Yesterday Rob managed to contact the physician and the insurance company. THIS time he was told that, yes, of course the physician’s office will contact the insurance company (as if they hadn’t told him that he needed to do that) but they need a copy of the worker’s comp rejection letter first. Okay… Sure would have been nice to know that earlier. So Rob faxes that over and calls back to make the appointment.

Now the lady says that he can’t schedule the appointment until he’s had a complete physical, which he needs to schedule at least two weeks prior to the surgery.

My reaction was a resounding WTF?³³

I mean, he could totally have had the physical anytime in the past couple of months if they’d just said that was a prerequisite. So Rob is calling around today, trying to find a primary care physician — because we don’t have one — so that he can get the physical before we leave for the holidays. And then AFTER he has the physical he can call back to schedule the appointment.

Mind you, this is for surgery that the physician wanted Rob to have right away in October

Both of us are so frustrated because of how many hoops we have to jump through just to get on the schedule. Since we’re both free-lancers we usually just pay out of pocket; write the check and you’re done. As Rob says, “It takes nine people just to make an appointment, no wonder insurance is so expensive.”3

1. WTF, but not in acronym form.333

3