bills, bills, bills

I don't remember if I said anything about this when it happened, but here's the backstory: Back in May, I recieved a very large bill from a clinical laboratory out of Rapid City for some work that had been done. It was something more than what I could have payed off in only a few installments, and I wasn't even sure what I was being charged for, as the bill wasn't very descriptive in the services rendered.

Well, I got after it today, going to several different offices, including the school twice, once to the nurse's office, who wasn't there, and once to the school's offices, trying to find a record, which they didn't have, only the school nurse had. I also went by the medical center where the laboratory got the samples from, and they didn't even have me in their records, indicating I'd never actually been there.

Curious.

So I call the insurance company, and they don't even have anything filed or claimed at all. My dad hadn't recieved anything from the insurance company either, so it was all very confusing as to why I was being charged this very large amount of money for something that the insurance should have picked up instead. Next, I call the laboratory, one last time, to see exactly what I had been charged for. It turns out they had charged me for a "needle aspirate," which has something to do with your respiratory system and poking a needle into your lung. No wonder the bill was so high. However, you'd think I would remember having a needle shoved in my chest and through my lung. They charged me for someone else's lab work!

Now I have to wait until tomorrow, before I go to work, to call the school health services and see exactly what went on that day, back in February, that's when the lab samples were sent out, apparently, and get that taken off my record, along with claiming the correct service rendered, and getting the money back that I've already started paying on the bill.

How frustrating, but I'm glad that my dad kept pushing at me to get this figured out, or I would have been out a lot of money that someone else owes. I can't believe someone messed up that bad. And that it took them 3 months to send me anything in the mail!