Why I ask insurance agents for their social security number.

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This is why I refuse to do peer to peer pre authorization calls. I’m actually trying to save the insurance company money by ordering out patient studies and prevent patient from going to the ER. If it needs a peer to peer, I just send them to the ER for the study. These money hungry insurance companies will never learn.

When I was in Family Practice, I would ,many times!!!!! call the insurance company for my patients to get preauthorization on a test they needed, only to be told NO.  Then I would threaten them by saying ” I need your full name and social security number”.  When the innsurance representative said,  “My social security number??”  I would say, “Yes, because this patient is going to die and we are going to end up in a law suit in about 5-10 years.  You need to be on the witness stand testifying as to why you denied this request.  I will be able to find you through your social security number.”  The person then ALWAYS said, “YES. your request has just been approved”.  It has nothing to do with medical records.  It has to do with how many times insurance can deny coverage to keep from paying for a patient’s medical treatment.

About the Author

Do you feel frustrated with your medical care? Do doctors spend 5 minutes with you, push you out of the office, with you wondering what's going to happen? Does your insurance deny paying? You're not alone. I'm frustrated, too. This is a growing trend in healthcare. Having seen pre-insurance medicine (yes, my dad was an old country doctor), I grew up watching him spend time with his patients, giving them the best care he had to offer. I saw families trust him to help them through hospitalizations and the next crisis. As a patient advocate, my job is to see that you get the right diagnosis, the right treatment plans, and the right supplies and education to make good decisions about your health. More importantly, I will teach you the tricks of the healthcare trade. We need more healthcare consumer protection, especially for chronic illnesses like diabetes. This is what I am passionate about. I make it happen every day with thousands of patients who now know what I know about beating the healthcare system and getting the best patient care...Patient Best.

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