Healthcare Nightmares

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I’m so tired of slogging through the vagaries of insurance for basic healthcare needs

I left you wondering what my 2018 medical crisis had to do with 2024. Before I get to that, I’ll tell you a little about my road to recovery. The fighting for healthcare wasn’t over, even after I left the hospital. But, I was getting progressively better and began to be hopeful of a full recovery.

Selfies of the author post 2018 medical crisis

However… To begin, the insurance did not cover everything in the hospital. There were several providers — specialists — who saw me in the ER who were “out of network.” That’s a convoluted way for insurance companies to refuse to cover even emergency care given when I genuinely almost died.

Remember that pulmonary embolism (PE) I told you about in my previous memoir essay? A PE is a life-ending event all too often. In fact, when Gray told his EMS coworkers that his mom had a PE in 2018, their reactions were to offer condolences.

Fortunately, for us, the hospital, WakeMed, absorbed almost all of those extra costs. We had charges outside of hospital billing, however. One of those costs was the hematologist, then part of Waverly Hematology and Oncology. Because I would require more infusions over the next several months, Waverly went to battle…