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Got home from work yesterday. Had a bill from HUMC waiting for me, again for $5500. Bright side: it was dated May 9th, the same day Cigna had told me they were going to send the HUMC documents to the claims department and handle things, so I assume that the paper bill went out the door at HUMC billing before Cigna got hold of them.
There is no way in hell I am going to pay these people $5500 for this. None. Cigna had better take care of this like they said.
Fun note: according to the New York Times, Bayonne Medical Center in Bayonne, NJ has the highest billing rates in the United States, routinely billing for common hospital procedures at four times the national average, if not even more. They went bankrupt in 2007 and the investor group that bought them has since turned them profitable by means of billing at these insane rates.
It's the same goddamn investor group that owns Hoboken University Medical Center.
Bastards.
There is no way in hell I am going to pay these people $5500 for this. None. Cigna had better take care of this like they said.
Fun note: according to the New York Times, Bayonne Medical Center in Bayonne, NJ has the highest billing rates in the United States, routinely billing for common hospital procedures at four times the national average, if not even more. They went bankrupt in 2007 and the investor group that bought them has since turned them profitable by means of billing at these insane rates.
It's the same goddamn investor group that owns Hoboken University Medical Center.
Bastards.
Because other people have reported on it:
May. 20th, 2013 08:56 amHaven't seen Star Trek: Into Darkness. Don't want to. 85% because of the main villain casting decision, 15% because of JJ Abrams' interview in which he said he didn't like Star Trek as a kid because it was too philosophical. Mr. Abrams, if your head is six feet above sea level, then the point is somewhere in the vicinity of where Felix Baumgartner got out of his craft last year.
Saw Iron Man 3, though. Allow me to say: oh, well done, sirs.
That's about all for now, except to note that Primo Popcorn's Dah Haawaiian product is a truly lovely thing if you are a fan of spicy material.
Saw Iron Man 3, though. Allow me to say: oh, well done, sirs.
That's about all for now, except to note that Primo Popcorn's Dah Haawaiian product is a truly lovely thing if you are a fan of spicy material.
(no subject)
May. 17th, 2013 01:15 pmProooobably gonna regret this as I never seem to be able to get to all the prompts on a 'prompt me' meme, but...
1) Give me a pairing or character or combination from among the characters I stand a reasonable chance of knowing.
2) Give me an AU setting.
3) I will write you a three-sentence fic.
1) Give me a pairing or character or combination from among the characters I stand a reasonable chance of knowing.
2) Give me an AU setting.
3) I will write you a three-sentence fic.
(no subject)
May. 7th, 2013 09:28 amNote to self: next time you are reading Cleolinda's journal, keep in mind anything else you may be planning on doing for the evening. When you plan on cutting up the lovely piece of flank steak you bought the other day to make beef jerky, it might be best not to read her recap of the most recent episode of Hannibal.
(I still have strips of spiced salted beef drying in my fridge, you understand, I just had to work extra hard not to think about what I'd been reading a few minutes before. Years of preparing for a medical career I never went into have made it easier for me to switch gears from 'GOOD GOD THAT IS DISTURBING' to 'Oooh, food!' than perhaps it ought to be.)
(I still have strips of spiced salted beef drying in my fridge, you understand, I just had to work extra hard not to think about what I'd been reading a few minutes before. Years of preparing for a medical career I never went into have made it easier for me to switch gears from 'GOOD GOD THAT IS DISTURBING' to 'Oooh, food!' than perhaps it ought to be.)
(no subject)
Apr. 28th, 2013 05:15 pmWent to Best Buy the other day after my REI camping class. I was interested in looking at laptops, but they only had Windows 8 models; when the salesman asked what I disliked about Win 8, I told him that if I wanted AOL as of 1996 I'd build a time machine, that I didn't particularly like the 'oh, you don't need a start button' attitude when the start button was possibly the smartest thing Microsoft had ever put in Windows, that I didn't like the weirdness of having to shuffle from one interface to the other when I wasn't planning on buying a touchscreen, and that if they had a copy of Windows 7 on the shelf I'd buy a laptop and that and blow the hard drive away and install the older OS. He apologetically told me he understood and that they used to have Win 7 on the shelves, but that Microsoft recently 'cleaned them out'. I told him I'd wait and see how Service Pack 1 made Win 8 before buying anything and wished him a better day.
On the way home I took my sweatshirt off. I'd dressed in a base layer, a T-shirt, and a sweatshirt for the class, as well as a base layer and a pair of trousers from REI. The T-shirt got me a startled look and a call of "Hey, wrong city!" from a guy I passed on my bike.
I had to laugh. It was the t-shirt they gave me for my Climb to the Top fundraising, and it said I [insert graphical rendition of a flight of stairs here) NY. I'd've explained to him, but I was on a bike going one way and he was pushing a stroller the other way.
On the way home I took my sweatshirt off. I'd dressed in a base layer, a T-shirt, and a sweatshirt for the class, as well as a base layer and a pair of trousers from REI. The T-shirt got me a startled look and a call of "Hey, wrong city!" from a guy I passed on my bike.
I had to laugh. It was the t-shirt they gave me for my Climb to the Top fundraising, and it said I [insert graphical rendition of a flight of stairs here) NY. I'd've explained to him, but I was on a bike going one way and he was pushing a stroller the other way.
(no subject)
Apr. 28th, 2013 10:36 amToday is a gorgeous, sunny day of warm weather. Any window I look out has a fantastic view.
I have an appointment I have to deal with at one and some server stuff at work to deal with after that. I think I may just sack out inside until the one o'clock and then do the server stuff (it involves moving virtual machine to a new blade and making sure they come up normally and function properly, because we badly need them to run on better hardware, and the copy process takes an hour or more at a time) from home, because as lovely as it is, today I just don't feel like doing much of anything. Even biking, which I love.
Some days are like that. Especially when you realize, looking back at the year so far, that aside from a work-from-home day to take the cat to the vet, and the lock-down-the-office day of the Boston Marathon suspects manhunt, I haven't taken any days off yet this year. Holidays, weekends, yes, but those are on the schedule- I haven't taken any vacation days or sick days.
So- handle the appointment, start moving the servers around, do as close to nothing as possible. Grocery shopping can happen during the week, as can cleaning the house, etc.
I know there are only so many gorgeous days in a year and that one day there will be a last perfect day* and they shouldn't be wasted, but I really need to just say "Nope. I've handled the things that I absolutely had to and now that's it, thank you."
*Possibly the single most important thing Carl Sagan ever said when it came to affecting my world view. I watched Cosmos when I was six, and as much as everything else about it impressed me too, it was that line at the start of his description of the eventual stellar death of the Sun that hit me hardest: one day, there will be a last perfect day.
I have an appointment I have to deal with at one and some server stuff at work to deal with after that. I think I may just sack out inside until the one o'clock and then do the server stuff (it involves moving virtual machine to a new blade and making sure they come up normally and function properly, because we badly need them to run on better hardware, and the copy process takes an hour or more at a time) from home, because as lovely as it is, today I just don't feel like doing much of anything. Even biking, which I love.
Some days are like that. Especially when you realize, looking back at the year so far, that aside from a work-from-home day to take the cat to the vet, and the lock-down-the-office day of the Boston Marathon suspects manhunt, I haven't taken any days off yet this year. Holidays, weekends, yes, but those are on the schedule- I haven't taken any vacation days or sick days.
So- handle the appointment, start moving the servers around, do as close to nothing as possible. Grocery shopping can happen during the week, as can cleaning the house, etc.
I know there are only so many gorgeous days in a year and that one day there will be a last perfect day* and they shouldn't be wasted, but I really need to just say "Nope. I've handled the things that I absolutely had to and now that's it, thank you."
*Possibly the single most important thing Carl Sagan ever said when it came to affecting my world view. I watched Cosmos when I was six, and as much as everything else about it impressed me too, it was that line at the start of his description of the eventual stellar death of the Sun that hit me hardest: one day, there will be a last perfect day.
(no subject)
Apr. 22nd, 2013 10:33 amOn the case of Hoboken University Medical Center Wants Six Thousand Dollars For Bandaging Up My Hand:
Phoned Cigna. Told Cigna what was going on. Gave Cigna the number for the people at HUMC. Cigna called them. Cigna then contacted me back and said that HUMC was putting the account on hold for 15 days while the claim was resubmitted and that the next statement I got should show exactly the amount I'm actually responsible for, which is the $150 co-payment.
Health insurance company: Reasonable
Medical providers: Still crazy
Me: In serious need of Tylenol
Phoned Cigna. Told Cigna what was going on. Gave Cigna the number for the people at HUMC. Cigna called them. Cigna then contacted me back and said that HUMC was putting the account on hold for 15 days while the claim was resubmitted and that the next statement I got should show exactly the amount I'm actually responsible for, which is the $150 co-payment.
Health insurance company: Reasonable
Medical providers: Still crazy
Me: In serious need of Tylenol
So I was thinking-
Apr. 22nd, 2013 08:52 amI've been replaying Bioshock Infinite the past few nights, now that I have a better clue about which weapons I really need for what, how to handle Vigors, how to use the Infusions and Gear to amp myself up, etc. I've slugged my way through a good portion of the game and last night I shut the system off after landing on the Finkton docks. I'd been thinking a bit about Columbia and its society and how long the Prophet's cult must have been in operation prior to 1893 and what that must have meant for the younger people in town, etc., etc., and then something occurred to me:
Where does Columbia keep its farms?
( Game's been out long enough that I think I can get away with in-game history spoilers, but best to be courteous and put them behind a cut. )
Where does Columbia keep its farms?
( Game's been out long enough that I think I can get away with in-game history spoilers, but best to be courteous and put them behind a cut. )
(no subject)
Apr. 21st, 2013 09:29 amNormally I sleep as late as I can on Sundays, but this morning I got myself up at a reasonable hour, thinking I'd go outside for some good biking time. I'm still going to do that, but I've run into a small delay: I have a cat asleep on my lap. This happens quite a lot, and it's still wonderful every time.
For a former street cat who had to stay at the shelter for nine months, long after her littermates were adopted, because she was so scared of humans- for a kitten who didn't want to come out of the closet and eat for nearly a week and who had to be pushed out from a hideyhole behind the stove with a broom- Kamella sure has come an awfully long way.
For a former street cat who had to stay at the shelter for nine months, long after her littermates were adopted, because she was so scared of humans- for a kitten who didn't want to come out of the closet and eat for nearly a week and who had to be pushed out from a hideyhole behind the stove with a broom- Kamella sure has come an awfully long way.
(no subject)
Apr. 20th, 2013 12:57 pmOkay, week's over far as I'm concerned. Going into Boston today to spend some time looking at the fishies at the Aquarium. Maybe get poutine for dinner because the only good poutine I've encountered south of Canada is here in town.
Up yours, week. Up yours.
Up yours, week. Up yours.
(no subject)
Apr. 18th, 2013 07:42 pmDear Hoboken University Medical Center:
Go to hell.
No, I"m really not kidding. Go to hell.
I came to your emergency room in a desperate state last October because I had inadvertently cut the tips of two of my fingers off in the kitchen. 1/16" depth, no more than that. You made me wait in the emergency room waiting area for twenty minutes, then sent me to one of the ER bays to wait for ten more, and then cleaned out my hand and put on some antiseptics and some dressing. You gave me some tetanus shots and a prescription, and you bandaged up my hand, and you sent me on my way.
And now you're trying to tell me that this all cost more than six thousand dollars, and that my insurance company of the time, Cigna, refused to pay more than $600 of it, and now you want me to give you $5500. For washing it out and bandaging it up and a couple of injections- and the injections are separate line items on the bill, $220 for one and $150 for the other. You want me to pay $5500 for waiting in the ER and being poked at.
This is why you went out of network in the first place. When the HEALTH INSURANCE COMPANY, one of the most hated categories of company in the United States, thinks you are not worth doing business with, you REALLY need to re-evaluate your life and your choices.
I'm calling Cigna and Viant tomorrow, because they warned me back in DECEMBER that you might pull this stunt. Actually, I called Cigna today and all I got was their voice system and IT said that 'the claim was paid' so I don't know what you people want from me. Tomorrow I'm calling them and talking to a human, and I'm calling your humans and telling you that no, you are not getting that much money out of me for this. You're charging me 2/3 the cost of a normal vaginal delivery for bandaging up my hand.
I don't know who you think I am or who you think you are but one of us is insane here, and it's not me.
Go to hell. At least your billing department should.
Go to hell.
No, I"m really not kidding. Go to hell.
I came to your emergency room in a desperate state last October because I had inadvertently cut the tips of two of my fingers off in the kitchen. 1/16" depth, no more than that. You made me wait in the emergency room waiting area for twenty minutes, then sent me to one of the ER bays to wait for ten more, and then cleaned out my hand and put on some antiseptics and some dressing. You gave me some tetanus shots and a prescription, and you bandaged up my hand, and you sent me on my way.
And now you're trying to tell me that this all cost more than six thousand dollars, and that my insurance company of the time, Cigna, refused to pay more than $600 of it, and now you want me to give you $5500. For washing it out and bandaging it up and a couple of injections- and the injections are separate line items on the bill, $220 for one and $150 for the other. You want me to pay $5500 for waiting in the ER and being poked at.
This is why you went out of network in the first place. When the HEALTH INSURANCE COMPANY, one of the most hated categories of company in the United States, thinks you are not worth doing business with, you REALLY need to re-evaluate your life and your choices.
I'm calling Cigna and Viant tomorrow, because they warned me back in DECEMBER that you might pull this stunt. Actually, I called Cigna today and all I got was their voice system and IT said that 'the claim was paid' so I don't know what you people want from me. Tomorrow I'm calling them and talking to a human, and I'm calling your humans and telling you that no, you are not getting that much money out of me for this. You're charging me 2/3 the cost of a normal vaginal delivery for bandaging up my hand.
I don't know who you think I am or who you think you are but one of us is insane here, and it's not me.
Go to hell. At least your billing department should.
A Frenchman with late-stage cancer has saved the life of an ambulance driver who had a heart attack whilst driving him to hospital, doctors say.
My favorite part: reportedly when the ambulance driver started having symptoms, the cancer patient told him, "Give me the keys, trust me! My life is not in danger, but yours is!"
Well done, monsieur.
My favorite part: reportedly when the ambulance driver started having symptoms, the cancer patient told him, "Give me the keys, trust me! My life is not in danger, but yours is!"
Well done, monsieur.
(no subject)
Apr. 17th, 2013 08:51 pmSo today I got some pedigreed slime.
Nope, not exaggerating. King Arthur Flour Company sells live sourdough starter. I'd love to catch my own by setting out a bowl of water and flour, but my cats jump from floor to counter to shelf to high shelf to the space between the cabinets and the ceiling like they think they're squirrels, plus at least one of them likes to play 'does gravity work?' by knocking things over. It's safer for me to buy starter from somewhere, and while lots of companies sell powdered, dry samples of starter that you resuscitate on arrival, King Arthur ships their starter live in small plastic containers with instructions on how to feed it within twenty-four hours to get it going again as soon as possible. The stock they use is a blob of flour and water and wild yeast and symbiotic microorganisms that has descended from previous blobs of a similar nature through a line of blobs of goo that reaches back to New England in the 1700s. The instructions say the original starter of this lineage began its life over 250 years ago.
Damn thing's older than my country.
Nope, not exaggerating. King Arthur Flour Company sells live sourdough starter. I'd love to catch my own by setting out a bowl of water and flour, but my cats jump from floor to counter to shelf to high shelf to the space between the cabinets and the ceiling like they think they're squirrels, plus at least one of them likes to play 'does gravity work?' by knocking things over. It's safer for me to buy starter from somewhere, and while lots of companies sell powdered, dry samples of starter that you resuscitate on arrival, King Arthur ships their starter live in small plastic containers with instructions on how to feed it within twenty-four hours to get it going again as soon as possible. The stock they use is a blob of flour and water and wild yeast and symbiotic microorganisms that has descended from previous blobs of a similar nature through a line of blobs of goo that reaches back to New England in the 1700s. The instructions say the original starter of this lineage began its life over 250 years ago.
Damn thing's older than my country.
