Speaker 1: Hey, Hey, ba fam, it's Mandy here. I'm so excited.
Speaker 1: First of all, have y'all been loving the Monday Holaback
Speaker 1: episodes because I know I have. And also for y'all
Speaker 1: who look at our catalog and you're like, holy crap,
Speaker 1: we have over five hundred episodes. We've been in the
Speaker 1: game for over eight years. Do you know that? So
Speaker 1: this is such a great way if you just come
Speaker 1: into our show, you want to also get in touch
Speaker 1: with what's happening with us right now in our lives,
Speaker 1: but you also want to take a little time machine
Speaker 1: back back back to old way back when these Monday
Speaker 1: episodes are all about throwing back to older shows in
Speaker 1: the archives and bringing them back up. This week, we
Speaker 1: have a real juicy one for y'all. We discuss how
Speaker 1: to solve medical billing nightmares. And given the fact that
Speaker 1: I just went through a medical nightmare with some family
Speaker 1: members of mine and have been wading through all of
Speaker 1: the billing crab the only thing I can say is,
Speaker 1: don't trust a thing you see on that bill. Call
Speaker 1: everyone and fight for yourself. Fight for your insured to
Speaker 1: cover things, even if everyone at the hospital says they
Speaker 1: have your insurance information. It's all great and dandy. I
Speaker 1: don't know how, but they just lose it and there's
Speaker 1: so much that can go wrong. So enjoy this episode
Speaker 1: and I will be back at the end.
Speaker 2: Hey hey, hey, we're back. We're back. We're back, and
Speaker 2: I'm back from vacation slash many not really honeymoon because
Speaker 2: I went on it with two couples. Have you ever
Speaker 2: been in a couples trip, manny.
Speaker 1: A couple's trip? Have I? Technically every summer we go
Speaker 1: on a camping trip with our friends and we've now
Speaker 1: become a couple's trip because everyone's boot up and married
Speaker 1: and stuff. Okay, so yeah, yeah, yeah, I have Okay,
Speaker 1: not to Jamaica though, Yeah, I mean.
Speaker 2: It was honestly, it was gonna be like just a
Speaker 2: girl's trip. Me and my bestie. We typically go away
Speaker 2: at least once a year with each other. And then
Speaker 2: we were like, oh, you know, we should bring the
Speaker 2: guys because we felt it was close to father Well
Speaker 2: Father's Day passed not too long ago, I guess, and
Speaker 2: I was just like okay, and then you know, I
Speaker 2: ended up randomly getting married, So I was like, well,
Speaker 2: this can be like like a test run for a honeymoon,
Speaker 2: and then another friend of mine when we've had on
Speaker 2: the show, Lovey, said oh, I'll come too, and so
Speaker 2: it just became like six of us. Honestly, it was.
Speaker 2: It was actually really good. I was nervous because I
Speaker 2: knew the girls because we all knew each other, so
Speaker 2: I knew we'd all get along. But it's like bringing
Speaker 2: your like you know, I don't I hate to call
Speaker 2: many kids, but you know, you're like, oh my god,
Speaker 2: are our kids gonna play well together? And they did.
Speaker 2: One of them was like this was like they were like,
Speaker 2: this is like adult summer camp. The guys hang with
Speaker 2: the guys, the girls hang with the girls, and then
Speaker 2: we hang out to yeah there. So that happened all throughout,
Speaker 2: like you know, like yeah, it was Honestly.
Speaker 1: We had exactly how our trips end up to the
Speaker 1: girls go do their thing and the guys go find something.
Speaker 2: To break right or like in Jamaica, you know, it
Speaker 2: was a little different.
Speaker 1: It was like they don't grow up.
Speaker 2: They don't at all. I was like wow, and it
Speaker 2: was just it was just I realized, I don't I've
Speaker 2: never seen Superman like interact with like I mean, I'm
Speaker 2: used to seeing him with like his friends, but it
Speaker 2: was interesting to see him with like kind of friends,
Speaker 2: you know, yeah, you know, because with his friends, you know,
Speaker 2: he's I guess he's kind of like the quiet one.
Speaker 2: But I was like, he's really like the connector. He's
Speaker 2: like pretty social because I'm really like, you know, I'm
Speaker 2: talking of one, so typically he's like, you know, okay,
Speaker 2: Tiffany got it. And he has a twin brother who
Speaker 2: is also very like outgoing and social, so he's I
Speaker 2: see now that he's kind of like the deflector, Like,
Speaker 2: so if you're social, you got it. But the other
Speaker 2: two guys that were on a trip, they weren't super talkative,
Speaker 2: so all of a sudden, I'm like, is that him? Oh,
Speaker 2: they're facilitating all the fun. It was so weird to
Speaker 2: like see them across the beach and he's like the
Speaker 2: animated one. I'm like since one, So that part was
Speaker 2: really like interesting to see. I'm like, you're a storyteller's story.
Speaker 2: So that was actually like a lot of fun. And
Speaker 2: I don't know what they put in the Jamaican rum.
Speaker 2: I don't drink, so me and the other girl love
Speaker 2: you came with us? She does we don't drink, so
Speaker 2: but surprisingly no one was, even though you know they
Speaker 2: were Jamaican running it up. I guess they put like
Speaker 2: next to no alcohol, but everybody was like super good.
Speaker 1: Oh you know those all inclusive resorts, they watered that
Speaker 1: stuff down.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I was not impressed with the Dominican resort Pina Coladas.
Speaker 2: I must say, they're like another one. Actually have put
Speaker 2: three in one of these. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm not trying to feel sloppy, but I
Speaker 1: want to feel a little nice on my vacation. Also,
Speaker 1: did were you guys at an all inclusive resort?
Speaker 2: For sure? Girl Bob. It was like everything, and I
Speaker 2: liked it because there was like a little like beach
Speaker 2: kind of like restaurant where you can get stuff grilled
Speaker 2: and then they're also the resort itself had two like restaurants,
Speaker 2: and then of course it had like kind of like
Speaker 2: the open like buffet cafeteria type thing. So it was nice.
Speaker 2: It was it was small, which I liked. It wasn't
Speaker 2: one of these mega resorts where it's like three or
Speaker 2: four hundred units. It was only like eighty and they
Speaker 2: were like these treetop villas, so you didn't we didn't
Speaker 2: have hotels. Everybody had their own individual like Tiki, like villa.
Speaker 2: It was really cute. Honestly, I liked it a lot.
Speaker 1: They're nice.
Speaker 2: And I didn't know this, but like I guess, certain
Speaker 2: islands you can like pay for VIP concier service where
Speaker 2: they'll like walk you through customs and everything. And so,
Speaker 2: I mean I just bought my thing. It's not like
Speaker 2: we were being fancy. I got it on Expedia. It
Speaker 2: was it was, you know, a great deal and it
Speaker 2: came with it, and I was like, why, I don't
Speaker 2: think I could ever go back to a normal airport.
Speaker 2: I mean, we walked through every line, and you know,
Speaker 2: customs lines are so long, especially if you're not a
Speaker 2: citizen of that country. I mean we walked to the
Speaker 2: front of every line, and then we waited like in
Speaker 2: a they called it Mobay cafe, which is cute, and
Speaker 2: so we waited for like our transportation to take us
Speaker 2: to the hotel and his cute little cafe where it's
Speaker 2: more rum punch and food. And it was really really nice,
Speaker 2: and then we got upgraded to first class first row.
Speaker 2: On the way back home, I said, it can't get
Speaker 2: any better than this. Wait.
Speaker 1: You know that because you've oh, go ahead.
Speaker 2: No, no, it is because well, I mean I figured
Speaker 2: it because I was like, how did we get upgraded?
Speaker 2: So I asked and she's like, oh, you booked it.
Speaker 2: She's like, who's Tiffany, Because I'm a freaking flyer, and
Speaker 2: so she was like, you know, like they just happened
Speaker 2: to have the empty seats, and you know, she's like,
Speaker 2: we always looked to see obviously to like kind of
Speaker 2: reward our frequent flyers because I frequently fly with United,
Speaker 2: no judgment United tubs in Newark where I lived, and
Speaker 2: so they were like, you know, we upgraded you, and
Speaker 2: then you know, we saw you had a party with
Speaker 2: you and I was like, look it. God. So we
Speaker 2: were the first four seats in the front. Ya. You
Speaker 2: couldn't tell us nothing. I didn't even know. People got
Speaker 2: like it was only like a three hour Like I'm like,
Speaker 2: you get a whole meal. I was like, I'll take
Speaker 2: the salmon and the chicken. You know. Superman was like,
Speaker 2: oh my god, babe, like cause we had like you know,
Speaker 2: VIP service here, you know, upgrades there. He was like, Babe, honestly,
Speaker 2: your life has nothing but amazing since I married you.
Speaker 2: I'm like it's been a month.
Speaker 1: But don't discourage that, don't they.
Speaker 2: I know, right, I'll take you. He was like, oh,
Speaker 2: this vacation was awesome. Everything was just so awesome. And
Speaker 2: I'm like, oh, so, yeah, married life has been really good.
Speaker 1: I think I prefer. I don't not prefer. It's different.
Speaker 1: I love traveling with friends. I just feel like you're
Speaker 1: less likely to get bored. And I mean, I don't know,
Speaker 1: I feel like other couples can maybe relate to this,
Speaker 1: but there's this like pressure to go on trips together
Speaker 1: and like really just like have the most amazing time
Speaker 1: and to be obsessed with each other. I'll be more
Speaker 1: every moment of every day. But yeah, it's kind of
Speaker 1: like regular life, Like you need breaks, yeah, and one
Speaker 1: of he wants to do one thing, the other one
Speaker 1: doesn't want to do that thing. And like when you
Speaker 1: have friends, you can just like break off into groups
Speaker 1: and then you have like your separate activities and you
Speaker 1: come back at the end of the day. I like
Speaker 1: the variety.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I honestly I did. I thought because you know,
Speaker 2: you think to yourself, Oh, I mean it's nice to
Speaker 2: be booed up because it was you know, we had definitely.
Speaker 2: We all had our boot time, but it was also
Speaker 2: nice to, like you said, switch it up, like oh,
Speaker 2: you know, I'm hanging with the girls, and then we
Speaker 2: hang out the group and then me and Superman by ourselves,
Speaker 2: you know.
Speaker 1: Like I love to go to resorts too. But my
Speaker 1: husband hates the water. He's like he and his brother
Speaker 1: are like the two Dominicans who do not like the ocean.
Speaker 1: It is the meanest trick in history. Really, Yeah, they
Speaker 1: just hate they don't like the water, and I love
Speaker 1: the water. And Soda is my brother in law, sister,
Speaker 1: his sister, my brother in law's girlfriend. And I'm like, great,
Speaker 1: so we can go do beach vacations. You and I'll
Speaker 1: be budied up. We can go do the water sports
Speaker 1: and excursions and they can just go do their thing
Speaker 1: and everyone's happy and there's no like arguing and like,
Speaker 1: you know, you don't want to come to the the
Speaker 1: swim with the toothless sharks with me, like you know
Speaker 1: in our last vacation, which is a real fight you
Speaker 1: have when you travel.
Speaker 2: Yes, I mean I was because at first it was like,
Speaker 2: you know, everybody was like I don't want to do
Speaker 2: any excursion. I don't want to do anything. And then
Speaker 2: after two days we were like, we should do an
Speaker 2: excursion because we're bored. So we did a fun one.
Speaker 2: It was ATVing, and and then it was like some
Speaker 2: like natural springs at the end which were freezing but fun.
Speaker 2: So that was a nice little break. And then it
Speaker 2: was beach again. But you know cause after a while,
Speaker 2: I mean, I'm not like every single day go to
Speaker 2: the beach from sun up to sundown. Although I enjoyed
Speaker 2: the beach, I'm like, so is there any other activity?
Speaker 2: So your ATVing was definitely like a lot of fun.
Speaker 1: I love that. I'm too afraid of the sun. I
Speaker 1: get made fun of. I have an obsession with SPF.
Speaker 1: It's not because I'm worried about having darker skin. That
Speaker 1: is not kind of just say that. It is not
Speaker 1: the reason I'm not one of those people. But I'm
Speaker 1: really worried about skin damage and I'm trying to be
Speaker 1: on my j LO game when I'm fifty. And I
Speaker 1: thought she when I read this, or I can't even
Speaker 1: tell you what I when I read this, but she
Speaker 1: was like, my secret is spray tanning. Not that I
Speaker 1: spray tan but spray tanning and no sun and she's
Speaker 1: super golden all the time. And I was like, I
Speaker 1: must learn her ways and I must not have terrible skin,
Speaker 1: but also low key. My mother has had several melanoma
Speaker 1: removed from her from her body, and so be on that.
Speaker 1: You know what I found out. You can purchase sunscreen
Speaker 1: with your FSA account. This is major, really, yes, yes,
Speaker 1: When I discovered that, I was like, I need a
Speaker 1: bigger bag.
Speaker 2: So tell people what was FSA?
Speaker 1: People like this is my favorite? My absolutely, I think
Speaker 1: I did a brown boost for this before, which is
Speaker 1: my favorite thing in the planet. If you have a
Speaker 1: healthcare plan where you can get a flex savings account. Basically,
Speaker 1: a flexible savings account is something that accompanies your health
Speaker 1: plan and you put in money that you earn before
Speaker 1: taxes are taken out into a little fund and then
Speaker 1: they give you a debit card and you can use
Speaker 1: ther FSA card anytime you pick up prescriptions, you pay
Speaker 1: for your copays, you pick up approved over the counter medicines,
Speaker 1: and even stuff like I mentioned sunscreen Contact solution is included.
Speaker 1: Your prescription glasses are included. So I always get my
Speaker 1: glasses from Warby Parker, which is which is online right,
Speaker 1: So it's not like it's not like I go to
Speaker 1: a doctor and I can swipe my FSA card and
Speaker 1: I for some reason when I tried using my Sometimes
Speaker 1: f SA cards can be annoying. They don't always work
Speaker 1: on when you try and shop with them online. I
Speaker 1: think because what they're not really getting the right code
Speaker 1: or whatever is if they would if you were just
Speaker 1: shopping at a Dwayne Read or Write Aid or something. So,
Speaker 1: but it's also easy. I just keep my receipt and
Speaker 1: then I submit a claim and I always get refunded
Speaker 1: and it's no big deal. So that is, as I say,
Speaker 1: alert for the day.
Speaker 2: It smitty ady, that's good. I never thought about it that.
Speaker 2: I'm like, I feel so special now because you know,
Speaker 2: now that I'm married. I'm like, oh, like it is shirt.
Speaker 2: I was like, let me see, I fel all keep
Speaker 2: my insurance card is because it's a good insurance too.
Speaker 2: I'm like, oh, I'll take that. Oh you can run
Speaker 2: that test. No worries here, Yeah no, but you know
Speaker 2: what I learned today, Like, well not today, but I
Speaker 2: had to go for like blood work or whatever, like
Speaker 2: before my insurance car came in and I wasn't even
Speaker 2: sure if I was fully insured yet. And the woman
Speaker 2: who was taking my blood work she was telling me
Speaker 2: because she was like, I asked her how much is
Speaker 2: the how much is the lab test? And she's like, oh,
Speaker 2: I don't know. You know, they'll send you a bill.
Speaker 2: I was like, oh. She was like, why are you
Speaker 2: not insured? I was like, honestly, I don't even know
Speaker 2: just yet. You know, I applied, but you know, I
Speaker 2: don't know if it's kicked in yet. And she was like, well,
Speaker 2: if you tell them you don't have insurance, they can
Speaker 2: lower your bill up to seventy percent. I was like, wait,
Speaker 2: what so I don't know if that's like lab tests
Speaker 2: across the board, but for sure. She was just like,
Speaker 2: you know, let them know and then negotiate down seventy
Speaker 2: percent then you know, and she's she said, they're not
Speaker 2: going to share that with you, but you can you
Speaker 2: can say that, and I was just like, okay. She
Speaker 2: actually gave me a paper where I guess they you know,
Speaker 2: like they coached their clients and how to do so,
Speaker 2: and I thought, wow, this is great. So I'm gonna
Speaker 2: you know, I'm pretty sure but by the time I
Speaker 2: get the bill, I'll have my insurance card, so I'll
Speaker 2: be able to, like, you know, just be like, hey,
Speaker 2: you know, I do have insurance. But I just thought
Speaker 2: that was such a great tip to pass along about
Speaker 2: negotiating down, because I've definitely negotiated down other hospital bills
Speaker 2: before when I really did not have insurance altogether significantly,
Speaker 2: I think over fifty percent. I owed at one point,
Speaker 2: maybe like fifteen hundred dollars because I tried to die
Speaker 2: my own hair and not knowing I was allergic to
Speaker 2: a black hair dye, and so my face swelled up
Speaker 2: like a balloon and I went to the emergency room
Speaker 2: and you know, after them giving me a bend a
Speaker 2: drill basically, and that was it. A ben a drill
Speaker 2: and sit down. It was twelve it was twelve hundred dollars.
Speaker 2: I nearly wept, like well, she wrote me a prescription.
Speaker 2: I just knew it was like some special elixir from
Speaker 2: the gods. And when I went to the pharmacy and
Speaker 2: I was like, I have a prescription for my for
Speaker 2: my death to my my near death experience, and she
Speaker 2: was like, oh, go to ourset and I'm like, no, no,
Speaker 2: I have this prescription. She's like, yeah, it's beneddro go
Speaker 2: to all seven. I said, Ben Drill, maybe I was Leavid.
Speaker 2: I'm like that lady could have told me. She could
Speaker 2: have just said go home and get some beddro I
Speaker 2: didn't know that's what they gave me the hospital. That's
Speaker 2: so oh my god. And so when I got my
Speaker 2: twelve hundred dollars bill, I think I talked them down
Speaker 2: to like six or seven hundred. Yeah, around six hundred.
Speaker 2: So I was able to talk them down.
Speaker 1: Yeah, even if you have insurance, like it's what you're
Speaker 1: saying that your insurance wouldn't cover the lab test. So
Speaker 1: even though you have it and you have to pay
Speaker 1: out of pocket.
Speaker 2: Well I have the thing, is I So when we
Speaker 2: got married. As soon as we got married, he went
Speaker 2: to his HR. I was like, hey, I have a wife.
Speaker 2: I want to put her on my insurance. And so
Speaker 2: that was the twenty third of June, and so I
Speaker 2: got my insurance card in mail, but it was like
Speaker 2: I realized it was my dental insurance card. But still
Speaker 2: his insurance is altogether. So there was just a lot
Speaker 2: of confusion today when I was calling, like, am I insurance?
Speaker 2: I have to go to the doctor today? You know
Speaker 2: I have to get my lap test, and so they
Speaker 2: were just like, h, we don't see you in the system.
Speaker 2: So basically I know by the time I get cause
Speaker 2: they backdated to when you first first submitted your paperwork.
Speaker 2: So I'm pretty sure by the time I get my bill,
Speaker 2: I should be fine. But the fact that she just
Speaker 2: gave me that little tidbit of like, hey, you can
Speaker 2: talk them down seventy percent if it turns out your
Speaker 2: insurance hasn't kicked in yet. So I just kept it
Speaker 2: in my back pocket of oh something to share with
Speaker 2: the BA listeners. Hey, BA fan, we're gonna take a
Speaker 2: quick break and we'll be right back.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I think labs like anything that's really that's like
Speaker 1: a standard thing, like a lab result, like an MRI,
Speaker 1: a PAP smear, a mammogram. They always say that X rays.
Speaker 1: Those are the kinds of procedures that you can really negotiate,
Speaker 1: not just negotiate like after it's been done, but shop around.
Speaker 1: People don't really do this, but you can shop around
Speaker 1: in your area and call places or there's there's this
Speaker 1: one website that I met a woman named Jennifer I
Speaker 1: believe was her name, and she started a website called
Speaker 1: clearhealthcost dot com and I'm gonna make sure I'm gonna
Speaker 1: check out the name of that. But she actually was
Speaker 1: a She was a journalist covering healthcare, and then she
Speaker 1: did a fellowship I think the New York Times, and
Speaker 1: part of her fellowship was creating this website because she
Speaker 1: wanted to bring more clarity for people looking to shop
Speaker 1: around for their healthcare, because a lot of people don't
Speaker 1: realize that if they just go to a different zip
Speaker 1: code or just go two blocks down the road, they
Speaker 1: could save. And like the range of prices are like insane,
Speaker 1: like this place will charge you know, one hundred bucks
Speaker 1: from MRI. That place will charge two thousand dollars from MRI.
Speaker 1: It's all over the map and there's no rhyme or
Speaker 1: reason to it. Like that's what's frustrating about it. But
Speaker 1: you absolutely can and should shop around if you know
Speaker 1: you have time. Obviously, if it's non emergent and you
Speaker 1: don't have you have time to shop around, you should
Speaker 1: do that. Actually, I'm excited, because my excited is like
Speaker 1: exaggerated word, but you know, I'm looking forward to trying
Speaker 1: out my new healthcare because it comes with it comes
Speaker 1: with a service called Compass Okay, and Compass is like
Speaker 1: it's a company where whenever I need to go to
Speaker 1: the doctor, I call them and they help me find
Speaker 1: the most affordable place to go, Like they do the
Speaker 1: work for me and my My main healthcare is United
Speaker 1: health Care. But it's part of this new effort I
Speaker 1: think among health care companies to make people consumers care
Speaker 1: more about where they get their health care. Because I
Speaker 1: don't know about you, but for most of my life,
Speaker 1: I've had employer provided or parent parental provided health care,
Speaker 1: and all I think about is, I'm you know, it's
Speaker 1: going to be a thirty five dollars copay, that's going
Speaker 1: to be ten dollars and I don't really care. I
Speaker 1: just go wherever is open, but not really not really
Speaker 1: thinking that the actual health care provider is charging the
Speaker 1: insurance company a bajillion dollars for whatever I've gotten. So
Speaker 1: by encouraging people to shop around to get the most
Speaker 1: affordable care, insurance companies are saving money and we're saving
Speaker 1: money too.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Insurance is like this is so crazy. You could
Speaker 2: tell how old you are by your conversations. Now I'm like, yes,
Speaker 2: it's excited about get insurance.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about deductibles. Oh so I need to do
Speaker 1: one last health tip. Sorry, because I was going to
Speaker 1: do this as a boost, but anyway, we're talking about it.
Speaker 1: So now someone had told me that, you know how
Speaker 1: if you go the doctor, you get like a bill
Speaker 1: in the mail, and sometimes it says this is not
Speaker 1: a bill, but then sometimes it's just a bill, and
Speaker 1: you're like, what is this for? My insurance could have
Speaker 1: kicked in. I've been in that position before where I've
Speaker 1: gone for like a routine checkup and I come home
Speaker 1: and I even sometimes when after I paid my copay
Speaker 1: and I'll get an additional bill and I'll just pay
Speaker 1: without thinking about it, like I'll just call them and
Speaker 1: pay it off. Someone told me that sometimes billing offices
Speaker 1: just send a bill to the patient and the insurance
Speaker 1: company and just wait to see who pays them first.
Speaker 1: I was like, say, what is this illegal? Like what?
Speaker 1: So that just raised a little red flag in my
Speaker 1: head because I think even if those bills say, you know,
Speaker 1: this is not a bill, it's explanation of benefits or whatever,
Speaker 1: it still feels like a bill. And I wonder how
Speaker 1: many people are just paying it because they think they
Speaker 1: owe it.
Speaker 2: You've been surprised hospitals. I mean, these places make a
Speaker 2: lot of mistakes. I don't figure. So when Superman had
Speaker 2: his aneurism surgery, they sent him, I want to say,
Speaker 2: like eighteen thousand dollars and he was like, why did
Speaker 2: I get an eighteen thousand dollars check? If not more
Speaker 2: than that, it was something ridiculous like and so he
Speaker 2: called the insurance company. He called the hospital and she said, oh,
Speaker 2: it's likely obviously for us, for your like his well,
Speaker 2: his total surgery was nearly one hundred thousand, and I
Speaker 2: don't know if that was like their last payment, the
Speaker 2: insurance company, but they send it to him, and you know,
Speaker 2: and I was like, oh, you know, you know, he
Speaker 2: was like what do I do. I'm like, that's a
Speaker 2: lot of money. Someone's got to come for you. But
Speaker 2: it turns out and I kind of feel bad because
Speaker 2: I was like, you have to return it. That man
Speaker 2: saved your life. But it turns out the vast majority
Speaker 2: of your patients don't, and they don't go after them.
Speaker 2: Because when he when he you know, when he uh
Speaker 2: because the check was in his name, so he had
Speaker 2: to deposit in his account and then write a check
Speaker 2: to them. And she was like wow, you know, like
Speaker 2: she was like, most people don't give us the money
Speaker 2: and that's just it's just a loss. And I was like,
Speaker 2: what why she told us that earlier? What's out of
Speaker 2: my house? But I mean, it's all good, Kara, But
Speaker 2: I couldn't believe. Can you imagine? She's like, some people
Speaker 2: get sixty thousand dollars fifty thousand and they just keep
Speaker 2: it and we won't even know. She's like, you just
Speaker 2: happen to call. We won't even know that insurance company
Speaker 2: sends them a check. I'm like, what kind of shenanigans?
Speaker 2: Can you imagine?
Speaker 1: People who can do that and live? Like sleep at night?
Speaker 1: I know that it's a loud conscience.
Speaker 2: That's what I told him. I was like, honestly, like literally,
Speaker 2: this man like the it wasn't about when you're if
Speaker 2: you're annyurism was gonna burst. It was about when and
Speaker 2: within anurism, you have about a fifteen percent chance of
Speaker 2: making it, and then even after that, you have a
Speaker 2: fifteen percent chance of having no damage, no brain damage,
Speaker 2: and the fact that you are alive and kicking. And
Speaker 2: because he was so young, a doctor was like, if
Speaker 2: you were eighty we'd leave it, but you're thirty four,
Speaker 2: it's going to burst and it's likely going to kill you. Helle.
Speaker 1: If you're eighty, it's like, whatever, you lived your life,
Speaker 1: you had a shot. We're in a line. When does
Speaker 1: it become your worth saving versus.
Speaker 2: Yeah, to save. If we're going to open up your
Speaker 2: head at eighty, you were likely you're not going to
Speaker 2: be able to wake you back up. But like at
Speaker 2: thirty something, they were like, all right, so dude, we
Speaker 2: want to save you. So I was like, you know,
Speaker 2: the fact is you're living, so we're not broke.
Speaker 1: So you're able bodied exactly for you.
Speaker 2: So I'm glad he even turned the money. But still
Speaker 2: it just made me think, like how many people got
Speaker 2: these huge checks and kept it.
Speaker 1: I lied about having only one last thing to say though,
Speaker 1: because I meant to say this last time when you
Speaker 1: brought up health care and getting on Superman's health care plan.
Speaker 1: But I'm the cautionary tale because we just twiddled our
Speaker 1: little thumbs. After we got married. I was supposed to
Speaker 1: go on to his health care plan because it had
Speaker 1: better benefits than what I was getting, and we just
Speaker 1: like went on the honeymoon and came back and all
Speaker 1: this work stuff started happening, and three months later we
Speaker 1: were like, oh, yeah, let's do that. There's a thirty
Speaker 1: day period when you in which you can add your
Speaker 1: spouse to your insurance policy, and if you miss it
Speaker 1: sucks for you, like forever, not forever, just until the
Speaker 1: next enrollment period. So they let you. They give you
Speaker 1: a free pass if you have like a qualifying life
Speaker 1: event like you have a kid or you get married
Speaker 1: or whatever, but they don't. They only give you a
Speaker 1: certain window of time to actually make it happen. Okay,
Speaker 1: I mean luckily I was in a position where I
Speaker 1: have back up. Yeah, I get my own insurance anyway, So.
Speaker 2: Girl, the next day we were like, I do Hello.
Speaker 1: Maybe that's why I was so relaxed about it, you know,
Speaker 1: I'm like I'm good.
Speaker 2: Hello, Hello. Like literally, he's like, I only have the
Speaker 2: temporary license, but can I fact that over? So I'm gonna, oh,
Speaker 2: you gotta keep your last name?
Speaker 1: Oh god, did my mother send you? No, I'm just
Speaker 1: our LORI are you there.
Speaker 2: I've been really like honestly, like, it's so weird how
Speaker 2: Superman does not care at all. I'm like, I'm still
Speaker 2: Tiffany A Leech and I'm I'm Tiff Smith.
Speaker 1: That's wed a racial profile.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and honestly, I don't want to go Timny Smith.
Speaker 2: If I might do a Lee Chase Smith, but honestly,
Speaker 2: it's so weird how laid back he is. He's like, yeah,
Speaker 2: I don't you know whatever.
Speaker 1: So'say, they don't don't really care.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So I'm thinking Elie Chase Smith. I don't know.
Speaker 1: That definitely sounds good.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's what I was saying. I kind of like
Speaker 2: because they're both kind of shortish names, and then I
Speaker 2: kind of feel like, if you have a kid, I
Speaker 2: kind of don't want to be like the only one
Speaker 2: left out, Like, oh, well, you know, Elie.
Speaker 1: Chase Smith sounds like you're a scholar or something.
Speaker 2: Right, Alie Chase Smith Smith. So I might do that,
Speaker 2: but I don't even know what all that entails. I'm like, oh,
Speaker 2: what does that entail?
Speaker 1: Probably a big pain in your neck.
Speaker 2: Probably. That's one of reasons why I've been like, man, I'll.
Speaker 1: Get to it when I get you have health insurance,
Speaker 1: you can get that checked out.
Speaker 2: Exactly. My sister's like, you're making funt of my husband,
Speaker 2: because that's how he says it exactly.
Speaker 1: Oh is that who inspired that?
Speaker 2: Yes, he's very, very very Nigerian and so he says that.
Speaker 2: So sidebar, are you gonna go see Girl have you seen?
Speaker 2: You haven't seen Girl Trip?
Speaker 1: I tried. The damn Jerseyans would not let me go.
Speaker 1: You know, we have this seat. We have a theater
Speaker 1: really close to us, but it has that reserve seating
Speaker 1: thing where you have you buy your tickets. Not a
Speaker 1: bad yeah, that just means it's easier for everyone to
Speaker 1: snap up all the seats right away.
Speaker 2: And is it the eating one, like the one where
Speaker 2: you can eat there that one.
Speaker 1: No, it's not like the one where they serve you.
Speaker 1: It's just like a it is like the nice recliners though. Okay,
Speaker 1: but it's just a normal theater. But it's so annoying
Speaker 1: because it's always we have to usually wait two three
Speaker 1: weeks before a new movie comes out if it's like
Speaker 1: really popular to go see it. So I was not
Speaker 1: able to see it, but I saw it did. It
Speaker 1: was a number two movie in the country Brown Girls, Yes,
Speaker 1: and and it be you know they had that people
Speaker 1: were calling at the chocolate and vanilla, you know, like
Speaker 1: the there was like a vanilla Girls Trip it was
Speaker 1: with It came out a couple weeks had Scarlett Johansson
Speaker 1: and like, yeah, Kate McKinnon and Night Rough Night, the
Speaker 1: Roughnee at rough Night, and they were saying like and
Speaker 1: I feel like people were like waiting to see which
Speaker 1: one would do better. I'm pretty sure that one bombed.
Speaker 2: Oh no, no, yeah it did. It did not well
Speaker 2: at all. In comparison, this one has done tremendously well.
Speaker 1: As soon as I saw Queen Latifa, I was like, yep,
Speaker 1: going I do. I will see anything Queen latifas in
Speaker 1: even all the barbershops, even though they are terrible.
Speaker 2: Kind of like a new girl in there. Her name
Speaker 2: was Tiffany hersh or Tiffany with the H. But I've
Speaker 2: been like reading like interviews from her and she did
Speaker 2: Jimmy Kimmel. They're they're like, she's the c.
Speaker 1: The funny one.
Speaker 2: Yes, They're like she she yes, And I'm like, I'm already,
Speaker 2: I'm here for her already. And because she told this
Speaker 2: really funny story about her Jada Pinkett Smith and Will
Speaker 2: Smith and how they went she because I guess they
Speaker 2: were taking a New Orleans obviously, because the Girl's Trip
Speaker 2: takes place at Essence Fest and like she was saying
Speaker 2: how Jada was asking what are you doing tomorrow? She's like, Oh,
Speaker 2: I'm going on a on a twur you know, I
Speaker 2: got a group on and Jada's like, oh, I want
Speaker 2: to go and she was like wait. She was still
Speaker 2: a starstruck, like you want to go on the group? Why?
Speaker 2: She said, me and Will? So she said, they get there,
Speaker 2: all these people are there and they were like, what
Speaker 2: the hell is this? And she was like, well, like
Speaker 2: you know, like it's a trip. She said, why are
Speaker 2: all these people here? And she was like girls a group?
Speaker 2: Par She was like, well, what did you have a group?
Speaker 2: She said, Jada thought group. I meant that like I
Speaker 2: don't know that, like you you purchased the boat or
Speaker 2: something like that, or you rend the boat. Yo, I
Speaker 2: was wrongly. She was like, Jada and Will were like
Speaker 2: all these people what the hell? And she was like, Jada,
Speaker 2: I picked you up a in a twenty dollars rental car.
Speaker 2: What the hell do you think I was? And she
Speaker 2: was like, oh my god, the windows are not tinted.
Speaker 2: I don't know if I feel cruftble. She said, Jada,
Speaker 2: you forgot you from Baltimore, she said, But they ended
Speaker 2: up having such a good time and she said. Will
Speaker 2: was like, Yo, this was so much fun. I think
Speaker 2: I'm gonna buy one of these. And she was like,
Speaker 2: oh a boat. He said, no, a swamp.
Speaker 1: And she was like, wow, why would you even think
Speaker 1: that they knew what the group on is? I would
Speaker 1: have been like, and here's the Urban Dictionary. Here's you know,
Speaker 1: Webster's definition of a group on. I know, use my
Speaker 1: login if.
Speaker 2: You get a chance. Everybody should like, like, like, you know,
Speaker 2: I guess, go to YouTube and just type in like uh,
Speaker 2: Jimmy Kimmel Tiffany.
Speaker 1: Hash.
Speaker 2: Because it's such a funny story because first of all,
Speaker 2: she starts off with the the epicenter of all things
Speaker 2: brown girl, Like how you start every story? What happened was?
Speaker 2: I said, No, she did it, Jimmy Kimmel. She said,
Speaker 2: what happened was? And I was rolling. I said, I
Speaker 2: love you already.
Speaker 1: I love them tools, isn't it Jada Pink and Queen Latifa.
Speaker 2: There's a fourth a Regita King.
Speaker 1: Okay, I need to see it. I have got to
Speaker 1: see it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm gonna figure out, like I'm like, do I
Speaker 2: need to see it at ten am on a Wednesday.
Speaker 1: I'm actually going on a girl's trip next weekend to Montreal.
Speaker 2: Have you been before?
Speaker 1: H No, Yes, I have been. I don't speak French,
Speaker 1: but I have been to Montreal. I went for like
Speaker 1: a I went for a weekend like five years ago
Speaker 1: for a music festival. But this is a girls trip. Okay,
Speaker 1: I'm excited.
Speaker 2: I'm not a big fan. Oh I'm not gonna lie.
Speaker 2: I'm not a big fan of Montreal.
Speaker 1: What what effort did Montreal do to you?
Speaker 2: I mean like it was alright. You know how you
Speaker 2: go places you're like you know them. Eh, that's hard.
Speaker 2: I thought about it.
Speaker 1: I remember having a great time. I remember the weather
Speaker 1: being spectacular. I rented a bike and I biked all
Speaker 1: over that damn city. I even stole a bike because
Speaker 1: it was before City Bike came to New York City.
Speaker 1: I didn't know how it worked. And what happened was
Speaker 1: I thought that you could take it to your hotel
Speaker 1: overnight and just leave it there. I was like, surely
Speaker 1: there's not a station near me, So that does Bess
Speaker 1: mean that I could just park it here at my hotel?
Speaker 1: I don't know. Like five years later, it sounds so stupid,
Speaker 1: but sure enough, I couldn't find a doc to leave
Speaker 1: my bike, so I just brought it to the hotel,
Speaker 1: left it over night, and return it the next day.
Speaker 1: But it had been like ten hours and I was
Speaker 1: charged at seven hundred dollars for stealing a bike. But
Speaker 1: what's funny is I called I got back to New
Speaker 1: York and I called my credit card company, and at
Speaker 1: the time, I still didn't know what I had done wrong.
Speaker 1: So I was so outraged. I'm like, this is thievery.
Speaker 1: They tricked me. There must have been a skimmer on
Speaker 1: the on the bike share, you know, the bike share
Speaker 1: thing like re rent the bike. And I called my
Speaker 1: I think at the time it was Bank of America,
Speaker 1: and bless their hearts, they were like, oh right away,
Speaker 1: missus must be fraudulent because no one knew what a
Speaker 1: bike share was, and it was also a foreign transaction,
Speaker 1: so their fraud department was just like an that's gone.
Speaker 1: So technically I like I was the fraud.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you're like, yes, my bad.
Speaker 1: I mean I returned it. No, I had a great time.
Speaker 1: I remember the food being good. But anyway, this was
Speaker 1: it's really all for my my well Okay, I'm trying
Speaker 1: not to tell the full there's a full story. While
Speaker 1: we're going to Montreal. It's kind of on a it's
Speaker 1: kind of sad, but we're just turning the sad trip.
Speaker 1: We're turning the sadness into a girl's trip, so hopefully
Speaker 1: it'll be hopefully it'll be more fun than your trip was.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I just want to thank like to be a
Speaker 2: listeners just like sad By, Like you know, our last
Speaker 2: podcast we talked about my fibroids, and like I'm just
Speaker 2: beginning the journey. I'm like, oh, you guys are so
Speaker 2: awesome reaching out, giving your phone numbers, naming your doctors.
Speaker 2: And I said, okay, So honestly, I'm really like, I
Speaker 2: joined this group on Facebook called Vegan for Beginners. I
Speaker 2: know I'm not gonna be one of those vegans, I promise,
Speaker 2: but I don't even know if I'm gonna.
Speaker 1: Be vecas is a vegan. I've been thinking about it, you.
Speaker 2: Know, and so I don't know that I'm gonna, but
Speaker 2: I definitely have heard. Obviously meat has a lot of hormones,
Speaker 2: and the higher your hormones, like like fibroids, apparently, you know,
Speaker 2: thrive off like higher hormone levels, and so I'm definitely
Speaker 2: just open to I've been no but to changing my
Speaker 2: diet anyway. So I'm just like, Okay, I don't know
Speaker 2: that I'll be like completely vegan, but I definitely want
Speaker 2: to adopt a diet that's going to, you know, help
Speaker 2: with this and also stress. I heard is like you know,
Speaker 2: a big like like really of exacerbates your your fibrate situation.
Speaker 2: Something called live cultures, which are like probiotics, which are
Speaker 2: like I'm like really because I freaking love Greek yogurt,
Speaker 2: I love like olives, all these things that they're like,
Speaker 2: oh yeah, girl, no, I'm.
Speaker 1: Like really wait those apparently.
Speaker 2: Well this is what someone wrote me. I don't know
Speaker 2: for sure, you know, you have everyone always has something that.
Speaker 1: They did share.
Speaker 2: I'm already tired, I know, so I just said, you
Speaker 2: know what, but I read this really great article and
Speaker 2: they basically were like, like, you know, go speak with
Speaker 2: your doctor, find a doctor, and maybe even if it's
Speaker 2: a cluster of doctors that you trust, and then work
Speaker 2: from there. But I mean, in general, it's never a
Speaker 2: bad thing to eat, right, So that's something that I
Speaker 2: want to do in general, But at the end of
Speaker 2: the day, I'm going to like really sit down and
Speaker 2: find some doctors that I really trust and that understand
Speaker 2: and really that their focus is this, you know, like
Speaker 2: women and their like reproductive systems, and then just really
Speaker 2: like see like what can be done.
Speaker 1: You know. Yeah. Yeah recap though for people who don't
Speaker 1: know what you're talking about the brid situation.
Speaker 2: So yeah, I found out like I was like, oh,
Speaker 2: I should got to like you know obgy n. I mean,
Speaker 2: like I'm grown, so like I was like, never I
Speaker 2: was going to my regular doctor, but I wasn't going
Speaker 2: and I never had like any issues. It wasn't like,
Speaker 2: you know, I will always get my regular like you know, checkups,
Speaker 2: like I said, and but I went and I always
Speaker 2: had like this little pouch, but not always. I would
Speaker 2: say the last maybe like five or six years, I
Speaker 2: had this little pouch on my belly and I couldn't
Speaker 2: figure out why because I'm like, hmm, you know, like
Speaker 2: my stomach is fairly flat. And I would always complain
Speaker 2: to Superman and he'd be like, I don't see a belly.
Speaker 2: I'm like, I have one. I can't do anything about it, damnit.
Speaker 1: He's like, yeah, it was a trap.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was always wearing like if you've seen me,
Speaker 2: like typically most of my speaking outfits are pretty fitted,
Speaker 2: so you probably like, tip, I never see the belly.
Speaker 2: I'm like, uh SPANX and like you know, so I
Speaker 2: always always always wore. My sisters would tease me because
Speaker 2: even when I was like, like, I'm like I would
Speaker 2: say medium size now, but even when I was small,
Speaker 2: I would still wear like some sort of control top
Speaker 2: and they're like, what the hell tip me, and you're
Speaker 2: like a size for and I would always be like no,
Speaker 2: like you know, I just have this little belly I
Speaker 2: can't get rid of. So I guess it turns out
Speaker 2: it was five boids. I don't know how. I never
Speaker 2: figured that out before, but apparently now. I don't know
Speaker 2: how large they were now, but they're fairly large. I
Speaker 2: don't She never told me, like, she never gave me
Speaker 2: a comparison like to what but three large five boids,
Speaker 2: And I was like, yikes, and there're so five boards
Speaker 2: are non cancerous tumors and and you're like your uterus walls,
Speaker 2: So your uterine walls I guess they call, and so
Speaker 2: basically they can you know, it can prevent you from
Speaker 2: having kids, or if you do get pregnant, you're you're
Speaker 2: more of risk for like miscarriages. And it doesn't mean
Speaker 2: that like lots of women have kids with five words,
Speaker 2: but it's just you want to be mindful of these things,
Speaker 2: especially if you're wanting to have kids. And you know,
Speaker 2: so five boys, it's still a kind of a mystery
Speaker 2: as to why they grow, what makes them grow, what
Speaker 2: makes them shrink. So you know, I'm just kind of
Speaker 2: like exploring that. You know that, it's it's been a
Speaker 2: part of my family history. I'm just kind of like
Speaker 2: figuring out, like, you know, what what direction do I
Speaker 2: going till the doctor, Well, the second doctor I went to,
Speaker 2: it was like, oh he was a man. He was like, oh,
Speaker 2: right away, we all take care of these. We got
Speaker 2: to schedule some surgery. And I was like, oh, like
Speaker 2: that's pretty you know that's because you can you can
Speaker 2: have surgery and then end up messing up your uterus
Speaker 2: and not being able to have kids. And I'm like, uh,
Speaker 2: before we explore that option, I'm not fifty one of
Speaker 2: those things exactly. So I'm just like, hold up, wait
Speaker 2: a minute, exactly. So I'm just like, you know, so
Speaker 2: I'm really just trying to explore what are my options,
Speaker 2: you know, Like, I'm not opposed to surgery, but I
Speaker 2: don't want to put myself in a position to not
Speaker 2: at least try. I'm not gonna lie. I'm still on
Speaker 2: the fence about kids. I'm not like, yes, I have
Speaker 2: to be a mom. I'm kind of like, I want
Speaker 2: to try and if I have kids, great. But I'm
Speaker 2: not someone who's like, if I don't have kids, I'm
Speaker 2: definitely adopted because I want to be a mom no
Speaker 2: matter what. I don't feel that way. I'm just kind
Speaker 2: of like, I want to try and if I have kids, great,
Speaker 2: and if I don't, will I be disappointed? Yeah, but
Speaker 2: it's not my first it's not you know what I mean.
Speaker 2: Like I always thought that something was gonna click in
Speaker 2: me and I'd be like, I want to be a
Speaker 2: mom no matter what. And that has not clicked. Oh,
Speaker 2: I'm thirty seven, so it's not like, oh, because people
Speaker 2: told me, wait till your mid thirties, it'll click. It hasn't.
Speaker 1: Really people. I'm surprised because people that are older people
Speaker 1: I know who waited to have kids when they were older,
Speaker 1: universally have told me I wish I had done this earlier,
Speaker 1: and I should actually have been taking a poll as
Speaker 1: to why they wish. I don't know if it was
Speaker 1: because their bodies or their workload or what, but that
Speaker 1: and I just saw Mindy Kaling not to Mindy Kaling's pregnant. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And I read an interview she gave and she's like, yeah,
Speaker 1: so everyone told me to have a kid, just do
Speaker 1: it sooner than later, and so she just kind of
Speaker 1: like had one. And now I'm thinking, should I just
Speaker 1: have one?
Speaker 2: Just yeah, I don't, I know. Honestly, it's I'll say
Speaker 2: this like my my my best friend has a two
Speaker 2: year old, my sister has a one and a half year old,
Speaker 2: and also a four month old.
Speaker 1: It is.
Speaker 2: Disruptive to say.
Speaker 1: That it seems terrible. No say to all you moms
Speaker 1: out there, I'm sure it's very fulfilling, but you guys
Speaker 1: need look awful.
Speaker 2: But I mean, honestly, like I'll say this like, oh
Speaker 2: my god, my nephew, my godson, my niece. I'm not
Speaker 2: gonna lie when I have a bad if I'm having
Speaker 2: like like if today was like say a like super
Speaker 2: bad day, I would be like all right. After we
Speaker 2: get off the podcast, I'm actually just gonna go to
Speaker 2: my sister's house and literally just soaking the love and
Speaker 2: the pure spirits like that they are, because that's how
Speaker 2: awesome it is to be around them. And then poop time,
Speaker 2: d'd be changed it time to go to sleep. I'm
Speaker 2: mad at everybody. I won't eat, so you're like, oh,
Speaker 2: aside from Auntie lovetime, there's this other part where my
Speaker 2: sister literally what I call her all I hear her
Speaker 2: say is Roman, Roman, Roman, Roman, Roman, don't hear your
Speaker 2: sister Roman, don't bite her toes, Roman, don't eat that?
Speaker 2: And I'm like, what's that mean? While Roman's only wanted
Speaker 2: a half and I'm like, he's a terror. A cute terror,
Speaker 2: but a terror. It's very disruptive because I remember before
Speaker 2: telling her, like I had asked her to do me
Speaker 2: a favor and I was like, well, why did you
Speaker 2: do it? She's like, I'm on with a one year
Speaker 2: old and a four month old, and I was like,
Speaker 2: it can't be that hard, and then I baby said,
Speaker 2: and I was like, please save me. I was so
Speaker 2: exhausted and I couldn't. You can't sleep, what are you
Speaker 2: gonna do? Sleep? And let the kids be up while
Speaker 2: they destroy themselves, like I don't even know how she
Speaker 2: does it, Like sometimes the baby she only get two
Speaker 2: nights three hours worth of sleep and now she's back
Speaker 2: at work.
Speaker 1: And God made them cute.
Speaker 2: Yes, I really believe that God made kids really cute,
Speaker 2: because if not, I don't even know if people would
Speaker 2: keep them because it's a lot. So I'll say this
Speaker 2: that you know, I know people say, oh I wish
Speaker 2: I would have had them earlier or whatever, But have
Speaker 2: them when you're ready, because know that your life is
Speaker 2: not gonna be the same ever again in a good
Speaker 2: way and also in a disruptive way.
Speaker 1: Quite honestly, it's kind of like how I feel how
Speaker 1: I felt when I went hang gliding in Brazil. Stay
Speaker 1: with me on this analogy thing. It was the hardest
Speaker 1: thing I've ever done, and I've jumped out of planes
Speaker 1: and all kinds of stuff, because you literally have to
Speaker 1: work against all of your human instincts by like propelling,
Speaker 1: like running, getting a running start, and then continuing to
Speaker 1: run and keep running and then jump off a cliff.
Speaker 1: And the whole time you're like, this is terrible, this
Speaker 1: is stupid. Why am I doing this? And you have
Speaker 1: to like get it. That's what I feel like having
Speaker 1: a kid is like when you have to like decide
Speaker 1: to do it. You know, it's like you're going against
Speaker 1: you have all these reasons why not in front of you,
Speaker 1: and you have to keep just like barreling through it
Speaker 1: and just jump off the cliff and then it's fun
Speaker 1: or you die.
Speaker 2: Like I said, it's both super awesome and super I
Speaker 2: think I'm going to kill myself, I think, so I try.
Speaker 2: I try my best to like go over, like it'll
Speaker 2: be crazy. She'd be like, oh, I got I got
Speaker 2: your mail from mommy and Daddy's house. And I'm like, okay,
Speaker 2: I'll come get it without the bail. I'll come get
Speaker 2: it and I'll be giving like roaming a hug and
Speaker 2: Amelia kids, and she's either asleep or in the shower.
Speaker 1: She's like trapped.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So now I just know, like she knows, do
Speaker 2: you have anything to do after this? No. Last time
Speaker 2: I turned around, she literally just got into her bed,
Speaker 2: and I was.
Speaker 1: Like, oh, so, so I guess it just me and
Speaker 1: you can't.
Speaker 2: And so it just made me realize, like, wow, I
Speaker 2: need to come over more often just to relieve her,
Speaker 2: even it's just for an hour and a half if
Speaker 2: you know new moms or even if they have two
Speaker 2: of the kids and let those kids have a baby
Speaker 2: city age, go releave them.
Speaker 1: Yeah just an hour or something. Yes, if you're good
Speaker 1: with kids. Otherwise people like me stay home.
Speaker 2: Just send money, send money or give them like your
Speaker 2: next gift. Give them like the gift of a babysitter.
Speaker 1: I did. I sent my girlfriend a gift them a
Speaker 1: massage and like a gift to a hair salon, like
Speaker 1: a salon where she can get like a massage or
Speaker 1: hair for her baby shower. Gift was that petty? I
Speaker 1: was like, babies, don't she doesn't need more baby clothes?
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, I think a massage or a break. Honestly,
Speaker 2: I swear that I one of the things I'm looking for.
Speaker 2: It is like a really good babysitter, Like so that
Speaker 2: way I can like gift my sister like in the
Speaker 2: area where we live in and to just to gift
Speaker 2: her like, Okay, I'm gifting you married for the afternoon
Speaker 2: so you can like, you know, lay down.
Speaker 1: That's sweet.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm gonna look. So I'm like any apb out
Speaker 2: anybody know a good babysitter or Newark you know who's
Speaker 2: not crazy or like it doesn't eat kids.
Speaker 1: Let me know that is a high bar.
Speaker 2: You don't eat kids. You're not a murderer, you're not crazy.
Speaker 2: Let me know. It's time for do we have a
Speaker 2: name the segment? What do we call this?
Speaker 1: Questions? Okay, you don't even know her email yet, you
Speaker 1: can't possibly remember the segment a segment name?
Speaker 2: No way for questions? So yes, do we have any questions?
Speaker 2: I know we do?
Speaker 1: Okay, yes, today our question is and remember you guys,
Speaker 1: We're gonna do a special student loan episode in August.
Speaker 1: So I've gotten a lot of questions from you guys
Speaker 1: on student loan debt. If you have student loan det questions,
Speaker 1: you can email us at Brown Ambition Podcast at gmail
Speaker 1: dot com or go to Bronambition podcast dot com and
Speaker 1: select to ask us anything tab. So the question for
Speaker 1: today's show is from Lisitor LaToya, and my heart is
Speaker 1: like breaking for her. Here's her question. I'm gonna have
Speaker 1: to shorten it a little bit, but I'll get the
Speaker 1: gist of it. LaToya says, I'm typing through my tears
Speaker 1: right now. I am beyond frustrated. But in the midst
Speaker 1: of gathering myself and I thought of the two of you.
Speaker 1: The most precious day of my life is haunted by
Speaker 1: bad debt. I gave birth to my daughter, Taylor in
Speaker 1: twenty fifteen. At the time, I was a single mom,
Speaker 1: and I signed up for every new parent class I
Speaker 1: could find. I'm thirty three years old, and I'm fortunate
Speaker 1: enough to earn a good salary and have decent healthcare.
Speaker 1: But after I gave birth to my daughter, even with
Speaker 1: that healthcare, I've been hit with almost eight thousand dollars
Speaker 1: in medical bills. They don't offer any sort of centralized
Speaker 1: billing department, so I've been I've spent the last two
Speaker 1: years getting all separate bills and notifications from every person
Speaker 1: in practice that played a role in my delivery. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you can relate to that. Probably a hospital visit and
Speaker 1: you get so many different bills. So here she is
Speaker 1: with eight thousand dollars in medical bills from all different
Speaker 1: facets of her delivery process. So it's twenty sixteen, this
Speaker 1: is a year after the birth, and I finally got
Speaker 1: a hold of someone in their billing department that outlined
Speaker 1: all the outstanding bills that she could see from my understanding,
Speaker 1: I settled all the debt associated with my delivery. Since then,
Speaker 1: cut to now, I've since moved to Texas and I'm
Speaker 1: in the process of building homes. But nine months into
Speaker 1: building the house, I'm a few weeks away from closing.
Speaker 1: Today I received several alerts on my Fico account. It
Speaker 1: turns out four medical bills were reported and have dropped
Speaker 1: my score an average of fifty six points. I'm furious
Speaker 1: and I don't understand how this happened, no warning, no communication.
Speaker 1: What are my options? And here's sort of an epilogue.
Speaker 1: She says, I verified the creditor had my North Carolina address,
Speaker 1: so she's from her North Carolina originally and now she's
Speaker 1: in Texas and my old phone number. But they said
Speaker 1: it was my responsibility to update them. But how did
Speaker 1: I note? How could I have known to update them
Speaker 1: if I didn't know these bills existed? What should I do?
Speaker 2: And how old is this debt?
Speaker 1: This is only from twenty fifteen, so it's a couple.
Speaker 2: Of Oh, okay, so it's not like it's not like
Speaker 2: this debt has expired.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So she's saying that. She says that she had
Speaker 1: this eight thousand dollars debt it was from. She was
Speaker 1: getting separate bills for all these little things that added
Speaker 1: up to eight thousand dollars. And so she called the
Speaker 1: hospital building office to say, can you just tell me
Speaker 1: everything I owe and I'll go ahead and pay everything now.
Speaker 1: And she said she thought everything was settled, but apparently
Speaker 1: there were these four outstanding bills that were not settled,
Speaker 1: and that's what So basically she moved and wasn't getting
Speaker 1: her bills anymore. I don't know. Yeah, the hospital or
Speaker 1: the debt collector didn't have her new address and stuff.
Speaker 2: So honestly, the only thing I would think that you
Speaker 2: can do now is to try to negotiate with the
Speaker 2: debt collectors that you owe to get them to remove
Speaker 2: these things if you pay them.
Speaker 1: I wonder if it's the hospital that's pursuing the debt
Speaker 1: or if they've already sold the debt, because it hasn't
Speaker 1: quite been I mean, this debt happened in twenty fifteen,
Speaker 1: but she settled it in twenty sixteen, so it may
Speaker 1: be even less than a year since since she settled
Speaker 1: those debts. So I don't it depends on who owns it,
Speaker 1: but maybe she could call the hospital and if it's
Speaker 1: still the hospital, then they could then she could settle
Speaker 1: and maybe get them removed from her credit report. Does
Speaker 1: that change if it was a debt collector.
Speaker 2: Well, either one like oftentimes you can negotiate for that.
Speaker 2: So sometimes I'll tell people that I'm like, okay, like
Speaker 2: you oldest debt it, especially like let's you say you
Speaker 2: owe two thousand, and if you're trying to settle for
Speaker 2: five hundred, like good luck, you might be able to
Speaker 2: settle for a five hundred, but they're not going to
Speaker 2: remove it. But if you owe two thousand and you're
Speaker 2: actually going to pay two thousand or fifteen hundred or higher,
Speaker 2: then sometimes you can negotiate can this be removed because
Speaker 2: you're paying basically most of it or all of it?
Speaker 2: And so sometimes that because ultimately debt collectors or people
Speaker 2: that you owe, they don't care about your credit report.
Speaker 2: They want their money. So if you're able to give
Speaker 2: them their money and dangle the carrot of like, hey,
Speaker 2: this is why I want to exchange, and before you pay,
Speaker 2: get that in writing that they're going to remove it,
Speaker 2: then that's what I would try to do. But just
Speaker 2: know that you know you have to be able to
Speaker 2: either pay most or all of that debt in order
Speaker 2: for that to to go through. You know, like because
Speaker 2: I've seen like you know, I'm like, I've seen people
Speaker 2: you know, get you know stuff. It's called a good
Speaker 2: faith letter basically, get people get things removed from your
Speaker 2: from your credit report, and so you can try that,
Speaker 2: or a good will letter. It's called a good No,
Speaker 2: it's called a good will letter. So you can just
Speaker 2: google go ahead.
Speaker 1: The goodwill letters. Just you send those to the credit
Speaker 1: bureaus or to your lender or the debt collector.
Speaker 2: So you would send that to the debt collector, so
Speaker 2: whoever is borrowing that you're borrowing from. Because actually like
Speaker 2: clear points like this like Free I remember I think
Speaker 2: I met them at fin Con. Clear point is like
Speaker 2: this Free Debt or credit Counseling agency. They're nonprofit and
Speaker 2: they actually have a d y I how to write
Speaker 2: a good how to write a good will letter for
Speaker 2: credit repair, and so you know it's possible. It's different
Speaker 2: from a dispute. Basically, you're just saying I know this happened,
Speaker 2: and you know, and I'm not asking I'm not saying
Speaker 2: that this didn't happen. I'm just saying, hey, you know,
Speaker 2: can you, if I pay you or whatever, can you
Speaker 2: basically do me a solid and take this off, you know.
Speaker 1: Yeah. One of my questions that I that I had
Speaker 1: for LaToya, and I actually melt her. I'll see if
Speaker 1: she responded, but I wanted to know if when she
Speaker 1: settled those debts, if she had gotten a letter from
Speaker 1: the hospital saying they had been settled and that the
Speaker 1: accounts were closed. Because I've actually had to settle I
Speaker 1: was going back and forth and back and forth with
Speaker 1: someone some lab that I had gotten. I don't know
Speaker 1: some you know how you go to the doctor to
Speaker 1: get a physical, and they put the blood work, they
Speaker 1: put it, they send the blood work to like a
Speaker 1: third party lab, and I kept getting billed from them
Speaker 1: and bills from them, and I finally was like, let
Speaker 1: me just settle this and I'll pay your eighty dollars
Speaker 1: or whatever. And they even went. They sent me a
Speaker 1: verification saying the account had been closed and it was
Speaker 1: paid in full, and I kept that for my records.
Speaker 1: I don't think that she had like a record of
Speaker 1: this settlement, and I would have and I would say,
Speaker 1: if anyone's in this situation, and you're you're moving forward
Speaker 1: and you're trying to settle a debt, whether it's with
Speaker 1: a hospital or your credit card or whoever, to make
Speaker 1: sure that you're getting some sort of record where you
Speaker 1: can show them. Because people make mistakes, especially we were
Speaker 1: just talking about medical billing offices made mistakes all the time,
Speaker 1: and you can you can dispute them and I mean
Speaker 1: argue against them. But if you have a paper trail,
Speaker 1: it makes your case all that stronger.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And like I said, try that, try that goodwill letter.
Speaker 2: Like I said, the purpose of a good will letter
Speaker 2: is to appeal to the goodwill of the person that
Speaker 2: you owe. You're not saying that you don't owe. You're
Speaker 2: acknowledging that this is a debt that's mine. But you know,
Speaker 2: I'm asking that you you know that you recind this
Speaker 2: basically for my credit report, you know, and you know
Speaker 2: one of the ways you could do that. Let's just
Speaker 2: say if it's if it's one late payment that you made.
Speaker 2: You know, people send in goodwill letters or in this
Speaker 2: in this instance, saying this is what happened. I thought,
Speaker 2: I did everything. What can I do to fix it?
Speaker 2: And can you if I pay you know, can you
Speaker 2: take this off? And you'd be surprised because, like I said, ultimately,
Speaker 2: they don't care about your credit report. Credit reports are
Speaker 2: the way they try to get you to pay them, Like, well,
Speaker 2: if I punish you here, I'll get my money. Ultimately,
Speaker 2: everybody just wants their money.
Speaker 1: But what if she doesn't actually owe it? Because I mean,
Speaker 1: in that case, right, she needs to. I don't think
Speaker 1: she's an acknowledge that the debt's hers if she's not convinced.
Speaker 1: So one of the things I would tell her to do,
Speaker 1: or anyone is people don't you should send a debt
Speaker 1: or she should try sending a debt verification form to
Speaker 1: this is true and this is all, Oh, go ahead now,
Speaker 1: So I say.
Speaker 2: You're right, verify it like it makes sure this debt
Speaker 2: is yours.
Speaker 1: Because if you send it, when you send a debt
Speaker 1: verification letter, and I'll post a link in the show notes.
Speaker 1: But this Consumer of Financial Protection Bureau has a form.
Speaker 1: It's like a sample letter. All it is is you're asking,
Speaker 1: how do you know this debt is mine? What's the amount,
Speaker 1: what are the dates? And it was dude, show me
Speaker 1: that you show me that I owe this debt? Basically,
Speaker 1: and if they can't do that, then you should move
Speaker 1: forward and dispute that it's even yours in the first place.
Speaker 1: And it sounds like that she has a case. Hold
Speaker 1: on a second, well, oh, this is so awesome. Wait
Speaker 1: a second, this is like a live question update LaToya,
Speaker 1: She emailed me back two hours ago.
Speaker 2: Wow, hey, LaToya, you just knew we were gonna go LaToya.
Speaker 1: Wait, and it's good news. Second. Okay, so we didn't
Speaker 1: even help her. We helped Hopefully someone else enjoyed our advice. No, okay,
Speaker 1: this is okay. Hold on, this is breaking news. We
Speaker 1: need a breaking news away. Thank you. So here's Yah's update.
Speaker 1: She says, thank you so much for responding. I used Okay,
Speaker 1: this is so cool. I used a group legal prepaid
Speaker 1: benefit through my employer to find an attorney, so her
Speaker 1: employer had a benefit program where she could find like
Speaker 1: low cost legal aid. They fought the debt, and all
Speaker 1: three bureaus deleted those four accounts from my reports. My
Speaker 1: credit score has recouped most of the impacted points to
Speaker 1: my credit score, and I close on my home on
Speaker 1: August fourth.
Speaker 2: That's another right. We didn't think about that. Legal services
Speaker 2: see LaToya, you taught be a listener something that we
Speaker 2: didn't even suggest. That's awesome. I'm glad you fought it.
Speaker 1: I didn't know. Well, she didn't say in her original
Speaker 1: question that it was like a lawsuit, you know, if
Speaker 1: or she was sued or whatever. But that's definitely something
Speaker 1: that's like the next step. Like once these debts have
Speaker 1: been unpaid for so long, they ding you on your
Speaker 1: credit report, and then if enough time goes by, they
Speaker 1: may even pursue a lawsuit against you in court, and
Speaker 1: that's when things get difficult. But she did exactly the
Speaker 1: right thing by trying to find low cost legal service.
Speaker 1: So huzza, yes, take them. That's to the man hospital,
Speaker 1: suck man. Yeah, that is the moral of this story.
Speaker 1: I should have done a brown break for medical building offices.
Speaker 1: All the stress, you know, and she had. The thing
Speaker 1: that kills me is she had insurance and she still
Speaker 1: wound up in this situation.
Speaker 2: That's crazy.
Speaker 1: Even if you have insurance, you're not safe from this BS.
Speaker 1: But happy ending. That was so funny. Yeah, okay, good,
Speaker 1: I'm glad because she sounded so stressed in that email. Okay, guys,
Speaker 1: you too can have a happy ending if you if
Speaker 1: you email your questions so Brown Ambition Podcast at gmail
Speaker 1: dot com.
Speaker 2: Dot com or go ahead ahead, no, no, no.
Speaker 1: How about you say it? What's their website.
Speaker 2: The uh podcast Brown podcast dot com.
Speaker 1: You got it. We're coming on two year anniversary.
Speaker 2: I know what are we gonna do?
Speaker 1: I don't know. Last year we did a dinner, so.
Speaker 2: Start asking us, like when are we gonna have When
Speaker 2: are we gonna get pregnant? When we're gonna get married?
Speaker 1: What you and me?
Speaker 2: Because you know we were like, you've been together for
Speaker 2: two years? Now when are you a man? He gonna
Speaker 2: have a baby? Leave us alone?
Speaker 1: She's seeing other people, super boos and supergirls.
Speaker 2: I know we should do something maybe that you guys
Speaker 2: can give us some suggestions tweet us, yeah, if you
Speaker 2: have some suggestions about you know what, like what di
Speaker 2: should we do to celebrate? Last year we had a
Speaker 2: dinner with some listeners which was really fun and the
Speaker 2: food was it wasn't the food was so good? So
Speaker 2: what should we do this time? We'd like to do
Speaker 2: something a little different.
Speaker 1: It's got the six flags.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, I hate little Oh that's right.
Speaker 1: I meant to tell you Supergirl has some words to
Speaker 1: say to me at your wedding about that trip to
Speaker 1: Disney World.
Speaker 2: What is she?
Speaker 1: Yo?
Speaker 2: Supergirl? Is something up? What does she say?
Speaker 1: Oh, never mind, I't want to get her in trouble.
Speaker 1: I'm not a rat. No, No, she's I'm anitch.
Speaker 2: I do because she's like, Oh that's manny, I've got
Speaker 2: some things to share. Does she not have a good time?
Speaker 1: No, she had a great time. She loves you. You're
Speaker 1: the best. She said, You're so beautiful and pretty and
Speaker 1: smart and talented. It's exactly what she said.
Speaker 2: Yeah right, Supergirl's like, I'm not really feeling you right now.
Speaker 2: She calls me the daddy honker.
Speaker 1: Oh oh oh.
Speaker 2: I know we vented into that stage. Now. I'm like,
Speaker 2: oh great, just.
Speaker 1: Wait till she's fourteen. You can have him.
Speaker 2: So are we gonna do some wins? I can I
Speaker 2: have a quick win?
Speaker 1: Sure?
Speaker 2: So Tiffany, I can't say her last name hash hash
Speaker 2: Hattish hattish. So apparently I just saw on sence dot
Speaker 2: com that she got a stand up a deal discount
Speaker 2: d or deal whatever with Showtime. That's pretty awesome.
Speaker 1: Oh to do a stand up show, Yeah, you.
Speaker 2: Know that's pretty big. You know, all the greats have
Speaker 2: done that. So I just want to say kudos to you.
Speaker 2: From one Tiffany to another.
Speaker 1: What about you?
Speaker 2: Any any wins?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'll give a win to gold Bond rapid itch Relief.
Speaker 1: It is the best rapid itch relief cream on the market.
Speaker 1: Find it in your local CBS. You can buy it
Speaker 1: with your f s A card.
Speaker 2: What Okay, I guess you know.
Speaker 1: For real, if you're itching from your trip, don't use
Speaker 1: that cortizone cream. Just use like gold Bond or a
Speaker 1: V No. Those are my two favorite. From one type
Speaker 1: oh to another?
Speaker 2: Is that? Okay?
Speaker 1: Got along? Sowell? We're both typos?
Speaker 2: I know? Are you? Are you the are you the
Speaker 2: donor or the giver?
Speaker 1: Wait, Tiffany, we're typos.
Speaker 2: Now that wasn't funny.
Speaker 1: I just took them benat role.
Speaker 2: But are you the universal donor? Are you the universal receiver?
Speaker 1: I'm positive? So I think I can give, I can take,
Speaker 1: but I can't. No, I'm oh positive, I forget. I
Speaker 1: think I'm the universal.
Speaker 2: Receiver receiver and I'm the universal donor, but I can't
Speaker 2: give from anybody except for O's.
Speaker 1: Okay, sucks for you.
Speaker 2: Basically, I don't know why that's so funny.
Speaker 1: Hey ba fam. Wasn't that a fun throwback and such
Speaker 1: a fun trip down memory lane. Make sure to check
Speaker 1: out Brown Ambition every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Now, y'all,
Speaker 1: three times a week, three times the Brown Ambition goodness.
Speaker 1: We will see you Wednesday for our regular show and
Speaker 1: then Friday for our b a Q and a bye