It's a "God Thing"

On January 17th I experienced what they diagnosed as a TIA. I disagree with the diagnosis (think it was a complex migraine), but that didn't matter at the time. What mattered was that they wanted to keep me in the hospital and run tons of tests, and that costs money - LOTS of money.

On the day I was discharged, a young woman from the accounting department there at the hospital came to my room to offer me a deal. She had called Blue Cross/Blue Shield and had received an estimate from them of the costs of my hospital stay. She said, if I would pay a certain amount right then and there, I would get a 20% discount. Don and I discussed it. Even though we were going to have to put it on a "card", we thought it was worth it to get the discount. This week, I received a bill from the hospital. It showed the overall cost for my stay at $36,000+ and said I still owed almost $1,000. I nearly broke out in a cold sweat when I looked at the invoice. What? I thought this had been taken care of. I don't know about where you live, but, in our house, $1,000 is a LOT of money. It was too late to call the hospital that afternoon, and our next day was already filled.

Yesterday, I finally took time to call the accounting department at the hospital, asking to speak to the young lady I had spoken to while there. I fully intended to ask if they would approve a monthly payment plan for me, because coming up with that nearly $1,000 was going to be a chore. I told Ellen who I was and why I was calling. She put me on hold for a lengthy time, finally coming back on the line and asking if she could call me back because they were having to "check into it." That sounded ominous to me, but I consented to the call-back.

In a short time, the phone rang. Ellen explained to me that the bill was, indeed, accurate, and I still owed nearly $1,000. However, she went on, because I had paid the bill in good faith, they were going to write the amount off, and I owed NOTHING. I was almost doing the happy dance, let me tell you!

Then, today, I went to pick up a prescription that I knew was going to cost me $27 for 30 pills. I had received a little card in my most recent Angel Food order that said it would save me money on scripts. I took it in with me when I went to pick up my prescription, asking the young lady to please add it to my account records and to see if it might possibly save me a bit of money. She came back to the window and said, "I'd say it DID save you some money - almost $20! You now owe $8.51!"

Now all that may sound like small potatoes to you, but in our house, having $1,000 expunged in the matter of a few days is equivalent to a miracle! I think it qualifies as a "God thing!"