Assault Via The Postal Service

In the mail over the weekend...

...A request from the Middleboro Public Schools to evaluate Katherine for Special Education Sevices (in addition to her already planned speech evaluation). I didn't even know that this was going to happen and to tell you the truth, I am a little upst by it...not with the actual test itself or the possiblity that she may qualify, but with the fact that this is how I find out the teacher thinks there's a need for this. I feel like I should have known this long before now (that there was a concern). The only thing I can think of is that maybe when there is a possibility of a speech and language delay, they automatically do an educational evaluation too?

...A bill from Health South, for Julia's Physical Therapy Services that ended in August, saying that we owe $200 for a service that was supposed to be covered at 100%. Turns out we were lucky they paid any of it, as the rep that answered told me that PT services are not covered for a child under the age of 3 because they need to be getting it via Early Intervention. I promptly shut my mouth and hung up the phone. Still, the $200 pissed me off, and the incompetent rep who answered the phone when I called way back when she started services that told me it was covered at 100 % annoys me. Good customer service means knowing your "stuff."

And here, folks, is the kicker.

...A bill, from the Children's Evaluation Center saying that the insurance company rejected the claim and that the balance, in full was now due...all $2900 of it. After my heart momentarily stopped, I called and figured out that because of the diagnosis (EFD and ADHD) the claim should have been submitted to Value Options, the company that handles the "mental health" portion of our insurance. Fine and dandy but the CEC only bills Blue Cross, so now I have to print out some form and send the bill directly to VO, which they will pay at 75%. When this was all started, I thought we would be paying $580 (because BCBS pays 80%) but now it will be $725. That's not a big difference but annoying just the same. Inncidently, I also have a gripe with the fact that, particularly in Emily's case, where she has a known abnormality in the frontal lobes of her brain, the area in which EFD and ADHD tasks are organized and executed, where she has an actual medical condition causing these concerns, EFD and ADHD are considered "mental health" issues. This is really another post entirely, one that I may tackle at some point when I have my thoughts on the matter organized.

Anyway, the moral of the story?

Sometimes, it's better to not bother getting the mail.