Monday Doldrums and Dreary Drama

    Today didn't get off to a good start.First,  I woke  with a headache but got up anyway.
     Then,  from the bedroom a call-out that he didn't want to go to the VA today.  Why not?  Just didn't wanna.  Same thing last Monday, so I had to go all investigative.  After all, I made many many inquiries to get him into the program and then many many many more to get transportation the first time, and after that ride couldn't continue, it took even more efforts to secure him other transportation.  Questioning disclosed that the attendants at the VA have put him, or maybe all the patients, on a pee and poop regimen, with insistence on regulated times and efforts. So I had to steamroll him: he's there now for only 3 1/2 hours and it's better for him and me that he leaves the house from time to time.  So he agreed to "get on the schoolbus."
      I need to open a few doors to get the wheelchair down two ramps and out to the driveway.  And it's  drizzling rain. So, uncharacteristically, I open the outside door and leave it open so as to be ready and to avoid waiting outside in the rain. Back inside,on watch for the van, and all skids greased, I notice the cat is nowhere in sight. Could she have left through the opened door?  She's never gone outside, but I've never left the door open. I call her and look in her usual spots, to no avail. As I'm pushing the wheelchair through the kitchen door, I see her curled up on the kitchen chair, concealed by the tablecloth.  Usually she responds when I call her name, but she's already had breakfast, so she ignores my call. Story of my life.
  Next, I decided to pay some bills.  I received a medical bill last week. No surprise, it's early in the year, so we still have not paid up our annual deductibles. The bill was from Samaritan Hospital  the amount due $49.43.  But wait, we haven't been there this year.  I checked the date, and it's May 14, 2013.  That was when I had my first TKR and before Samaritan was subsumed by St. Peter's Health Partners.  Now that's not a lot to pay, especially considering we've paid several thousand in out-of-pocket expenses for clinical trial endeavors etc. but I balk at paying what I don't owe.  If it truly is an insignificant amount, why did they go to all the trouble to bill me? Four years later?  So I called the number on Samaritan's statement, for NPAS, Inc.
    There I spoke with Ceicel, and told her I received a statement I was sure I didn't owe, because my insurances completely cover in-hospital  services, and furthermore because the billing was for labs, which are covered regardless.  She said both my insurance companies had denied the charges.  She said, when I asked, the late date probably was the result of an audit which had uncovered "overpaid liability."  I don't understand that terminology, and told her so, just said I didn't owe the bill, and she should check with my insurance. She insisted I owed the amount, and said any checking should have to be on my part.  I'm not arguing because all she does is answer the phones, but by now I've made up my mind that I will never pay the bill.  Let them sue me, jail me--I'd welcome any action,
    So I call BC/BS and wend my way through the hell that is the route to reaching a rep, who in person has always been courteous, professional and helpful. After a  few lengthy times on hold, (after all, this bill has had its fourth birthday), Nicole  tells me that it appears they double-billed and that's why there was a denial. She will need to go further into the archives before calling them to set the record straight.
    I said thanks, but it doesn't matter. I'm not paying that bill.  And now it's 10 a.m. and I have only a few hours before the bus pulls up.  I've wasted valuable time.