About Obamacare and my $200,000 bill from Freeman

Triple bypass surgery costs a lot of money.

I'm not telling any of you anything you did not already know- let's face it, health care is expensive, which is why I have been irritated by those who rail on and on about eliminating Obamacare, but haven't given any reasonable ideas for replacing it.

That being said, Obamacare doesn't help you when you don't pay your premiums and that what is my insurance company told Freeman when it declined to pay for my surgery. Who can blame the insurance company? I wouldn't shell out six figures for some deadbeat who didn't pay his premiums either.

The only problem is, as I told Turner Report readers earlier this week, not only have I not missed paying my premiums, but the premiums are automatically transferred from my checking account.

I thought I had handled the problem after I received a $7,000 bill from Freeman earlier this week for the anesthesia that was used during my operation. The person I talked to from my insurance company said it would be handled, but then I received another letter from Freeman today, telling me that I was going to be billed $194,708.23.

I called Freeman and was immediately placed on hold as I waited behind three other callers.

I learned about everything Freeman has to offer, but that was all right. A soothing voice reassured me every few minutes. "We are currently assisting other callers. Please remain on the line and the calls will be answered in the order in which they are received."

The automated voice also let me know how vital I was to Freeman's success. "We are still assisting other callers. However, your call is very important to us, please stay on the line."

I couldn't resist a pitch like that. I stayed on the line.

When I finally reached a non-automated voice (a real-life human), I explained what I had been told by the insurance company. She assured me that she would pass along my information to the billing department. I thanked her and told her I would go ahead and call my insurance company to make sure there were no further problems.

When I called my insurance company, I was put on hold, but only for a couple of minutes. The person I talked to was nowhere near as friendly as the one I spoke to earlier in the week. Sounding offended that I had called and mixing in a number of sighs into his end of the conversation. He checked on my account and told me my claim had been sent back through and that it would take 30 days.

I asked if it would be possible for him or somebody with the company to pass along that information to Freeman.

"No," he said, leaving no doubt. "They will understand."

I thanked him and quickly ended the conversation, then called back Freeman and told them what I had been told.

From the woman's response, it was obvious this was the kind of treatment they had to deal with from insurance companies every day.

As I mentioned in my earlier post, if this had happened a few years ago, I probably would have blown my top, but I finally reached the point where I am smart enough to know that does not do me any good.

Besides, every time this happens, I can write about it.