Health Insurance Follies

With impecable timing regarding a possible reform on health care in America, I ended up going to the ER last Sunday morning right before I was suppose to go into work. Thinking my pain was pulmonary related (sharp, stabbing pain in my right chest under my armpit) I wasn't really that worried. I came to find that the nurse that was reviewing my x-ray thought I had some enlargement of the left side of my heart and I was having a mild arrhythmia (ST Elevation to be exact). A shock indeed, but almost right away I really didn't think much of it for some reason. It could have been my faith in that what ever will be will be and my life was in the hands of God (which I was happy with)...or it could have been the fact that I had been working out the past few days in a row all the while reaching my target heart rate with no pain, ill effect, or any suggestion that anything cardiac was wrong with me. After a few hours of hanging out in the ER with a friend (Thanks Thea!), I was discharged with orders for light duty at work and an echocardiogram sometime within the near future. Monday morning it was and the beginnign of my insurance follies. Now, after reading an article about how a girl got sued by her apartment rental company for complaining about mold in her apartment on her Twitter page, I'll with hold the name of the insurance carrier for fear of a law suit for defamation (I know, I must be ill, right?). Throughout the afternoon after I got out of the ER I was trying to prepare myself for whatever tests and appointments I had to schedule (and pay for) considering I was still thinking in the back of my head something may be really wrong with me. My insurance company did not want to pay for the appointment since they believed it to be elective since I was not getting the procedure done in the ER. After and hour of arguing I finally managed to convince them to cover me (which was sad I had to convince them in the first place). Monday morning, when I was sitting in the receptionist's office, she informed me that my insurance company in fact changed their mind when they found out that I was out of state. Needless to say, ferocity ensued. The overall tab for the echocardiogram turned out to be $1100 plus another $400 for a consult later on that week. A day after I had that simple, albeit expensive, 30-minute procedure, I came back to the ER only to find out that nothing was wrong with me and whoever red my x-ray completely misread it. On top of that the degree of ST elevation I had was completely normal for me. I'm still fighting the issue with my insurance company but I am relieved to be in good health. This could, however, end up to be a $1500 check-up for me if I managed to lose this fight. All I gotta say is that Obama, something needs to be done because this is appauling!