I wondered when we were finally going to get “the letter”. The mail carrier was early today (substitute; why do they run the route in a different direction than the regular carrier?). So here it came.
Your insurance company has processed medical benefits on your behalf for the treatment referenced above. We have asked The Rawlings Company to assist us in determining if this treatment occurred as the result of an accident or injury for which another party may be responsible.
And so forth.
I thought briefly about calling the number listed instead of filling it out online but I was afraid they might trip me up on a question I wasn’t expecting. It started out simple enough – name, date of accident, contact info.
Then it asked if it happened on someone else’s property. I knew where that was headed – they want to see if they can foist the bill on to someone else’s insurance. I can’t blame them; it’s part of the job.
Then they wanted to know if I had settled “the” lawsuit against them. It didn’t ask me “if” I had filed a lawsuit – apparently they just assumed I had, based on the way it was worded. No, amazingly enough not everyone files a lawsuit when their child is injured on someone else’s property.
How am I supposed to answer that question? Yes, it’s settled because I didn’t file one in the first place and don’t intend to. Or do I say no it’s not settled because how do you settle a case that won’t be filed?
I said yes. Finally I had a page come up where I could type in comments. I told it to them straight – it was an accident and that’s all that it was. It could’ve happened to another child, but it happened to mine. It could’ve happened at home, but it happened at pre-school. I told them the state had investigated and found there was no negligence or faulty equipment and I had thoroughly talked to every single person involved, some of them several times.
I clicked on the Send button and now it’s just hope for the best. I called the director to tell her I expected the letter, but to give her the heads-up who our insurance company was, and the company doing the investigating for them, and how I had responded.
It’s not that I want to pay all those bills, really I’d rather not. I’d rather not pay for the individual care he’s getting at home for 8 weeks while he can’t go to pre-school. But the truth of the matter is, it really wasn’t anyone’s fault.
