New chapter in the appeal battle. I am relaxed for the first time.

Talked to the insurance coordinator today. Her advice: there is nothing more we can do for you. Uh, thanks. @RosyKate, your "sack of stupid" observation was ringing in my ears all day!

After work, I called Lindstom's office to talk. Of course, no guarantees, but the odds seem to be pretty strongly in my favor thanks to some provisions of the Affordable Care Act which has shifted patient rights back toward the patient. For the first time, I feel like I know the PLAN. It is not just random actions inside of some black box environment.

I am going to sleep like a baby tonight. Will keep yall updated on the battles ahead.

Wow, I am sorry she turned out to be so useless.

I don't have any experience with Lindstrom, but it's great that there is a plan in place. I too hate flailing around. What a damn shame the insurance coordinator wasn't more willing to fight.

Do you think you might go with a different surgeon now?

Thanks for the update.

No, the girl at Lindstrom, Kelly, was great. She reminded me that the surgeon and the office staff have drastically different jobs and the surgeon is good at what he does and the office people are (supposed to be) good at their jobs. I want to stick with this surgeon because of his Center of Excellence designation. Also, Kelly pointed out that the insurance coordinators aren't really supposed to FIGHT the insurance companies; their jobs focus on efficiently getting packets ready for submission, not fighting after the fact. Some do, but most aren't trained for it.

Onward and upward, right? It'll cost me some cash but I have a quarterly bonus coming in soon and it's for a good cause: me!

That's a good point she makes about the insurance coordinator. Maybe I should go be an insurance coordinator. LOL

And yes, that is an excellent use of your bonus!

So what is the next step with Lindstrom?

Get them all of my medical records. She also gave me some homework: get my official height and weight validated and recorded with my PCP since there was a discrepancy in my height in some of my charts. I also need to see if I have an official diagnosis anywhere of diabetes. They'll put together the next round of  dancing with UHC and submit.

She gave me percentages of successful appeals vs UHC and the odds are in my favor. I will go with that for now. :)

Great news!