Inusrance (plus a bit on Lithium toxicity)

First, I just read my last post and realized it didn't sound quite accurate. I talked about my new goal being to get my Medicare quarters accumulated. I left out "and continue to work as long as possible". That remains a goal. Even if I do need SSDI I hope to work some (at least enough to pay for therapy) for many years. Sunday begins 7 years of my career and I really hope to have a much longer time.

Second, my real topic. Insurance. I am pulling my hair out. Originally my paperwork was misplaced instead of faxed so I did not get paid for 6 weeks. At that time I got a check for 2 weeks and told to send in more info. My doctor wrote the standard letter "slowly responding to treatment, medically indicated to treat with caution, continues with severe symptoms, etc". They sent me a letter telling me that letter wasn't acceptable, that they had to have the notes from my doctor and psychologist.

So that set off a whole sequence of new events. The doctor wrote yet another letter, this time going back to my diagnosis (and even further back with a list of mis-diagnoses), and moving forward to now. She printed out many notes and sent them in. I'm not thrilled about this, but they are doctor notes and I suspect she could hide things in my chart should she desire.

On the other hand, therapy notes are personal. I have weeks of talking about wanting to quit living and how I differentiate that from wanting to kill myself. I have stuff about work. I don't know what all is in there, but it is nobody's business. The notes thing stressed the psychologist out too, but it was very clear in the letter I'd gotten. So off went my private life, right to people who can interact with my work life.

Last Friday I got a huge check. Yay! Except it says benefits terminate on Nov. 17, which is the last day I saw the psychiatrist. I have called twice and tried to straighten out that I don't see her again until Dec. 15 but that nothing will change in that I'm still sick because it takes time. They keep trying to say I should be better by a fixed point in time. I keep trying to point out my doctor wrote a letter already explaining why I'm not well enough to work and why she won't let me go back until January. I'm trying to not say too much because I don't want my words used against me.

My case manager spoke with me yesterday about noon and said she had new info in the system she'd not read yet. She was to call back after reading it that afternoon. A day and a half later I have heard nothing and no new approvals are in the computer system. I know she didn't call because I have caller ID.

Grrrrr.......

[As for lithium toxicity, I have had a lot of searches on this the last few days. I figured I could say a few things. First, feel free to email me ( in about me) if you'd like. I really wanted someone who had experienced it and had nobody. Second, I DID recover. My memory is not as good as before and some cognitive things are maybe a little slower (I notice I read more slowly), but as long as I keep my lithium level very low I do fine. I took longer than I thought for my body to even back out, but a lot of that (I think) was because my thyroid was damaged and I had to go on replacement therapy and get that level evened out.]