Scammed

 

Nobody likes to be scammed. I hate that it happens to anyone and I really hate that it happened to me. Our recent trip to Oklahoma was the first trip we made without the benefit of an internet connection for the computer in the car. It was a necessity when we were running a business. Now it's a luxury and one we decided we could live without, particularly in light of Covid. Bottom line, we had to rely on our phones to make reservations. 

The thing I know about the Internet in general and Google in particular is that when you search on something, you don't necessarily get that. You get what other people have paid Google to show you. And there might be a whole page of people who paid for you to see something you didn't want to see. 

I wanted to see the information for the Hilton Garden Inn in Daphne, Alabama. If I'd been on a computer instead of a phone I might have seen the fine print of the URL that belonged to a third party reservations company - not Hilton Hotels. 

And now, for a brief moment, I'm going to rant about the "web economy" because most of it, near as I can tell, is a bunch of people who are getting between businesses and their customers and providing very little no value. But they add on fees making whatever you wanted to buy (in this case, a night in a hotel) far more expensive than it would have been if I'd phoned the business direct. But I was prevented from doing that because these third party creeps paid Google to show their contact details along with a map of where the hotel is located and I thought I was phoning Hilton. 

It took longer than I thought it should for the phone to be answered. And when they did answer, all the said was "Reservations". I thought I was talking to Hilton. They never told me I wasn't. The guy's name was Danny (or so he said) I had to repeat the name and city of the hotel for him at least three times, so I'm pretty sure he knew where we wanted to stay. I even asked if he needed my Hilton rewards number and he said they'd take care of that when I checked in. 

When we got to the Hilton Garden Inn in Daphne, they had no record of our reservation. But Danny Boy had texted me a confirmation. I pulled it up on my phone. Danny had booked us into the Hilton Garden Inn by the Airport in Mobile. Apparently our long day of driving wasn't over. They had no availability in Daphne and were powerless to change a booking that originated with a third party service anyway. 

So we trudged on to Mobile. I tried to phone them to see why they had switched hotels on me without my consent, but when you select the option to talk about an existing reservation, those people are NEVER going to answer their phone. 

So my credit card has been charged $50 more than it should have been to stay in a hotel that's a bit out of the way, and not the one I asked for. I didn't get any points on my rewards card, because of the third party people. All I got was complimentary water. I was not happy. I'm still not happy about this. But I've learned a thing or two about searching for something on a phone. 

Going forward, we should decide how far we're going to drive and book the hotel on a computer so we don't have to deal with the small print on the phone. An expensive lesson in money and time. It makes me hate scammers even more. 

The Tyranny of Networks

Last week I received an EOB (explanation of benefits) from our health insurance company. (I won't call them a provider because they don't actually "provide" anything.) It seems I'm expected to pay over 50% of the ambulance bill because the ambulance (which is a county service) is not in the network. 

I'm going to date myself here. It's okay. I know I'm old but I remember when you actually paid your own medical bills. After you met your deductible, you filed a claim with your health insurance company and were reimbursed for what you'd paid over your deductible. You could choose any doctor you wanted. You didn't need to worry about networks or referrals.

When insurance companies decided to start paying the doctors directly, eliminating our need to pay up front and then file for reimbursement, we thought it would be a great convenience.  I am convinced that we, as consumers got the short end of that stick (as we usually do). Aside from the occasional dispute about "usual and customary charges" (a term you don't hear anymore) the old plan worked. 

I think it was the early to mid-80s when my employer, who was self-insured, decided to switch over from being self-insured to using a third-party insurance company. Initially, it all worked pretty much the same - you filed your claims after you'd met the $100 deductible and they sent you a check. But with this changeover they introduced what became known among the employees as "the $5 doctors". If you went to one of the doctors on this list, you paid $5.00. It didn't apply to your deductible but you'd have to go to the doctor 20 times to equal your $100 deductible. (Back in those days, the average doctor visit was $15 to $20 dollars - so it was a cost savings to you.) Again, it seemed like a good deal for the consumer. After visiting two of the $5 doctors, I came to two conclusions. 1. You DO get what you pay for. If the average price is $15 and you're paying a third of that, there is a reason. 2. If the office furniture and paint was last updated two decades ago, leave. Leave now. This is not a doctor you want to see.

But then came the day when we no longer had a choice. We had to see a doctor who was "in network". Well, you didn't have to but there were serious financial consequences if you didn't. I lived in a very small town and I remember my doctor asking me to get him whatever paperwork he needed to join whatever networks his patients were in. I also remember a number of friends being duped into high charges because they phoned the doctor's office and asked "Do you take XYZ insurance?" And of course the response was "We take ALL insurance." The correct question is "Are you an "in network" provider with XYZ insurance?" 

I had a car accident in the 90s. Not my fault, but I had to keep track of what I paid and what the insurance company paid so a claim could be filed with the "at fault" party's auto insurance. That's when I first realized that I paid more than the insurance company. I paid almost two thirds more than they did. 

The same was true for prescriptions. Back in the 80s and 90s I paid less than $3 for a 90-day supply of a generic muscle relaxer. Then the insurance company got involved with it and the minimum charge for any prescription was $5. AND now I could only buy a 30-day supply. So it was now going to cost me $15 for something that had previously cost less than $3. And don't get me started about all the times we were going to run out of prescription meds while we were out of town and couldn't get refills because the insurance company couldn't be reached for a vacation override approval.  

But back to the EOB. I called the insurance company to ask, for future reference, how I could be sure that I got an "in network" ambulance when I called 9-1-1 in the middle of the night. The customer service rep clearly had no genuine thoughts on that so I asked to speak to a supervisor. Even though I was told it would be no more than 48 hours for a supervisor to call me back about that, perhaps I misunderstood. Maybe she said 48 weeks, since it's already been a week and a half. And even though I'm retired now, I still have more to do than sit on hold with insurance company representatives for the entire afternoon. And the thought of calling them back makes my jaw clench. 

So here we are over 30 years in to letting the insurance companies pay doctors direct instead of reimbursing us and they now drive the entire process. Insurance company executives make an obscene amount of money. Healthcare costs in the US have skyrocketed since we allowed the insurance companies to take over. And apparently calling 9-1-1 at 3 am is something that could cost you several hundred dollars. 

I've heard so many people who are fearful of the evils of socialized medicine (and there are evils to be fearful of) because they don't want the "government" meddling in their healthcare. Does it really matter to anyone whether the high-school educated clerk who is going to determine whether you get care or not works for the government or a private insurance company? I'm in favor of putting doctors and patients back in charge. 

Rant over.