this post was submitted on 01 Sep 2024
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"... The “dirty secret” of the insurance industry is that most denials can be successfully appealed..."

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[–] [email protected] 58 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

Interesting idea, but I imagine it suffers from similar issues to writing legal opinions: by signing your name to it, you're swearing that it's all true. Given AI's propensity for making things up, you need to check everything.

I wouldn't be surprised if 'knowingly filing a false appeal' is a reason to boot you off the plan in the first place.

[–] [email protected] 28 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

It's still a lot easier to review and understand something you weren't able to write than to also write that same thing without knowing how to write it.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I wouldn’t be surprised if ‘knowingly filing a false appeal’ is a reason to boot you off the plan in the first place.

For that to be an issue you would have to "know" it was false.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

You signed it, verifying that you knew what it entailed. That's what the comment was pointing out.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (2 children)

Usually when signing things off like this, it's affirming that you believe all statements to be true. They would have to prove you willingly lied, not that you were simply wrong, which is very difficult to prove legally.

That said, IANAL.

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[–] [email protected] 42 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

It’s free for users, though she might eventually charge for added services like faxing appeals.

She should sell the home addresses of health insurance executives.

And golf clubs. She should definitely sell golf clubs.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

The smallest child's aluminum bats are much much more reliable for more than a single swing, and follow through and reset are magnitudes quicker.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

I used to carry what I called a "cracker whacker," on food deliveries. It was a miniature Louisville Slugger baseball bat. I cut off the last ¼" and used a ⅓" drill bit to create a cavity inside. I then dropped in a 3.5 lb round bar of lead that had about 2" of room on one end to shift back and forth as you swung the bat. I then resealed the bat using the cap I took off, some wood epoxy and 4 finishing nails, just in case.

That thing would easily have shattered a kneecap if I had ever had to actually use it, rather than just brandishing it.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Jesus Christ dude, a Louisville Slugger by itself could shatter a kneecap

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Well these days you should carry a baseball and a glove in your car/home, gives you plausible deniability.

While it sounds extremely effective, your cracker whacker sounds extremely felonious. :)

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago (11 children)

As all the gun guys say "better to be judged by 12 than carried by 6".

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Unrelated fact, but on the topic of golf clubs, they are pretty slender. I think they may bend if you hit a large object with them.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

That's why Casey Jones traded the golf club for a hockey stick in the first movie. At which point he opened a can of whoop ass all over the foot clan thugs.

[–] [email protected] 41 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

Pictured: average Lemmy user.

[–] [email protected] 42 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I wish the average Lemmy user was writing open source tools that help people fight mega corps. That would be amazing!

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

might try that tbh, what're your ideas?

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 weeks ago

I’m not sure what you can do. But she wrote a cool tool that generates appeal letters automatically. Just find what is bothering you and work on it.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Same thing but to automatically send emails to your local political representative. Bonus points if I don't even have to know who it is

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)
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[–] [email protected] 28 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Gave it a go. Seems like it has potential. I'm still working through an appeal. My wife ended up in the ER in May and was directly admitted to the hospital for emergency surgery. Ten days afterwards we received a letter from the insurance company saying they had decided it wasn't medically necessary so they wouldn't be paying the $67k bill.

It has been a journey trying to get the appeal together. I had hoped the hospital would at least assist with a letter from one of the many physicians that attended her, but nope. We got laughed at by the surgeons office and told condescendingly "Yeah, that's not how any of this works. "

My biggest concern from the AI generated appeals are being able to confirm the statements it is making isn't just a LLM hallucination. As a lay person, much of the things necessary to make an argument are paywalled out of reach. For example, the insurance company cited the "2023 InterQual criteria for Surgical Conditions" as the reason why they are denying it. The AI appeal that was generated states that per the 2023 InterQual criteria for surgical conditions that hospitalization was medically necessary.

The only way it seems you can actually get access to InterQual is as a medical provider / payer.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

.... I thought most people actually just appealed most denials???

I was pretty sure this was already common knowledge?

90% of the time what happens is that you call up your insurance for some shit like hey my jaw be broken as fuck, and they go "nah thats cosmetic" and then you spend 2 weeks fighting with them until they cave and actually cover it.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

you call up your insurance

They're "solving" this problem with less agents or customer service staff, automating the process so you have a robot to deal with that doesn't ever seem to understand what you're saying, and can't get you to the right place. Basically make it as hellish as possible to even get your issue reviewed. Then, they stone wall you and don't take yes for an answer no matter what

[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 weeks ago

ah yes, this should be illegal, i don't care how much money it saves.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

...This is just a network switch/router.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 2 weeks ago

You sound like one of them fancy book reading types you get the fuck out! Lol

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

In an ideal ~~world~~ country, we would have a different system, but we don’t live in an ideal ~~world~~ country, so what I’m shooting for here is incremental progress and making the ~~world~~ country suck a little less,”.

It’s a good article. Don’t let that American exceptionalism creep into it.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

my brother in christ, "in an ideal world" this string is a fucking turn of phrase.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

The turn of phrase refers to things that are natural facts, human nature, stuff like that. This one isn’t any of those things, it’s weird to use it to refer to something specific to one country or place.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 weeks ago

"a way of saying or describing something"

hmm.

"Rather, Washington’s national security establishment has unthinkingly internalized a Trump-era turn of phrase that is rife with unrealistic expectations and unvetted assumptions."

hmmmm.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Yeah, honestly the appeal is a standard step in the bottom surgery process in the states. I know one lady who had to explain to her insurer why removal of the penis was a necessary step in her vaginoplasty.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

"are you sure it needs to be removed? Have you considered just taking it off first?"

The insurance, probably

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

"We heard that song. Aren't they all just detachable?"

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 weeks ago

We love some good news to start the day

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Hehe her dog is a donut hole with a PhD.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

I think the PhD may be honorary in Timbit's case. Though I suppose if she has a doctorate as well, she may have used him as a rubber duck, and therefore given him credit on her Doctorate Thesis, thereby granting him a doctorate as well? I dunno if that would work.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

You go human

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