I had a very annoying phone conversation today, which provoked a letter of complaint.
I’ll keep this to friends-only for now, but if they don’t make nice and respond in good time, I’ll be talking to Southern Voice and making public posts.
Resurgens Orthopaedics
I called your practice today to make an initial appointment to see Dr. X, after being referred to him by Dr. Y’s office. That should have been a simple thing, and it is with every other medical practitioner with which our family does business.
Today, however, was different. Whoever I spoke with to make the appointment spent a ridiculous amount of time arguing with me, telling me that because my domestic partner and I are not married, I could not possibly be covered under her health insurance policy.
As you may be aware, Georgia law does not permit two women to marry each other. Happily, my partner’s employer, Big Organization, offers domestic partner benefits to its employees. Therefore, my daughter and I are covered by their health insurance plan, and we each have ID cards from Insurer in our own names.
The details of my relationship with my partner really should not have been your employee’s concern, but she refused to simply accept the fact that Insurer knows that the policyholder and I are not married and that my coverage remains valid.
Had I been a less assertive person, I would have hung up and moved on to another provider. As it is, I nearly called Dr. Y’s office to tell them I don’t need to do business with anyone with poorly trained staff. However, I decided to push on, as I have heard good things about your practice.
I do request that you take care of the inadequate training your employees have received. I would like to know when and how you will address that issue.
If this isn’t a training issue, then I must consider it an example of bigotry. If that is the case, our family will not be doing business with you, and we will recommend that those we know seek orthopedic care elsewhere.
Sincerely,
Cynthia L. Armistead
cc: Dr. Y
Insurer
Big Organization’s HR Guru