This past year brought forth a rollercoaster of emotions for me. I celebrated a few joyous occasions, like planning my retirement in 2026, while lamenting some personal losses, such as losing dear friends to illness. I shed a lot of tears, both in gratitude and sadness, and learned to be courageous when fighting for myself. I also practiced more patience; discerning and differentiating what I have control over. Mostly, I learned that I have little control over anyone but myself. Still, I found a tiny window of control over an insurance dispute. That brought me much joy!
In addition to losing a close friend earlier this year to an undisclosed illness after a short hospital stay, I found out that another friend was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). Then last week, I heard that my best friend from high school was placed in hospice, following deterioration from dementia. I cried over all three friends. I questioned why bad things happen to good people. In striving to understand God and the Universe, I have become more spiritual and forgiving yet still confused and angry. This is life. And this is our ultimate outcome: death. No one is promised anything and nothing is fair. Often, I wonder how I survived reckless behavior back in the day when others didn’t. Did I have a guardian angel sitting on my shoulder? And, if I did, why? Where were my three friends’ guardian angles? Why is God/Universe causing them to suffer before they die?
Is it Worth the Fight?
In my June Blog, I wrote about a horrible experience at my “new” dental office. Though compared to what my friends are going through, it seems irrelevant to me now. But in keeping with the theme of being courageous and controlling what I can, I think it’s worth mentioning. To recap, the new dentist purposefully omitted cleaning my teeth (the reason for the visit), yet told the insurance company he did just that. I was then forced to go back to my former dentist (who doesn’t take my insurance) to finally get my teeth cleaned. For the past six months, I have been involved in an ongoing fight with my insurance company over being reimbursed for out-of-pocket expenses for the cleaning. And for the past five months, I have been appealing the insurance company’s decision to not reimburse me—with each appeal going higher up the chain of command. Additionally, I have been TRYING to get Delta Dental to see what a sham business this dental office is! A decision on my final appeal was set to be determined by this month, and I didn’t hold out much hope for a favorable verdict.
Last Wednesday, at 7:26 a.m., while sipping my morning coffee, my phone rang and my first thought was, “Who the heck is calling me this early?” Seeing it was from my contact at the insurance company, I quickly answered it. Honestly, up to that moment, with all that had been going on in my life, I’d forgotten about the appeal. After we exchanged pleasantries, the representative said, “I have great news for you! I think I will make your day.”
It’s a good thing I was already sitting down as I was not expecting any good news from an insurance company. EVER!
Never Give Up – Expect a Miracle
“First of all,” she began, “I want to address the reimbursement of one-hundred-forty-five dollars for the cleaning. Unfortunately, Delta Dental will not reimburse you as [your former dentist] is out of the network.”
She must have sensed my disappointment by my sighing, because she immediately followed up with, “But the good news is, during our investigation of the [dental group], we discovered you were overcharged by nine-hundred-thirty dollars. Delta Dental will refund that amount to you.”
$930.00. Let that sink in for a moment. I was overcharged by that outrageous amount for just ONE crown.
Yes, that’s a lot of money, especially this time of year. But the BIG WIN is Delta Dental ultimately taking my concern seriously and investigating the dental practice. That was worth six months of fighting and appealing. Although the rep couldn’t see me, she could imagine the big smile she brought to my face. All I ever wanted was for Delta Dental to acknowledge that they were dealing with a bad apple in their network who was upselling and scamming patients into dental work they likely didn’t need. I never imagined they’d go this deep in their investigation, but I am thankful they did. And my faith in institutions has (somewhat) been restored. I didn’t give up; I was determined to fight to the end.
I’m continuing to pray for my two friends whose prognoses seem dire. Still, they may experience miracles of their own. No matter how small.
Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah and Happy New Year everyone!