Payback Doesn't Always Suck

Last week I was very sick and had to go see a doctor at the medical clinic in my neighborhood, here in Jerusalem. When the woman who registered me asked to see my state insurance card, I explained to her that I am a foreign resident and do not have Israeli insurance. She shook her head, clucked, and asked me if I was paying cash or with a credit card.

Five hundred shekels, about $125 dollars, later I had been seen, diagnosed, and prescribed antibiotices and was on my way back home where the first thing I did was email the member services office of my health plan in California to see if any of what I had paid was reimbursable under my coverage in the States.

Yesterday they emailed me back with confirmation that yes, not only is emergency care covered while overseas (which I had known) but urgent care is also (which I had not known). They referred me to the section of their website where I could download and print the proper forms to submit with (English-language, have to go back to the clinic and see if I can get those) copies of the paperwork documenting my visit to the doctor here. They told me that once my request is received they will review it and send me a check within three to four weeks for any amount that qualifies to be reimbursed.

Some people disdain large healthcare management organizations, but ever since Student Health (nicknamed Student Death, where once I doctor told me I was probably schizophrenic when really I was just uncontrollably dizzy and suffering from nightmarish vertigo due to food poisoning acquired from the residence hall cafeteria) in Iowa City I have loved being able to make an appointment, go in, and see someone. No muss, no fuss. I still love it. Todah rabah meod, as my students in San Francisco (incorrectly) say--thank you very much a lot, Kaiser Permanente of Northern California.