Insurance Antics

Don't worry, this isn't about my current insurance or anything that would interfere with my appointment on the 20th (22 more days!).

I was looking up something on the RESOLVE.org website, and I saw something about states that require infertility coverage of some sort by law.  I stopped in my tracks when I saw that Maryland was on there!!  I went to the page that explained further, and I saw that, since 2000, Maryland has required insurance providers that cover pregnancy-related healthcare to also cover the cost of 3 IVFs per live birth (max lifetime benefit $100K).  Now, this has no direct effect on us since there is no requirement to cover the diagnostic testing that we were having trouble paying for.  However, I do find it extremely interesting since DH's insurance from United had very specifically said that it did not cover ANYTHING related to infertility.  Not that it didn't cover anything until IVF, but that it did not cover anything at all.  Again, UMR, how I loathe thee.

A Sense of Purpose

I was reading another blog post today, and it made me think about mine.  Amazing how this whole blogging community thing works, isn't it?  :-p  Anyway, one of the blogs I follow, From IF to When, is one of only 4 nominees for the Team RESOLVE Choice Best Blog Award.  This was Katie's reaction (aside from trying to not spit her dinner on the floor):

"Last year, I was shocked to be nominated. This year, I'm floored. I don't blog nearly as much as I used to. I am whiny. I have no infertility success story (yet), and I'm not going through treatments. So, uh, what the hell?"

When I looked at the description on the RESOLVE website about the Best Blog Award, they described what they were looking for as someone "whose blog posts raise awareness about what life is like when you’re faced with infertility."  DH and some others have had difficulty understanding how working to raise awareness about infertility fits with posts like this where I'm complaining.

In some ways, that's probably my fault, because, as I looked back at the beginning posts of this blog, I see that I didn't say anything about the purpose of this blog other than that I refuse to be silent about my/our infertility like so many other people.  That has left me in the position of having to choose between justifying myself and my posts and telling people that if they don't like it they can screw themselves, which anyone who knows me well can tell you just is not how I do things.  Even worse, it has left DH in the position of trying to justify what he doesn't fully understand himself, as some people have addressed their thoughts about the blog to him instead of me.

The wording that RESOLVE uses really struck me as a good description for what I'm trying to do (even if I'm not one of the 4 best people in the country at doing it).  I raise awareness about what life is like when you're faced with infertility.  I don't raise awareness about what people would like life to be like when you're faced with infertility.  I don't put a pretty little bow on infertility to make people feel good about being nice to infertile people/supporting legislation that addresses infertility.  I share with people the real, (almost entirely) unvarnished truth about what my life is like facing infertility.  Sometimes that includes things that people don't like.  Sometimes that includes things that I don't like.  Sometimes those two overlap.  But whether you or I like them or not, whether they're pretty or not, they are "what life is like when [I am] facing infertility."  For people who need their description or understanding of this blog to fit in a neat little box (and there's nothing wrong with needing that, people have different ways of understanding and processing things), here is your neat little box.

Good Day

No, I haven't gone to Europe with that subject line! (Although going back would be nice sometime.)  I'm just having a good day, without anything hitting me upside the head so far (about infertility or otherwise), and I thought I'd post something contented for once.  Normally, I'd avoid posting this, as I'd worry about jinxing myself (we'll see if I post later retracting this entry!), but instead of worrying about what will go wrong next and when, I'm going to take a moment for once and enjoy the calm. 

For the last 2 days at work, I haven't had to hospitalize anyone or deal with any crises.  After the few days before, that is a nice change!  I even had time to catch up on contact notes, and I'll be spending my entire day tomorrow writing treatment plans.  I know that doesn't sound like a plus, but it is...it'll be peaceful and I'll be a LOT closer to completely caught up with things.

Also, tonight I'm going to go check out the all-ages color guard near Baltimore, the Arbutus Sailorettes.  I was playing things by ear today as far as whether I would go or not, given the headaches I'm still getting over, but my head hasn't been bad today, and I'm looking forward to it.  It felt SO good this morning to even just take my practice flag out of the coat closet and put it in my car.

Tomorrow is another day, with its own potential crises, but I'll worry about those when they come.  After all, tomorrow also has its own potential positives.

Lapped Again

I found out today that someone I know is pregnant with their second in the time I/we have been trying for the first.  That's the second person I know to lap me, and I keep looking at the first one, someone I see most days, waiting to see that she's double-lapped me.  After all, I didn't know that one was pregnant with the second for the longest time because it was so soon after her first that I thought she was just taking a while to get her shape back after the first one.

Five weeks to the day until my appointment...

APPOINTMENT SCHEDULED!!!

Gee, can you tell I'm a little excited today?!  I've been waiting for so long for this, though, and now things are finally progressing!  I have an appointment for July 20 at 7:15 AM.  I would rather have taken the 8:30 appointment, or better yet 9, but things have been so crazy for DH with work that I took the super-early appointment for his sake.

We'll see what I think of Shady Grove and which side I end up on once I'm really working with them, but so far I'm pleased with the service.  Rather than calling them (which I was going to do in short order if I didn't hear from them), I filled out their New Patient thing on their website.  The page said they would call within 24 hours unless it was a weekend or holiday.  I had a few moments between clients, and I submitted it at about 3:25 PM.  They called me back at about 4!  I was with a client then, so I called back when that client left, and we got me/us scheduled.  Their first available was July 14, but I'm going to be out of town with my family then.  They had more during the day on July 19 and then morning appointments on July 20.  So here we go!  I know it might take a lot of tests and a long while to get anywhere even once I'm seeing a clinic, but at least we're getting to start that lot of tests and long while rather than just treading water with no idea when that part will end.

On another note, when we first started TTC, I had taken a preparing to conceive class at the hospital, and what the doctors and nurses there had said about caffeine was to try to limit it to 240 mg per day if you could be or are pregnant.  So since then, that's what I've been trying to go with anytime I could be pregnant.  Today, though, I saw on RESOLVE.org that more than 100 mg per day could interfere with egg development.  So I'm going to work on cutting down on the Diet Coke.  Thank heavens I'm not a coffee drinker, since that's got a lot more caffeine, but to keep under 100 mg/day, I can only have 2 cans of Diet Coke.  Woo, buddy, that's gonna be hard!

INSURANCE!!!!!

I didn't get out the door this morning in time to drop the enrollment form off at the main office on my way in, but I had a client no show right before lunch, so I drove the 20 minutes each way to give it to the person today rather than tomorrow.  Just got this email, and it brought happy tears to my eyes:

Jessica,
I've enrolled you in the health insurance plan along with vision and dental. I placed a copy of the coverage information in your mailbox.

You will receive in the mail your medical card and a debit card that allows you to charge the medical deductible costs up to $1250.00.  (note from Jessie: it costs the company less to give us a high-deductible HMO and then give us an HSA pre-loaded with the deductible than to pay for a traditional plan)

Any questions please let me know.

Thanks,
Person Filling In for HR Person on Maternity Leave

One Step Forward, Hoping For No Steps Back

After I called United again today, my certificate of creditable coverage ended up coming in today's mail.  So now I am filling out the enrollment form I still had from October, hoping to drop it off at work tomorrow morning on my way to my other office.

So where does that leave me?  As soon as I can get a group number and ID number, I'm calling a fertility clinic.  I know that a couple of you guys said to call right away, but I'm too gun-shy after my experiences in the past year.  This is still United I'll be dealing with, and I don't trust them not to find any reason they can to avoid paying for things.

One person commented on my last post asking about whether I had chosen an RE to go to.  I just looked at where the new insurance covers, and I think I'll try Shady Grove first.  Their Annapolis office is the only clinic closer than Greenbelt or Columbia that is in-network.  I've heard some feedback that they treat people like numbers, and some feedback that they are great.  Still, it makes sense to me to at least try the local one first to at least attempt to minimize the disruption of going for appointments and procedures.  So here we go...

Oh, UMR, How I Loath Thee

DH got his card for his new insurance today.  I still haven't been able to get the certificate of creditable coverage.  And I had to go to my PCP on Thursday and get $50 of scripts on Friday.  I wonder how long it takes to get in to see any of the local REs.

New Resource

So, I picked up a copy of What He Can Expect When She's Not Expecting when I was at the mall yesterday.  I told DH I would be interested in reading it once he was done with it, and I'll let y'all know what I think.  I also told the cashier at the Books-A-Million at Arundel Mills that their infertile customers would be a lot happier if the books about infertility weren't mixed in with the pregnancy books, if they were on a separate shelf like Barnes & Noble and Borders do.  Yeah, the migraine had been lessening some, but it came back full force when I saw that.

Hell of a Day

To top my day off, I just realized that this post from 12 hours ago posted to the wrong place.  So here it is:

I'm so mad at DH's work and insurance that I don't know whether to punch something or cry.  Today's the day DH switches to the new company after 6 months of waiting, so it's the day when we both get dropped off of his crappy insurance and I can move to what my company has. 

His company's HR (yes, the same people from whom we could not get a listing of what insurance covered for MONTHS) said that the insurance company would mail us the certificate of creditable coverage.  I called the insurance company to see if they could fax it instead to decrease the amount of time when I have no insurance before the new coverage takes effect and gets backdated.  For comparison, when I left BBH and therefore left Aetna, I could print the certificate off of their website rather than waiting for them to fax it to me.
First of all, UMR told me that they could not fax or let me print my certificate, I would have to wait 7-10 business days for them to send the letter.  Once the letter is sent, I have to wait for regular US Mail since they of course can't overnight it to me even if I offered to pay for the shipping.  The crowning glory, however, was finding out that DH's HR department for the old company hasn't bothered to tell UMR that he and others are no longer on their insurance.  I told him that I'd be lucky if I had insurance by July and that it would be August or September at best before I'd get to see an RE!  And he has no ability to complain about how HR treats him and me because his exit interview was not anonymous and so he's afraid of repercussions.

And of course life had to be more fun, so I'm on day 2 of a massive migraine.  I was able to function last night and even have fun, but only with a large dose of naproxen.