Insurance UGHHH - must vent

Ok Ok, I can handle this... I will stay calm. Hi everyone, it's me... scheduled for 5/25/07  (I HOPE!!!) Ok please allow me to vent: I know that awaiting insurance approval is anxiety provoking and nightmarish for everyone - and I know this wouldn't be quite so awful if my dr's office didn't schedule before they got approval... and I know that I am really not special just because I am a doc and taking time off from the hospital is like trying to arrange an inaugural ball... but I have got to get some support from my wonderful OH buds. Let me give you the deal: 5/8 I was scheduled for surgery and the faxed request for pre-approval was sent to my insurer (who shall remain nameless (for now... they haven't denied me *yet*) Ok - so 5/10 til present day I have been my insurer's best friend, calling daily for updates, On 5/10 I was told the request was in, they had 3 days to request more info, 2 days to decide. On 5/14 I was told a request was sent for more clinical info from my drs office. On 5/14 My dr's office confirmed this and said they faxed everything On 5/15 and 5/16 I was told the request was pending, with answer expected in 2 days On 5/17 I was (just) told that my approval was pending receipt of clinical information which they now say they never received.... I was also told that the original request on 5/8 was misrouted to the wrong office and did not get to where it belonged until 5/14... hmmm?? Is there an upside to this, well, yes, in fact there is:  I decided that there was a bit of an issue with accountability from the insurer and asked to speak with the supervisor... I think she may have been worth the wait (though I'll withhold judgement until I get my answer) I explained the entire situation to her (including how nerve-wracked I am trying to arrange the time off at work) and she seemed genuinely interested and concerned, and *vowed* to get to the bottom of it, locate my information, contact my doctors office, and get back to me.  I will update you with what I hear back from her and my doctors... Please tell me I'm not crazy.  Please tell me these errors and misplacing documents and miscommunications are common and that they don't mean that I won't get my approval...   Thanks, Kim

Thankyou for this, really.  As it turns out, it is my doctors office that is royally screwing up.  I spoke again with the supervisor at my insurer, who now says that the girl at the office is saying that "there is some discrepancy" with my chart, and the two surgeons in the office need to chat about it before they can send the clinical into my insurance...  WHAT?  what the heck does discrepancy mean?  Couldn't the office have called me to let me know of this delay?  and do you think I would be able to get a human on the phone at the office to explain what is going on to me?  Absolutely not.  I'm at wits end.  We have hired a physician contractor to cover for my time off, this is not easy stuff to arrange.  I'm just losing my mind.  Meanwhile, the supervisor at my insurance is actually quite nice, and even says that now that she is watching for it, we could probably get an answer within 24hours if the doctors office gets their you know what together.   At this point, I am just assuming that this will not happen next Friday, because I'm so fed up with getting my hopes up only to be disappointed. .. But thanks again for your post, it was very helpful, and obviously, accurate.

as usual paul shoots and scores :) Jus****ch, the doc who operates thinking you're approved and it was their mess up, will sue you.  Guaranteed.  I see it all the time.  Somewhere someone had you sign something saying you'll pay no matter what if insurance doesnt and your policy probably says an authorization is not a guarantee of payment. ugh