Last Updated on: 19th September 2013, 09:41 am
Well, it looks like my travel insurance saga is over. After the clinic sent me notice after notice demanding to be paid, and finally threatened me with a collection agency, I called the travel insurance folk. They told me that they had been sending the clinic in San Rafael letters, but they hadn’t gotten a response. So I got on the horn to the clinic, was put on hold, and left several messages. Something I said must have rung a bell in someone’s head, because the notices stopped coming.
A few weeks later, I called the insurance people again. To my surprise, they told me everything was settled! Apparently, at the end of August, the people in San Rafael sent them the info they needed, and they paied the bill. It would have been nice to receive a letter from either the insurance people or the clinic. It would have been especially nice if the insurance people would have thought to let me know, since we’d been having trouble paying this baby off for about four months. A little communication would have been just dandy. But oh well. At least it is settled. I wasn’t sure if I could believe them because they have trouble getting their story straight. I’ve been told that they’re trying to work out a discount, they’re waiting for info, that they’ve received nothing, and now things are settled.
It’s been about a month and a half since I’ve gotten an angry letter, so I guess I’m in the clear. But I’ve learned a few things about travel insurance and American health care.
- Facilities can refuse to take travel insurance!
- Getting the bill paid is a painfully slow process.
- Even if you just end up leaving messages, it must help somehow to get your problem straightened out, so don’t feel like leaving messages is getting you nowhere.
- Companies are really good at communicating when they want something, but they suck at it when it’s time to let you know things are all good.
Ug. Hopefully I don’t have to deal with travel insurance for a long, long time. At least this story had a happy ending.
