Insurance Companies Are More Dangerous

I was healing quickly and back at the office within a week. All along I had assumed I only had to focus on getting better, not the money for my treatment. I called Blue Cross to confirm my assumption. My conversation went something like:

me: "Will my dental work be covered"

them: "Yes, under your dental plan"

me: "But my dental plan has a $1000 max"

them: "Yes, that's where it's covered"

me: "But it's $10,000 worth of dental work"

them: "It's covered under your dental plan"

me: "No it's not, you're only give me $1k on $10k worth of work"

them: "That's due to your plan"

Turns out, no dental plan in the country offers more than $2000 per year, so, there was no way my dental reconstruction was going to be covered under ANY dental plan. So, I call back.

me: "My accident should be covered under my medical insurance"

them: "No, it's dental"

lots of arguing back and forth.

me: "Do you think I need my teeth medically?"

them: "They are dental"

me: "What if I didn't have dental insurance at all? What if I only had medical?"

them: "But you do have dental"

me: "Do you think my teeth are medically necessary?"

them: "..."

me: "I need them for eating, breathing, talking, quality of life, right?"

them: "Yes"

me: "So they are medically necessary?"

them: "Yes, and they are covered under your dental plan"

Ahhhhhh! So, I wrote up a grievance and talked to my dentist about how to go about getting medical coverage. He said, "good luck." He was totally not interested in helping me fight the insurance company. Damn.

I realized then that I was in for a fight, and that I needed as much information as possible. The good thing was, I had plenty of time to start my research. With a broken jaw, i couldn't even start to get my teeth fixed.

So, my research started...