Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

The Lord detests dishonest scales,
    but accurate weights find favor with him.
When pride comes, then comes disgrace,
    but with humility comes wisdom.
The integrity of the upright guides them,
    but the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity.
Wealth is worthless in the day of wrath,
    but righteousness delivers from death.
The righteousness of the blameless makes their paths straight,
    but the wicked are brought down by their own wickedness.
The righteousness of the upright delivers them,
    but the unfaithful are trapped by evil desires.

• Proverbs 11:1-6

As of an hour ago, on the day writing this, I had a bit of writer’s block.  I had things that I could write, but nothing said, “Write about ME!!!”  Now I am in full rant mode.

My son is seeing a neurologist.  He has the potential of having multiple brain injuries, but the tests so far have all been inconclusive.  The neurologist wants to do the MRI in a few months for a comparison.  My son has a CD ROM of a ten-year-old MRI, but she initially refused and then reluctantly looked at it after my son left his last appointment.  Thus, he had to make another appointment to find out what she thought.

In the meantime, my son is trying to get onto short term disability, back dated to mid-February.  The insurance company refuses to go forward because the neurologist has not provided the medical information.  The neurologist, or at least the staff, refuses to send the medical information without being paid.  The insurance company refuses to pay until they send the information.

A classic Catch 22 until my son offered to pay the $25 – that is it!  $25.  But then the neurologist staff says he will have to wait weeks for an appointment and pay $125 for a form filling out appointment for him to simply pay the bill that the insurance company refused to pay for paperwork that has already been filled out.

Really??!!  Is this insanity or what?! I never got paid until I delivered a finished product, and I never charged anyone an added fee for me to do what I had already done.

And, the neurologist staff has a “rule” that they only work on paperwork twice each month, and oops, you missed the window.  My son likes and trusts the doctor, but he cannot trust anyone of the staff people.

When my son called the insurance company to tell them what the neurologist staff said, their response was not repeatable without an “R” rating.  My son said “NC-17” but I am not sure what that is.  But the insurance company did say that they might consider an extension for filing.  Yes, there is a deadline where my son could lose thousands of dollars in benefits, in that the back dated paperwork would no longer be backdated.

And to think, all of this because my son has difficulty handling stress.  But the neurologist staff does a great job of creating stress.

I have heard that the only medical profession that has no incentive in curing you are psychiatrists.  Once you are cured, you no longer need to go to them for appointments or to get drug refills.  Have the neurologists joined in the insanity?

But dishonest gains will be answered come judgment day.  And in the meantime, all I can do is to vent in this space, and pray, a lot of praying.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.