the paperwork plague

I've decided that "paper" should be the universal winner when it comes to rock, paper, scissors. It is immeasurably powerful; able to trounce all opponents in a single bound. Paper, along with it's partner in crime, Red Tape, is giving me a significant amount of grief at the moment.

I've been on the phone with our clinic four times today. They currently have room for us to start IVF this cycle, but can't guarantee anything until we complete our checklist and pay our bill in full. Ah yes, let's take these things one at a time, shall we?

(A) Complete our checklist: CD3 bloodwork is tomorrow, orientation is on April 3rd. The only other thing remaining is the Cystic Fibrosis screening we've decided to complete. I called my insurance company a few weeks ago and they said it would be covered. Today, I requested that it be added to my lab requisition for tomorrow and they said they'd have to get pre-authorization because the test is over $1000. I told them I'd already verified my coverage, but of course they have to check for themselves. Fine - I'd rather have two confirmations than one as well if it really costs that much! They called back a few hours later. My insurance company stated it wouldn't be covered. I called my insurance company again and learned two things: (1) They have a record of my first call and the determination that was made. Yes, I am in fact covered for the screening. (2) They have no record of my physician's office making an inquiry today. Their last call was on 3/6 and referred to infertility coverage as a whole. WTF? Were they so sure my insurance wouldn't cover it they didn't even bother to check? If so, what else have they made similar decisions on? I called back and left an extremely friendly message (more flies with honey, right?) suggesting that perhaps they call again as I have now been told twice that the test will be covered. They call me back and say that they did and they have now been told twice that it will NOT be covered. *sigh* I asked what I should do since this obviously isn't going anywhere. Should I call from their office and hand the financial advisor the phone? Should I ask that they send me written proof of my coverage? Unfortunately, the woman calling me back didn't know anything about anything - she was just returning the call on behalf of their insurance liaison, and she said she had no idea what to tell me, except to call back tomorrow and talk to the insurance liaison directly. She did say something that made me think the denial might be because the test is coming from an RE rather than my PCP, so it looks like it is infertility related, even though it obviously isn't, and don't they have freaking doctors on staff to figure crap like that out?? Stop. Breathe. Anyway, I conveniently have an appointment with my PCP next Monday for my annual physical, so I'm going to ask her about doing the CF screening there. Maybe if it comes from her, they won't argue as much. Or they will. Whatever. I feel like I'll have more energy to fight this battle in it's appeal state down the line than I do right now, if it comes to that.

(B) Pay our bill: We're just waiting for the home equity line to come through on this one. Of course, our application, like everything else, has required us to jump through hoops we didn't know existed at the outset. First, the loan officer copied the wrong page (or something, I'm still not clear what went wrong there) so we had to take our paperwork down again for re-processing. Then, the lender decided they couldn't accept the full appraisal we had done less than two months ago. They'd rather schedule their own drive-by appraisal, 'cause that's likely to be more accurate. Um, okay. We think that happened today, judging by the random man we saw taking notes from his car across the street from our house. We were either being appraised or cased for an upcoming burglary. I guess we'll know when we do or do not have a tv by tomorrow evening. Once all that is processed, we still have to sign something and wait another 3-5 business days for the money to actually be usable. Tick, tick, tick.

I'm definitely feeling like I'm at the end of my rope. If this IVF doesn't work, I may actually be ready for a nice long break. If M and I were a heterosexual couple, I'd be 110% happy to stop actively ttc and just "see what happens." And then, of course, it would work. But we're not, and my patience with a break might not last as long as my current frustration level predicts, so our ttc holiday may end up being shorter than longer. Right now though, I feel done. We'll do this IVF (if we survive that long, that is), because we've already taken so many steps, but my tolerance for jumping through hoops is wearing very thin and I'm ready to give it up for a while - with or without a baby on the way.