The moral of the story is....

Good news with the insurance debacle. I called the main number for the insurance company and talked to a really nice representative who listened to my whole story and all my worries (ha! almost like free therapy). Anyway, he said this sort of thing happens sometimes and it is not nearly as bad as I think it is. My claim was denied because to them it looked like a standalone hospital procedure. Normally when you go to the ER they notify the insurance of the situation and that there might be admittance to the hospital, etc. This never happened for me because the Roanoke ER never got my insurance card (I have since gotten a bill from the ER and notified them of my ins. info). So, everything will probably be re-evaluated when the ins. company gets all of the claims. And if it does not happen automatically, all I have to do is tell them. So I might have to do an appeal letter, but I will not have to convince them medically, just a simple story about what happened (got hurt, went to Pocahontas, got admitted, transferred to Roanoke, got admitted, etc). I might also have to appeal a double charge for co-pays, but that won't be hard either.

So, I am feeling much more relaxed about the whole situation. It is like a burden released from my shoulders (or back in my case :). My situation is not nearly as complicated as I thought it was. I do have to stay on top of things, but I have faith that things will work out in my favor.

The moral of my story is this: Always carry your insurance card, and emergency contact info. MAKE SURE all information is given to the hospital. AND when you are transferred, don't assume you insurance info was transferred. My excuse is that I was half asleep and well drugged when I was wheeled into the ER at Roanoke. And Tom was half asleep too (I still don't know how he drove from Poca. to Roanoke in the middle of the night). Tom said the Roanoke ER never asked for the insurance info. Which is weird because we were there for 5 hours.