I believe 90% of the time niceness wins over aggressiveness. I had a new hiccup this week. Apparently my surgery had been approved by insurance but the surgeon had not. I was told yesterday that my insurance company wanted me to go to a plastic surgeon who was in their network that suddenly knew how to perform the very complicated surgery I will be having. He has been practicing in the area for 5 years and this was the first anyone heard of him performing this particular surgery. He also must be around 70 years old because he has had his medical degree for 50 years. Perhaps he is a fine surgeon but he has never worked with Dr. Wonderful and they would be working together. I was not comfortable changing surgeons at this point. So, saving you a lot of the details I ended up calling the person assigned to my case from the insurance company. This was the first time I have needed to do this and here is how the conversation started.
Me - (in my most peppy and nice voice) - "Hi John! This is Kristin and Angela from Dr. So and so's office asked me to give you a call regarding what you spoke to her about yesterday"
John - (In a very monotone voice) "Member ID#"
Me - " Oh I'm sorry, I should have known that you must have a lot on your plate hold on while I get that for you"
John - silence
I continued to speak nicely to him - explaining how much I appreciated his time working on my case. You get the picture. In the end it all worked out - I was approved to have the surgery by the surgeon I wanted. I think most of the time people just want other people to be nice to them - even if they are having a bad day - even if they are having trouble being nice themselves.
3 comments:
That must have been really stressful for you. I hate dealing with insurance stuff but it sounds like you handled it just right. I'm really happy it all worked out for you. Having a surgeon you trust and respect can make all the difference at times like this. After four spine surgeries, I would have fought tooth and nail for each one to make sure I had my surgeon - He was like a second father to me after knowing him from the time I was 14. Thankfully, he was able to do all four and has recently retired. It will be hard to go to anyone else after my history with him. I've always said he was my hero, since he saved my life several times! And since he gave me job for three years out of college, he kept me from starving too. Doctors are truly angels at times and I'm so happy Dr. Wonderful is yours right now. Thinking of you and so happy you had a great visit with Sally, yet another angel. XO, Tracey
i am so thankful that has been taken care of! woo-hoo!
So happy it all worked out for you Kristin. Thinking of you!
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