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Friday, August 20, 2004

The appeal


I talked to the case worker for a short time this afternoon. I had been dreading the conversation all day, but there were no arguments. She told me that she had started an appeal of the decision to reduce Linda's therapies and that Dr. R had all of the paperwork. I'll bet he just loves that. He said on the phone yesterday that this kind of thing happens so often he's just numb.

I mowed some grass today with our (new) lawn tractor. It's been a long time since I haven't pushed a mower. There is one thing about the work that I had forgotten, the way the drudgery leaves you free to think. Here's one thing I had considered and one I had never thought of before.

We saw Dr. R for some small number of minutes each day at Rusk and were billed for that every single day (paid for by insurance of course). I remember thinking about how many patients he saw on rounds each day, etc., and thinking he charges a pretty sum that way.

He called me yesterday, and he didn't rush it. He's been doing a review of our case for insurance and has composed more than one letter to them. He'll be filing an appeal. He doesn't get paid for any of those things. Our next follow-up with him will be 3 months after the one we just went to--that's the next time he gets paid anything by us.