Insurance....argh!

First let me say that I am soooooo very thankful that we HAVE insurance, and good insurance at that, but why does it have to be so darn confusing?

Matthew works for the Federal Government, which = great benefits. We have health insurance, dental insurance, and vision insurance....the dental and vision just started this year so they're new to me. Ok, so Abby went to the dentist on February 3rd....no cavities, YAY! Her total charge was $170, so I wrote them a check, but they always hold your payment until they receive payment from your insurance. So, I get the estimation of benefits from the dental insurance and it says: health insurance is paying $61.00, and dental will pay the remaining $109.00.

I'm ecstatic, I just saved $170! Then today the dental office left me a message that I owed them $26.00, which I'm not complaining about, but I wondered why since the insurance was supposed to cover the whole thing. So, I started calling insurances. Then I called the office back....."we don't file on health insurance" they told me. They are sending me a SuperBill, whatever that is, so that I can file with my health insurance. Meanwhile, I paid the $26.00.

Once again, I'm not complaining about the money, but why does it have to be so complicated? I mean, we pay a pretty penny for all that insurance, but it's not much when you consider what the government pays and what we would spend out of pocket if we didn't have it. And since it IS paid for, I expect to be able to use it when we need it.

Now, Matthew needs new glasses, and he has an appointment tomorrow and I feel quite sure that I'll get to call everyone all over again for that. At least maybe I won't have to call the dental insurance anymore, and at least everyone I've spoken to so far has been American!