Light at the end of the muddle. . .

I cannot believe I have spent the major portion of this hot, sunny day "holed up" at my desk doing paperwork and on "hold" on the phone. But it has been a pleasure to look out the window and see the Hobbit Hole with its door wide open, airing out.

It's a relief, too, to be able to check off some of the tasks on my list that I've been deliberately avoiding.

One avoidance has been in trying to resolve the discrepancies between two health insurance companies in a way that satisfies health care providers. For over a year now, and more often than I care to remember, I have been absolutely, positively assured by a person on the other end of the line that the rule is definitely 'such and such.' Relieved, I would then call the other party back -- first, pressing 1 for English; then, listening to options 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 (none of which apply to me); after that, waiting for someone, somewhere to be through 'assisting other customers' (praying all the while that I would remember why I had called in the first place.) At last! Not only a real person but one with a name, would indicate it was my turn to speak and I would make my opening statement, knowing full well it would be all up hill from there because then, what I refer to as the "T T T" language (technical terminology talk) would begin and leave me thinking, "I must be an idiot; I have no idea what this person is talking about, nor am I interested in learning. We are not even carrying on the same conversation." Finally, without fail, the recognizable gist would be something totally contrary to what I had previously been told, emphatically.

I am amused by an analogy that came to mind as I was reading one of today's devotions about Adam, Eve and the snake and how each tried to blame the other. Trouble is, I'm not sure to which party I will assign "snake." The devotion mentioned that the snake probably blamed God and I'm not sure where that fits, either. I'll have to give it some more thought.

Once, Realperson Withaname delighted me with an answer I'd been longing to hear. He said, "Mrs. Ray, you shouldn't be expected to deal with this. This is an issue between your healthcare providers and your insurance companies." Honestly, I was so glad to hear those words that I wanted to hug the guy! So the next time I was asked to present insurance cards and to distinguish primary and secondary, I repeated exactly what "Nice Guy" had said. The receptionist frowned, shrugged and said, "Well...okay." But I could tell she was wondering what woodwork I had just crawled out of. I didn't care, though, because I knew my stress over the issue was a thing of the past. Not for long, though! Boy, did that ever backfire!! It wasn't long before the web became even more tangled. By now, there were payments being made that shouldn't have been. There were refusals to make payments until the other did. There was even a time when each insurer claimed to be primary. I thought, "Now, this is a switch. One would think it would be the other way around." Sometimes, I was told by an insurer that they needed to communicate with the health care provider, not with me. Other times, the health care provider would tell me the insurer could not communicate with them; they could only talk to me. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah...

Taking advantage of a sudden surge of assertiveness, today I talked to them all! By the grace of God, I think I see light at the end of this muddle. We'll see......