Settlement one is almost over

I got what I hope is the next-to-last letter from the hospital's lawyer. He had to send me a letter confirming the agreement so I could get it to the insurance company.

He also felt it necessary to lecture me on 'if you had only consulted an attorney first, you wouldn't have wasted all this time.' Wow, how patronizing. How about 'if you had only consulted an attorney first, you would have decided you didn't what to spend thousands of dollars fighting this sooner'. Or 'if you had only consulted an attorney, maybe this wouldn't have taken so long'. Or 'told you so!!!!'.

I have worked with some excellent attorneys before. For the most part, they are good people trying to help their clients get what is fair.

This guy was a dick. And a half. The funny thing was, if he had been more willing to discuss this from day one instead of taking a 'it's the law, get over it' stance, this would have been finished much faster. If he hadn't tried to take over half the settlement on day one, this would have been over faster.

I spoke with several people about this law and process, including attorneys. I just choose not to have any represent me. The funny thing was, they all seemed to know this attorney. One even laughed and said 'I have his number on speed dial'. Yet none offered any 'oh .. he's a good guy just doing a tough job' type of comment. Mostly, 'oh ... you're dealing with him? Yeah, I've had to deal with him before' type comments that end before saying what they really want to say because they are attorneys and understand libel laws.

What I find interesting is my seeking an attorney would only have benefited the hospital, not me. I have a much better understanding of this process than if I had just taken the advice of an attorney. I managed to whittle the hospital down by 1/3 of what they originally demanded.

And they managed to really piss me off with their attitude. This law has a purpose. If I get an insurance settlement, it is only fair that the hospital receive any deductible or co-pays out of it. I'm sure this law was put into place because people were taking their insurance settlement and not paying the hospital with it.

But they have chosen to pervert it into a means to coerce people who received actual monetary, physical, and mental damages in a crash to give them some of their settlement 'because they can'. No interest in my well being, or what is fair. Only 'give me some of that because this law says I can'.

It's time to put an end to this. The solution isn't as simple as it sounds; the hospitals do need to be protected from people who take the insurance settlement and don't pay it.

But it needs to be changed so that those that are direct claiments because they were involved in the crash get first dibs, and change it so that the liens can only be used to attache the funds they owe directly.

I don't care if the hospital wants to file a claim with the insurance company after I'm done. Well .. that's not true. All of these things drive our insurance costs. Insurance isn't free money. It's my money. And your money. The hospitals enter into agreements with insurance companies to they have a better chance of getting paid and attract more patients. I enter into agreements with insurance companies knowing that I may never get out of them what I pay into them, but at least if I need it, it will be there. I hope I'm never in another crash, but I'm willing to pay my insurance company several hundreds of dollars a month so in case I am, I can get my car fixed.

And my leg if needed.

But if the hospitals start to extract more money out of this insurance pool, it means all of our auto rates go up. So instead of our health insurance costs going up so we know where the money is going, it's hidden in our auto insurance and no one talks about it.

It's time to change this. It's time to tell the health care industry to mange their business in an open manner, where these hidden costs and surprises aren't allowed.

What's wrong with health care?? It's not the insurance companies. As I detailed above, neither my auto insurance, my health insurance, nor the auto insurance of the other driver caused me any problems. They all were open about their contracts and up front with what they would and wouldn't cover.

It was only this hospital, who charged $43K for a 2 night stay for a broken leg, as compared to $35 for a 4 night stay at another local hospital for an emergency gall bladder surgery, that gave me such grief. It's apparent they are overcharging, my insurance paid both of them roughly the same per/day rate. Yet the 'broken foot' hospital 'charged' almost 33% more for fewer days and less trauma.

I will be fair, their care was better than the 'gall bladder' hospital and I have absolutely no complaints about the care I received.

This hospital talks in their annual statement about their caring and compassionate stand.

Hypocrites....

So .. what's next??

Well, for one, I now get to work with my insurance company under their under insured coverage. So far, I've been very pleased with their attention.

And of course, tackling this law. I think the first phase is to send the hospital a polite letter detail complimenting them on my care, and letting them know how upset I am about them taking my settlement away.

I'm also thinking that the local TV stations might be interested in this story. They like stories that rile people up, and I can't think of a better one than the big hospital and lawyer taking money away from someone who was in a crash simply because 'we can'.

Maybe after that, I can being to contact our state representatives and try to find enough support to modify this law.

So, I've still got plenty to write about ... keep coming back every week or so and check up on me!