For This Relief Much Thanks

[madrobins]

Turns out that a whomping hospital bill for $9600 dollars that we got on Saturday (for a bill that we had thought the insurance company had settled a year ago) was sent in error. Got our health insurance company on the line, explained to them what had happened. Faith, the nice lady at the other end of the line, was cheerful and pleased to be able to sort it out (the contracted rate was considerably less than the billed rate, so the insurance company was sent a refund, then someone at the hospital screwed up and tried to bill us for that amount). After about ten minutes on the phone during which she spoke to a couple of different people, she got back on with me and said happily, "Balance zero!"

I think, in that sort of front line job where you so often have to give bad news or sort things out for people who are in the middle of crisis, being able to wave a wand, so to speak, and make bad news go away, must be a very good feeling. I remember the times, working at Tor (and before that, at Harvard) when I'd get someone panicking on the phone because an advance hadn't gone through or a scholarship payment hadn't come in to the Bursar's office for the program I was running, and was able to do the same thing: make it better. Making it better is a blessing for the beneficiary, but also, I think, for the person who pulls it off. I hope Faith has a grand day.