[GoLytely]

Well, I was looking forward to a restful evening. I was tired and was going to read a few pages out of my new true crime book before I retired. Husband (dear old husband) came in at 10:30pm and said, oh, by the way, here's the mail. One was from a radiology office. Now when it had been suggested I have an MRI I was told that while my insurance wasn't very good (Humana PPO) it did cover procedures ordered by my doctors. Well, it was a bright cheery $423 bill, (please detach here and pay promptly, and be sure our address is visible through the window on the envelope).
Well, needless to say, there went any chance of a restful evening after that. Then, I wondered about the sleep study I was sent to have earlier in the week. If they didn't pay for that, surely it wasn't more than a few hundred dollars...HAHAHA!!! I looked up cost of a sleep study...upwards of around $3600!!!
After I peeled myself off the ceiling I became rather angry and upset that the cost of this hadn't been discussed with me beforehand. After all, I had been asked to bring a copy of my insurance card to both procedures and nothing about insurance not paying had ever been mentioned. I was in a panic by then, and went through the house frantically looking for my Humana benefits book but I couldn't find it. So I went to Humana's website, nothing of any help on there. Just about how if your old you can be assured of getting the best benefits of any insurance.

Is anyone familiar with Humana? Please wake me from this nightmare and tell me it isn't so.

[Angie O'Plasty, RN]

Your best bet is to get a recent copy of the benefits book from HR and tackle it then.

If it turns out that you have to pay, remember, there is no debtor's prison in the US. You can get a payment schedule (even if it's only $20/month) that can suit your needs.

I'm in the same leaky boat because I live in Florida. Our health insurance coverage is eroding daily, our dental plan is a joke, and most of us have a state-run insurance company for flood and homeowners. I pay thousands of dollars a year to these money-grubbing companies, only to hear the rules change when I have a need.

Sorry about the rant. Off the soapbox now. Just watched "When the Levees Broke" by Spike Lee, and I'm still ticked off about what happened to those poor people.