Anyone having gone through insurance approval for surgery before might know what an effin’ nightmare it can be.  This time was no different, but it was probably better for me than some others.  Here is a time line:

• 7/27 Surgeons office submitted the insurance packet.  In the past, the surgeons office usually hears back in less than a week from my type of insurance (Federal BCBS) One week would be 8/3.
• 7/28 Insurance acknowledges receipt of the insurance packet.  I know this because I’m OCD and I called to ensure that they received everything that they needed.
• 8/2 I call the insurance company to get an update.  Let’s face it, I’m over eager and I wanted to see if there was an answer yet.  I was told that they expected an answer no later than Thursday.
• 8/4…it’s Thursday, so I call the insurance company.  They say that there is a note in the file stating they spoke with person X in the surgeons office on Monday and that person was supposed to send a particular document.  They wouldn’t know anything until the received that document.  The issue with all of this is 1-No one by that name works in my doctors office and 2-No one has ever heard of this form.
• 8/5 I call the doctor’s office to speak with the insurance coordinator to find out what is going on.  She’s off on Fridays.  Shoot me in the foot NOW.
• 8/8 I am over in the hospital complex for a bunch of other pre-op appointments and decided to swing by the surgeons office and see what can be done to get things that are needed to insurance.  The insurance coordinator is shocked that I got that information from the insurance company on 8/4 because on the exact same day she received

VERBAL APPROVAL FOR MY SURGERY!!!!!

So it’s official, I am pre-op!  I wanted to kiss the insurance coordinator!  She said she was going to call the insurance company to find out what is going on, but that she knows that I am approved and am fine to go!  Wooooooo Hoooooooooooo.

All of this probably wouldn’t be so stressful if we weren’t also going through approval for a new house…and because the way we have things scheduled for the rest of the year.  It is all working out, and I couldn’t be happier!