I got a call from one of our client’s employees. We administer benefits for this client and the employee called because they were not getting anywhere with their insurance carrier. They were hemorrhaging severely, and the carrier gave them a list of specialists that were in the network. When the employee called the providers, none of them were taking on new patients. The employee called the carrier a second time and was told to go to the emergency room. Well . . .. That’s who told them they needed to see a specialist. They had gone to the emergency room that morning. In other words, the employee was getting the run-round.
In steps Barbara. I was so upset for this employee. I made a call to the carrier and explained the situation. I couldn’t get anywhere with the first person and then asked to speak to a manager. Now one should not have to do this, but it was my only option. When the manager got on the phone, I explained the situation, but I further stated that if they could not provide me with a specialist who could see the employee that day, that if something happened to that employee, like loss of life, it would be on their shoulders.
Well, that got their attention. They placed me on hold and came back with the name and phone number of a specialist very near the employee’s home with an appointment for that afternoon. Needless to say, the employee was grateful for what I had done. But that isn’t the end of the story.
I asked the employee to let me know how things went with the specialist. They had their husband call me the next day to say that the employee had to have an emergency hysterectomy and that had she not gone in that day, she would have died. Yes, the situation was that serious!
I was so happy that I was able to help the employee; that I was able to get her the care she needed before it was too late. To this day, that employee sends me an angel statue or card because she said that I was her angel sent from heaven that day.
