This afternoon I was at Pike Place Market picking up veggies, and my cell phone rang. It’s Joe from MD Anderson, who says that he has called our medical plan to verify Paul’s insurance coverage, and has been told by one of the droids there that Paul must have a referral from his primary care physician before any of his visit to MD Anderson will be covered. Joe is kindly calling to tell me that, unless he hears otherwise from our medical plan, MD Anderson will want their pound of cash from us before Paul sees the doctor on Tuesday. Paul is currently in their records on “self-pay” status. Joe says he will be there ’til 4:30 CST today, and, because they’re a public institution, they’ll be closed on Monday for the holiday. He gives me his phone number. It is 1:55 in Seattle, 3:55 in Houston. My blood pressure and pulse are a bit elevated. This is not on my list for today.

Now, I know for a fact – because I’ve dealt with this before – that our coverage allows us to see any doctor we wish, but will cover “out of network” doctors at “in network” rates only if there’s a referral. However, Joe’s not going to take my word on this. So, I take my veggies back to the car, and call our medical plan. After a couple of branches of phone tree, and a long couple of minutes of “your call is very important to us…” and muzak, Lisa comes on the line and asks how she can help. It’s 4:10 in Houston. I give her Paul’s number (Am I not a number…?), name, birthdate and my name. I tell her what Joe has told me, and what I believe to be true, and she confirms that, yes, a referral is required only for out of network inpatient care, i.e. hospital admission (which is not what we’ll be doing at MD Anderson on Tuesday). She says that Joe must have misunderstood what he was told. When I tell her that I have Joe’s phone number right here, she takes it down, puts me on hold, and calls Joe. When Lisa comes back on the line, she tells me Joe didn’t answer, so she left a message for him. I thank Lisa, and say goodbye. It’s 4:20 in Houston when I get off the phone.

What will happen when we get to MD Anderson on Tuesday morning? I don’t know. At least I know that I’m right. So there.