mood today for some reason. Just woke up not feeling like I wanted to reenter the world at all. Probably just stress eating away at me.

I decided to at least do a little something outside, so I pulled off the side panel on the generator and sprayed the spark plugs with "Break Free" for when I want to pull them out. LAST thing I would need is for a rust frozen spark plug to snap off in the engine head! I also checked the oil level, as I know the engine has a low oil shutoff switch in it. Which meant taking off the other side panel. Oil was good, though. I did a visual scan of the wiring, looking for rodent chews, but I have made it pretty rodent proof, and there were no signs of rodents anywhere. Just for chuckles, I tried to start it again, but no go. On a hunch, I tried starting it again, and watched the throttle rod that controls the amount of propane fueling the engine. Hmm, not moving at all. So while hitting the start button, I reached around and moved the rod manually. Started right up.

Long story short, I lubed up the rod linkage, hoping it isn't getting bound up in the fuel control electronic module that actually controls that rod. So far seems to be starting up fine. Still popping sometimes upon start up, so I am planning to replace the ignition system anyway. I found that the popping had popped the air cleaner off of the carburetor, so I have to keep an eye on that. Might as well replace that air filter anyway, while I am at it.

So at least one good thing happened today. Rest of the day? Well, BLAH....

Got another statement from my health insurance carrier today. Not a bill, just showing me what doctors have sent to the as billings and what they paid and what I am supposed to pay.

Interestingly enough, there are several doctors that I don't have a clue about who they are or what they are charging for. One of them is charging $1,160.00 for something called "Observation services, doctor". So who the heck was that?

Another, "Services on discharge day", charging $453.00. I supposedly owe $40 for that. When I got discharged, I just picked up my things, tidied up the room, and walked out with Connie and our friend Rickey.

ONEBLOOD, INC wants $85.00 for "Blood bank physician consult". Eh?

Another doctor wants $214.00 for "New doctor office visit", of which I am supposed to pay $40.00. That was on 07-20-2022. I didn't go to ANY doctor's office that day, as I was discharged from the hospital and went straight home.

Same day (07-20-2022) another doctor is making a claim for "New doctor visit, 45+ minutes". This one wants $289.00, of which I supposedly owe $40.00. Again, I never went to ANY doctor's office that day.

Now I did get a bill from some urologist. I do remember someone coming by my hospital room asking how I was doing. I told them I pissed blood right after the surgery, but by 10 or 10:30 that night, everything was fine. Maybe that is one of the doctor's mentioned above? Well, I certainly did not ask to see a urologist. I did get a bill from a urologist, but I can't see any reason to pay it. I didn't ask for any such services, and certainly did not invite anyone to come to my hospital room.

So how does this work? If you go into a hospital, any Joe Blow doctor can walk by your room (maybe not even bother going in) and then can send your health insurance a bill for that? I do remember one guy coming in, sat down in the chair, asked how I was doing. Made a couple of notes, then stood up and said to let the nurses know if I needed anything, and left. I don't know if that is the one who charged $1,000 for observation, or the other guy who said I was in his office for over 45 minutes.

Maybe I need to contact Capital Health Plan and ask them about this. Seems like some of these doctors have quite a racket going on. The Mafia doesn't have anything better! Oh, they do have a phone number I can call if I see anything that might be considered as "dishonest billing". Wonder what sort of hornet's nest I will kick up by doing that? I guess as long as they don't try to shake me down for money, then heck, why give myself another headache?

Anyway, year to date billings to my health insurance now stands at $165,096.38. DON'T have a heart attack if you don't have health insurance! If I actually got a bill for that amount, my heart would have exploded right then and there.

What a load of horse !

That happened to me when I was in for my spinal fusions. In my woozy, post-anesthetic state, people kept wandering in, asking silly questions, and billing our insurance for hundreds of dollars. I disputed most of them, and didn't have to pay. Apparently, you need to keep a list of in-network providers with you at all times.

Also, they kept pushing for tests that I didn't think I needed. Don't know if this happened to you. I had a slight fever after surgery, and they wanted to do blood cultures. Post surgical, low-grade fevers aren't uncommon, but they were acting like I had somehow gotten staphylococcus in my bloodstream. My fever went down on its own, within about 12 hours. What a money grab! 😡

Well, I am sure that partially explains why health insurance is so darn expensive.

Originally Posted by WebSlave

Anyway, year to date billings to my health insurance now stands at $165,096.38. DON'T have a heart attack if you don't have health insurance! If I actually got a bill for that amount, my heart would have exploded right then and there.

Connie got her health insurance statement in too. The amount providers have billed her plan is $338,712.02. So DON'T get cancer if you don't have health insurance, neither. And really, really, REALLY hope not to have both medical issues show up at the same time in one family.

Made a BIG mistake tonight. Been reading up on Stage IV ovarian cancer, the chemo regimens recommended, and the overall likely survival rate of the patients. I thought that stuff would be easier to take now, since some time has passed since Connie's original diagnosis, but nope. Still just as tough to take. I wonder if there are any sort of parental guidance controls I could engage on my browser to block such sites from my reading them again?

Well after reading that stuff, somehow I wound up on a webpage related to a new term to me: Widowhood Effect

Also containing some pretty disturbing information:

With the widowhood effect, older adults grieving a spouse’s death have an increased mortality risk compared to those whose spouses are living. This effect has even been documented by researchers. A 2013 study that appeared in the Journal of Public Health showed that people had a 66% higher risk of dying within the first 90 days of losing their spouse. This discovery held true for both men and women.

A previous study from 2008 drew a similar conclusion, finding that surviving spouses had up to a 90% chance of dying within the first three months following the death of their spouse.

I hope both of you have long happy years together left to you.

As far as your billing, remember the changes for my son's recent hospital stay. After his stay in the ICU I'm sure the bill itself must have been massive. It ended up at about two thousand bucks as the cost to him and friends chipped in on that, plus the hospital arranged the paperwork so he now has free health insurance.

I hope the final bill to you is a similar positive experience.

Thank you.

Connie has already reached her limit of out of pocket expenses for her insurance, so except for Schedule D drugs, everything else should be paid for by the insurance company. I think, anyway. Figuring out such stuff can be complicated. Until January 1, of course, then is starts all over again. I am only about a third way through my out of pocket payout cap. But I don't expect much more, if any more medical expenses (knock on wood) for myself.

Honestly, I was VERY concerned that the oncology center would come after us for the amount not paid for by our insurance. But I read last night that contractually, they are not allowed to do that. We are only obligated to pay what the insurance company states is our copay amount, and nothing more. At least that is the way I read it.

Section 1.3 Our plan does not allow providers to “balance bill” you

As a member of Capital Health Plan Advantage Plus, an important protection for you is that you only have to pay your cost-sharing amount when you get services covered by our plan. We do not allow providers to add additional separate charges, called “balance billing.” This protection (that you never pay more than your cost-sharing amount) applies even if we pay the provider less than the provider charges for a service and even if there is a dispute and we don’t pay certain provider charges.