Part Thirty-Five: The Fourteenth of March

There were four more pages.

Page two was a list of the documents that had been received and the one document that had not.

Page three was headed, in bold capitals, YOUR RIGHT TO APPEAL.

And page three said — I am going to give this as plainly as the letter gave it, because the letter was not unclear, the letter was perfectly clear and nobody read it — that the member or the member’s representative had sixty calendar days from the date of the notice to request an internal appeal; that the appeal could be made by telephone or in writing; that there was a toll-free number; that if the internal appeal was unsuccessful the member had a further right to an independent external review by a reviewer not employed by the plan; that the external review was free of charge to the member; and that a request for expedited review would be decided within seventy-two hours where a delay would jeopardise the member’s health or functional capacity.

Page four was a form.