My battle with Dad's Cancer Doc's office

That seems like a lengthy title, but the problem isn't with Dr. G. It's with his finance office. Dad was deemed eligible for Medicaid with a start date of October, 2008 initially.

My father passed away April 7, 2009 from Stage IV rectal cancer with metastases to his liver and lung. He was only 56 years old. He died under a tragic set of circumstances surrounding his life, and to be brutally honest- he was homeless, and penniless. All of that means nothing now, however there are still some things that remain to be done and since I am the Power of Attorney, they are my tasks to complete.

In early July, Dr. S.- Dad's surgeon- called and informed me that Medicaid had retro-activated (I know that's not a real word, but that's the jargon for it) Dad's account to August, 2008 with a "spend-down" month of September, 2008. Since Dad had had surgery in August, 2008 and had put $150.00 down, I was due back this amount and the surgeon's office submitted the bill to Medicaid and was paid for it.

I had Brett stop by Dr. G's office to alert his staff of the same thing- not once, but twice. No one looked into this, and no one has presented me with reimbursement for close to/or for the entire amount of $900.00 that Dad paid them prior to October, 2008. As I understand it, I am due back the money EVEN IF Dr. G's office failed to submit the bills to Medicaid.

I have to hire a probate attorney because Dad and I did not get the title of his Chevrolet Avalanche out of his name before he died. I am going to sell it and use the funds to buy Dad a tombstone. He did have DI insurance on the truck, and it paid off everything on his loan, save for about 2500.00- which is due on or before Feb 26, 2010. However, since the Title is in his name, a mere POA will not allow the Title department to transfer a temporary Title over to me. I have to have a court order to do so.(The full title will transfer upon the loan pay off). I need the $900.00 back from Dr. G's office to pay for the probate attorney I need to hire.

So today, A2 started preschool. I took off 3 hours of time this morning to see him off to school and be close at hand- "just in case". I came home and drafted my letter to Dr. G's office, which I am cc:ing to the County Medicaid office. I am not trying to get anyone in trouble, I just am tired of Dr. G's office staff refusing to address this matter. All they have done is call to tell me Dad's account is current!

The whole ordeal has been frustrating, but I don't mean to complain. Dad thought he and I would get more days to work these matters out. We would go to breakfast and talk about things, or I would sit with him and talk about his affairs and to be honest, I think it depressed him. Who wants to admit they are dying at 56? I am not upset at all that I am the POA, I am simply upset that Dr. G's staff did not bother to check into what Brett was relaying to them for me.