June 25, 2008 Medical Bill Drama

So my life has been engulfed in making phone calls to everyone under the sun that has to do with our medical bills. Unfortunately our insurance has denied all of our medical bills, and the bill collectors are on my toes for their money. I have talked to so many different people begging them to resubmit the claims because we have insurance under Larry...and it is supposed to cover a portion of our bills. The helicopter transport has resubmitted two times now...and has been denied payment both times.

Larry has spoken to a lady at work about the problems, and she continues to reassure us that everything has been taken care of and that Kennedy does have insurance. She says for us to tell them to resubmit...but that has not worked. For the past two weeks, my patience has worn thin...and we were even sent to a collection agency for one of the bills! I was HOT when I found out that we were sent to a collection agency for the one because I never got any notices for that bill, and I have never been sent to a collection agency before in my life. I immediately paid that bill in full when I was at their office, and walked away a wreck.

Someone at Larry's work gave him a number of another lady that we could contact for help with figuring out what is going wrong with our insurance. I called her today and she was super nice on the phone with me. She told me what she needed from me, and I packed up the kids and headed straight for her office. She made copies of all the insurance claims, and said that she will start working on everything tomorrow. She knows what she is reading, and what all those codes mean...so I really think she is going to be a tremendous help.

I am boiling over with frustration and I am tired of crying about our finances. I am scared that we are not going to be able to pay our bills, and I am watching our credit cards get piled up with charges just to make ends meet. I tried to get SSI for Kennedy when she was born, but they told us that we didn't meet the financial criteria and that we were denied. Yesterday they told us that we still have to have an appointment with them next week to review our income and assets one more time before they close our case. I started to cry over the phone with the lady because of all the problems we are having with the bills. In order to qualify for SSI, you cannot own more than $5,000 in assets (not including your car or house). We own $5,400 in assets and it makes us ineligible for SSI to pay for Kennedy's medical bills. It is just so unfair how the system works sometimes.

Anyway, Kennedy has another appointment next week to check on her heart. I am very eager to see the results of the echo because I feel that everything is healed up, even though they told me that it cannot close up on its own and would need surgery when she is a year old. I know that she will not need surgery and that God is working more miracles with her.

Kaylee got her back handspring on the trampoline tonight at her gymnastics class. She got it on the cheese mat two weeks ago, but now she is doing them on her own on the trampoline. We were so excited to be there to watch her tonight. She is so cute running around that gym in her little outfit! This is her last class until August because she will be leaving for her grandparents house in Ohio next week. We are seeing if she can be put in a gymnastics class in Ohio for a few weeks while she is there so she does not lose what she has worked so hard for.

Kennedy is starting to smile a little bit, but still not like we want her to. She is right on target for the average baby her age, so we are very pleased that she is not too developmentally delayed. She is starting to grab for things when they are near her, and she opens her hands more than she used to. Kicking her legs is one of her favorite things to do, and she practices standing up a lot now on our laps. I just can't wait to get one of her big smiles with a belly laugh...it will be amazing.