The Curious Case of Jack Smith: Insurance Verification Drama

Jack Smith came in for a podiatry visit.
He left behind a billing horror story, three unverified insurance cards, and a trail of confusion for everyone.

Let me explain.

Who Is Jack Smith?

Born in 1945 or 1947, depending on which insurance plan you ask. He has a Medicare card, an AARP Medicare Advantage card, and an AARP supplement card. Possibly has a Tricare card tossed somewhere in his family tree. 

Jack Smith is breathing out of spite.

He’s survived:

• Incorrect name suffix entries.
• DOB mismatches.
• Insurance Portal rejections.
• Jill’s confused, dazed look.
• Three AARP cards that instilled Jill with lifelong UHC trauma.
• A system that insists Jack’s name is “not on file.”

And then we have Holly, the healthcare consultant, having palpitations from screaming at poor Jill.

All Jack wanted was a podiatry visit.

Jack Smith is now the face of billing resilience.
Every time his insurance eligibility is denied, his will to live gets stronger.

The Real Problem? It Was Never the RCM Dept.

Cue the entrance of the healthcare consultant. Let’s meet Holly. You know the one, clipboard in hand, four acronyms after her name, and a confused look when told the front desk never got real training on the Availity portal.
She was brought in to diagnose a problem. The assumption? The billing team messed up.

Wrong.

Turns out the RCM biller was gaslit for months by:

• Front desk staff hired with zero experience.
• Training was a word no one could spell in that office.
• Staff who believed eligibility verification means glancing at the insurance card, with zero comprehension.
• Medical Providers clueless about Primary vs Secondary insurance plans.
• Consultants who suggest “we should do training” and then disappear into a PDF binder pretending to look busy.

Let’s Talk About Jill.

Poor Jill. Hired after a 4-week medical admin course that taught her how to say “Copay is due at check-in” and memorize the CPT code for toenail removal. Now she’s responsible for:

• Decoding Medicare vs. Medicare HMO vs. Medicaid vs. Supplements.
• Making high-stakes decisions about insurance plans with no actual training.
• Understanding AARP cards is like dealing with Cabbage Patch horror dolls from the 1980s, with their creepy, confusing blank stare. They come with birth certificates but no answers. Just like AARP cards. And somewhere in a dusty basement, one of those horror dolls is whispering: Medicare Advantage Plans replace Original Medicare… Jill never stood a chance.

Jill makes $16.75 an hour. She’s been given no handbook. No cheat sheets. No instructions on what to do when Jack Smith walks in with a full insurance filing cabinet in his wallet. Yet when claims get denied, guess who gets blamed? Let’s call UHC to get the answer, lol. 

Jill at the Front Desk: The AARP / UHC Trauma.

Today, Jill meets Jack Smith again. This time, he brings the AARP Starter Pack.

What Jack Hands Her:

• ✅ His Original Medicare card
• ✅ An AARP Medicare Advantage card (UHC)
• ✅ An AARP Supplement Plan F card (also UHC)

Jill’s Thought Process:
“Wow, that’s a lot of AARP. Is one of these a Walgreens discount card?”

What Jill Actually Does:

• Enters Original Medicare as primary.
• Enters AARP Medicare Advantage as secondary.
• Labels the AARP Supplement as “expired” and doesn’t enter it.
• Smiles and tells Jack, “Oh, honey, we don’t need all those insurance cards. You’re good to go.”

Somewhere in the universe, Sasha throws a stapler across the room.

What Jill Doesn’t Know (Because No One Trained Her):

• AARP Medicare Advantage is a Medicare Replacement Plan. It becomes the primary payer. Do not bill Original Medicare.
• AARP Supplement Plan F is valid with Advantage plans. It is a supplement plan.
• Just because all the cards say AARP does not mean they do the same thing.

Sasha’s words:

AARP are like triplets raised in different states, same genes, totally different behavior. One replaces Medicare. One supplements. One just wants to feel included.

When the Consultant Finally Realizes…

After creeping back and forth, frustrated because she spent 45 minutes trying to log into the Availity portal, Holly finally says the words:

“Wait… this isn’t the billing department’s fault.”

Sasha’s Official Patient Intake Note.

Jack Smith: Born 1947-ish, depending on which government agency you ask.
Has Medicare red-blue card, AARP Medicare Advantage plan, AARP supplement trauma, and unverified ties to World War II through Uncle Louie, who ran around the beach with unhealed foot fungus. This is why his uncle is important to him.

Final Thoughts from Sasha.

Until medical practices stop hiring untrained front desk staff at minimum wages and do not provide real training, nothing will change.

Jack Smith will continue to haunt us all. He will arrive with a red-white-blue card.
He will mention his great-uncle Louie.
He will stare at Jill as she says, “You’re good to go, honey.”

Sasha’s Side Note:

At this point, Jack Smith would be better off as a Cabbage Patch doll.
At least then, someone could just make up a DOB and the claim would process, no suffix drama, no UHC/AARP trauma, no Jill scanning the wrong insurance card while sipping an expired pumpkin spice latte.

p.s. Let’s immortalize Jack… cabbage-patch certificate and all😂.