My ears have been hurting. And itching. Tons of pressure. But I didn't have an ear infection, confirmed first at the Minute Clinic and then a week later at my regular clinic. They referred me to ENT for this morning.
ENT tested my hearing, which is fine. Then they looked at my ears, which also looked fine (again). Then the doctor ran his fingers up my neck to where the jaw meets and I nearly leapt out of the chair.
Turns out TMD/TMJ often presents as ear pain/pressure/itching. So they shuffled me out of ENT to the referral lady, who told me to call my insurance and ask them who I could see for it. Apparently, it also turns out that insurance has a hard time with TMD because medical thinks dental should cover it and vice versa.
So my insurance will only cover a visit to maxillo-facial pain clinic if it results in surgery. Does this sound logical at all? I'm on my own until it's so bad I need surgery? Don't cover any kind of consultation, physical therapy, acupuncture or anything less invasive that might prevent surgery. That's just crazy talk.
So I guess I'm on my own.
3 comments:
That is crazy talk. Sheesh. How frustrating & sucky.
Tell me about it. We are having similar issues ourselves. Both Cheesehead AND TBO. I wonder why they'd rather let it go until it gets that bad. Wouldn't a smaller treatment cost them less money? SIGH. Makes me wonder why I should even bother keeping insurance sometimes.
Obviously they don't require intelligent people to make their rules. I really can't see any other sensible explanation for it.
Give me a call if you want to know what you can do about it on your own, and haven't found it on the internets yet...So sorry to hear you've got this condition -- it sucks, I know since I've had it for ~8 years now.
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