i'm so mad at my HMO right now. we live outside the city where my HMO is based. 50 miles away. the kid has a sore ear, possibly an ear infection. i've already driven 50 miles one way to work and another 50 home to pick her up from school. i asked my HMO if they would authorize out of service area care so i could take her the 3 miles to our local urgent care. they've done this for me twice this year - once she had a positive strep test and the 2nd time she had an infected earring, embedded in her ear. never had a problem getting authorized. but today? oh no. they want me to drive back to madison, because it's ONLY 42 miles one way. so that's a minimum of 84 miles on top of the 100 i already drove by lunchtime. and it's not like i tried to manipulate the system at all. i was upfront and totally honest with them each time. it's snowing and i've already made one round trip to madison, my town is much more convenient.

i'm disgusted. but on the plus side, by the beginning of the year i should have a different HMO, and an affiliate clinic is ONLY 15 miles away.

kris

I'm a claims processor for a health insurance company and before that I did insurance billing for doctors and hospitals and some of those HMOs are real stinkers!!! I'm glad you're getting new insurance with network providers who are closer. Sheesh!! Sometimes if you call and talk to customer service and can't get what you need, ask them to escalate the call to a supervisor and you might get better results... especially with urgent or emergent care issues. That really sucks!