The Hospital Doesn't Take Its Own Insurance

Written by Miriam Jayaratna / Illustration by Rebecca Saltzman

I saw a spine doctor for back pain. He never performed an exam on me and initially didn't order any tests. He just prescribed PT without diagnosing me. Six weeks of PT later, thanks to a doctor husband and Dr. Google, I contacted the spine guy again to tell him what I thought my diagnosis should be. He confirmed it via some belated tests and an exam. My hero.

Then he referred me to a different, more specialized kind of PT.

When I called the first of two physical therapy places he suggested, the office admin gave me a long speech about how they would submit the bill to my insurance for reimbursement. It took a few back and forths for her to finally admit that they didn't accept my insurance -- she almost had me fooled! Naturally, the other place didn't take my insurance, either.

I should also note that I don't have some niche insurance plan. I have the insurance plan for the hospital's employees! So next I tried calling the hospital's PT center, where I knew they'd be in-network. They said they didn't know if they had anyone who specialized in what I needed, but that they'd check and call me later that same day. After a few days passed, I called again and left them a message.

I'm sure I'll hear back any day now.

This was written by Miriam Jayaratna (@jayaratnahhh) and illustrated by Rebecca Saltzman (@rebeccalsaltzman)