The Double Standard (12/16/16)
If I were to call you up and tell you that you owed me $6,103.88 when in fact you didn’t owe me one red cent I would be guilty of fraud and subject to criminal prosecution for my behavior. I couldn’t just say, “I’m so Sorry. I made a clerical mistake. My bad.” The Average Joe doesn’t get a get out of jail free mulligan.
So I have a slight problem when a double standard exists. Over the course of ten months several departments in two insurance companies and one hospital couldn’t perform their most basic of functions. Like three little children they stood in a circle pointing at each other passing the blame around. “We aren’t the primary insurer so we aren’t going to process the claim.” “We didn’t receive the right piece of paperwork so we cant process the claim.” “Your insurance denied the claim.” The worse part was that these corporations were incapable of communicating with each other or with me.
The three little crybabies were crossing their arms and stomping their feet for ten months. The only person who wasn’t getting paid in this little hissy fit was the patient. It only took several dozen phone calls, but I thought I had finally resolved the problem until I got a phone call from a collection service. “Hello sir we are calling on behalf of Blah Blah in regards to an outstanding debt of $6,103.88.”
At this point I had enough. I was done being civil with these people, and I figured I’d let them know exactly how angry I really was. “Excuse me miss, but I don’t owe you that money. In fact by you calling me and demanding payment, that you are in fact not entitled to, you are committing fraud, and I would suggest you do your due diligence before you contact me again. You need to contact the hospital because they have all the pertinent paperwork. The fact that someone in the hospital’s accounting office couldn’t be bothered to do their job is not my problem. This bill should have never been sent to collections. The insurance payments should have been processed by the hospital and a new invoice for any remaining balance should have then been issued by the hospital. Do not contact me again on this matter or I’ll be seeking legal action.”
When you are confronted by incompetence and apathy it is your responsibility to stand your ground. You have to be willing to dig your feet in and say enough is enough. If you aren’t prepared to stand up and fight your own battles no one will fight them, and society will treat you like its doormat until you prove that you’re not.
