Where to begin…

The first year or two in Chicago we would always get an invoice from our dentist a month or two after a visit for the amount insurance wouldn't pay. We thought this was a little strange since back in Columbus we just paid our $25 co-pay and that was it. The invoices from the Chicago dentist were usually around $50 - $75 if I recall correctly.

When I had some preventative work done which cost more it finally surfaced that our dentist was out-of-network. Crap! That's why we kept getting the invoices.

So off to find another in-network dentist. Six months later Sheri made an appointment for us with a new dentist. We pay our co-pay, get a cleaning, and then the next day get a phone call from the dentist saying that they are not in the same program that we have. Same insurance company, but a different plan. We have to pay the full amount of the visit. Crap!

So six months later Sheri finds another dentist for us. The next day we get a phone call. Same deal. Pay the full amount. Crap!

At this point Sheri is extremely frustrated. The next dentist appointment will be covered with an in-network dentist.

Fast forward six months to tonight. I get to the dentist's office first and begin filling out the paperwork. The office manager calls me up to the desk and informs me that the insurance company says our insurance was terminated as of the first of the year!

I call the customer service number of the insurance company and they say that Sheri's company did not send them the renewal information for the new year.

I call Sheri and tell her what happened and to just go home when she gets to the train station rather than to the dentist's office.

She is pissed and gets on the cell phone with the insurance company and her company's benefits department. She ends up going to the dentist's office hoping she can salvage the appointment and work things out in time. Long story short, there were multiple emotional breakdowns because of frustration.

I'm not sure which side she heard this from, but we should have been on the list, and we will be on the list, but the list is only published once a month so we can not see a dentist until April 1 now! And it was their screw up.

So fortunately I still had some of my homemade onion soup from the weekend. I warmed that up for Sheri to try and sooth her. I then talked her into spending some time in the garage throwing some things out, rearranging, talking a few things to the basement. The reason? To make room for a couple of new bikes. Maybe we will go tomorrow night buy them. I don't know if they will have them ready to take home or not though. The activity seemed to help change her state of mind. We spent about 20 – 30 minutes out there (it looks good!) and then she came upstairs to take a bath (another one of her stress defenses). We are going to go back downstairs now to get a little more food in her and admire the additional garage work I did after she went upstairs.