Recipe for Disaster

Q: What do you get when you combine local medicine, insurance and banking?
A: A reminder of what I will not miss about Singapore.

Joyce had surgery back in early December to remove what turned out to be a harmless lump from her shoulder area. Because we carry insurance for her, I carefully followed protocol to ensure that the local insurance company would cover the procedure. The cost of the surgery was about S$1,600 so it was worth claiming. You already know where this story is heading...

First, we had the surgery performed at a local hospital because I was advised the insurance provider may not cover the costs at a private hospital. As a result, we had to endure 4 pre-surgical appointments that really weren't "appointments" so much as sitting in a huge waiting room for an hour each time to see the doctor.

After the surgery was completed, the insurance company informed me that I would need to have the "doctor's attending statement" filled out by the surgeon. When Joyce went for her follow-up visit and asked the doctor to complete the 5 boxes on the form, he sent her to the medical records office at the hospital. In that office, they shared the news that the doctor would complete the form after we paid a fee of $95. Yes, we were charged money for the doctor to fill in a few blanks on an insurance form. It would take 6 weeks to receive the completed form, which was unfortunate since the insurance claim had to be filed within 30 days of the surgery. This sums up how enjoyable our experience was at Singapore General Hospital.

Thankfully the insurance company accepted our claim without the doctor's statement and while I jumped through all these hoops, I kept thinking that it would be a minor miracle if I ever saw a dime of the money for the surgery. Imagine my delight when, finally, 3 months later we received a check from the insurance company.

A couple days after Brian deposited the check, the bank called to explain that they would not be able to process the insurance check because the numerical amount written in the box on the check showed "85 cents" but the amount that had been written on the line below showed "84 cents" instead. Nothing can be simple.

The bank sent us the bad check and I called the insurance company to explain the problem. When I told the man on the phone about the error, he laughed. I explained again that I could not deposit the check because of someone's handwriting error. He laughed again. I even said, "I don't see the humor in this situation" but he just couldn't help himself. I finally asked him to give me an alternative contact because I could no longer deal with him.

I took the check to an office near downtown, waited about 5 minutes in the lobby while a nice, non-laughing woman took the check, scribbled the correct amount and initialed the change. And by some miracle the bank actually accepted it this time around.

I spent a fair amount of that money without guilt as I felt like I had earned it by the end of the ordeal. And it provided a good example of the lack of customer service that I will not miss when I leave Singapore.