So freaking broken

So youngest does OT and speech therapy (when the world isn't huddling in fear of a virus) and when we started all this up around the new year, the therapy office took all the relevant insurance information, made some calls, and comes back with each therapy appointment will cost $75. Also they will only cover 30 visits.

Okay fine whatever.

After about a month of this, the nice lady at the speech office says, "Hey, you realize that if you self-pay it's only $55 a visit instead of $75 and then we're also not using up your 30 visits with speech?" So yeah, we changed that.

About two weeks after we have our last in-person OT appointment, I get a bill from the therapy office for close to $300.

Excuse me?

I called up. The nice lady in billing is as confused as I am, because she's the one that talked to them and got the $75 bit from them.

Cut to today when I get another statement from insurance in the mail, letting me know my outrageously huge portion still owed to the therapy office.

So I called the nice lady in billing back up and they haven't gotten back to her and I'm like screw it, I'll just pay it and then this can be over.

I'm not convinced I'll be going back to OT when they do open up in person again because I don't know what the hell it's actually good for. As far as I can tell, she makes him do handwriting and then uses a picture sheet for him to point to things like "I need a break" or "I can jump for two minutes" to help him manage his frustration? He already knows this AND I'd just as soon he USED HIS FREAKING WORDS rather than pointing at pictures and I mean the OT seems like a nice person but if it's not HELPING HIM in some way I don't see the point.

Also on today's insurance statement was a reminder that I owed the pediatrician for our ADHD medicine visits. Which they've emailed me about. But their email said "Use the portal! You can log in and see your balance and pay it all online! It's so convenient!"

I logged into the portal. IT SAYS I HAVE NO BALANCE. Except when you click on the "latest statement" it does in fact show a balance. But if you try to click the "Pay now" button to pay the number in red, it won't click because it says there's no balance.

So I called because I really do want to pay people who I owe. And it went straight to voicemail. And then it hung up on me.

Honestly, I get that the American healthcare system is broken. I really do. And yet I still think it's better to be able to get the help I (or my family) need when we need it rather than getting in line and hoping that a doctor will agree that yes, you do need this, and then they refer you and maybe in two years they can help. I mean yay free. But if we all die while we're waiting it seems less exciting.