Friday, February 22, 2019

Friday Letters


I haven't written any Friday Letters for almost a year, but have taken my virtual fountain pen in hand this week to offer a thank you, write a sincere apology, and question bureaucracy. Let's open the mail ...


Dear Amaryllis,

I want to offer my sincere thanks for your many beautiful and non-stop blossoms. You started sending up shoots at the end of December, had blossoms beginning in mid-January, and you're still continuing with bright blooms at the end of February. I feel bad leaving you in the cold, dark house in NJ when I head to MD on Sunday, but I've always tried to make sure you have enough water and sunlight. You surprise and delight me every week when I return on Thursday night to a new blossom or bud stalk. I don't enjoy the drive, but you've made it more bearable when I know I'm coming home to the beauty that you provide. Thanks for making my winter much better!


To My Hyacinths,

I'm really sorry, and would like to offer my sincere apologies to you. Recently, I was too critical of you and your sparse flowers, and may even have called you spindly and accused you of lacking fragrance. Imagine my surprise when I got home yesterday and was greeted by your oh-so-wonderful springlike fragrance and found that you were no longer spindly. The purple one has even rewarded me with an extra little bonus bloom. People tried to tell me that you were doing your best, and now I can finally see that. I apologize for my impatience, and thank you for your magic.



Hey BC/BS,

I just can't use the salutation "Dear", and will refrain from commenting about the BS in your name. You probably remember me; I've been communicating with you for over a year about the claims for radiation therapy for my father (who, by the way, died in Jan. 2018). We have previously disagreed about whether his estate owes you $58,556.10 or not. The radiation therapy was performed in Sept. 2016, claims were submitted, and you paid them without any argument. But for some reason I've continued to receive bills from the hospital and EOBs from you saying you would still like me to pay $58,556.10. When I opened this most recent love letter from you, I was thrilled. I don't know if you've finally understood that you already paid for this, or if I just fought long enough that you and the hospital gave up, but I am relieved to read that I am not responsible for these charges. Because guess what? I don't have $58,556.10! Thanks for the up close and personal tour of bureaucracy and finally seeing things my way (just a year late)!


Wishing everyone a good weekend, with plenty of magical flowers, but free of bureaucracy!

15 comments:

  1. Good grief! It's hard enough to lose someone you love without having to deal with an insurance company for months afterward.

    Three cheers for the flowers! Happy to hear that your hyacinth has redeemed itself.

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  2. Hey BS! love that!! and yay for all the blooms ... I was Team Hyacinth all the way!!

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  3. Wow - sorry you have (STILL) been dealing with the BS from BC/BS. Medical insurance is so frustrating (at best). Lovely flowers and your hyacinths certainly did redeem themselves. They look beautiful and it's almost like I'm getting a whiff of the fragrance through my monitor - lol. Have a wonderful weekend Bonny!

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  4. Oh my, I just about choked when I got to "BS." So glad that's OVER! This horrid system.

    Yay flowers!! I check on my amaryllis a few times a day. ;)

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  5. Your week ended on a high note! So glad to hear everything went your way. Enjoy the weekend and that amazing amaryllis!

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  6. Health Insurance... what an absolute horror. I am glad that you finally prevailed!

    And, your blooms... so lovely!

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  7. I've actually received bills that I was supposed to pay as long as 4 years later - and I've just said NO.

    I'm glad the flowers are being pretty for you.

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  8. What a relief! Stooooooooooopid insurance. Bank of America (Bastards of ...) had reported me dead to a credit bureau years ago and even wrote a response to a letter I wrote them informing me I was dead. Bureaucracy at it's best! Here's to blooming flowers and the weekend!

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  9. I LOVE FRIDAY LETTERS! Don't get me started about health systems. I have one that keeps telling me we owe money for eye exams (and we do not) and luckily I have a friend in the eye department who gets it corrected. Apparently doing a half a** job is ramped everywhere. Medical coders just code anything they want these days.

    love your praises to your flowers and thrilled you do not owe any money for something that was already paid for :)

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  10. Oh my WORD!!! Those bills are the worst to sort through understand and break free from. So sorry you had to go through all that

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    1. I feel as if I've dealt with way too much BS from the hospital, insurance companies, social security, and medicare. Worse yet, it seems that many others have had their own terrible experiences with bureaucracy, so mine is not an isolated problem. It shouldn't have to be this difficult.

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  11. Oh, Bonny, those flowers are beautiful. How cheerful would that be on this dark, dark, incessantly rainy week? (At least I don't have snow or ice.) I can just smell those hyacinths. Well, my weekend will be without bureaucracy simply because they don't work on weekends! We have been trying to get my husband's "specialty" prescriptions filled for over 2 weeks through fepblue, and he is almost out of an essential med for cardiac arrhythmias. All this frustration is not good for his arrhythymias, but we will persevere. I hope it doesn't take me a year to get this done. Congratulations on your belated success. I bet you truly feel unburdened. Have a little fit of happy feet and enjoy your weekend.

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  12. Very clever. I too can smell those hyacinths. Ahh bureaucracy, sometimes it feels as if it will never end. I am glad BC BS has finally corrected their mistake.

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  13. O Lord ..........the f*cktangle that is insurance. :::sigh::: glad they finally saw it your way.

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  14. Love the flowers and come ON spring! Medical bills are confusing and so expensive. How about some single payer health care for all?

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