51 My Battle to Make the Health Insurers Obey the Law Part 9, Section 1 – the Disappearing Ombudsman: 14 October 2024

This Table summarises the correspondence/ communications between me and the Ombudsman in February 2022 and the “non responses” from the Ombudsman.  During February, the strategy of the Ombudsman was nearly identical to that of HCF.  It had two major strands, the first mirroring that of HCF - “If we ignore him, he will go away”; the second strand of the strategy was “Bulshit Baffles Brains”.  Neither strategy worked.  I refused to go away and I always refuse to accept bullshit.

 

Letter Details	Length of Communication	How Made	Date of Response	Length of Response	What Did Response Say?
Email from Ombudsman received by me on 2 February 2022 and then disappeared; received a second time on 18 February	13 lines and sign off	Initially sent from ombudsman@ombudsman.gov.au at 2:41 pm on Wednesday 2 February 2022   Resent from SarahDeSade@ombudsman.gov.au at 9:43 am on Friday 18 February 2022 - after it “disappeared” from my computer	I replied by letter dated 21 February 2022 after I received the email again on 18 February	16 pages	See below- in summary, my letter said “Carry out your statutory duty”
Letter 7 February 2022* addressed to Sarah De Sade, Complaints Officer	2 pages, plus 5 pages of copy of my letter to HCF dated 7 February	Email to ombudsman@ombudsman.gov.au  sent at 5:30 pm on 7 February 2022	No genuine response, only email received at 9:43 am on Friday 18 February acknowledging my “recent correspondence”	4 lines plus sign off	Nothing apart from acknowledgement of my “recent correspondence”
Copy of my letter to HCF dated 7 February	6 pages	Attached to email to ombudsman@ombudsman.gov.au  sent at 5:30 pm on 7 February 2022	No genuine response, only email received at 9:43 am on Friday 18 February acknowledging my “recent correspondence”	4 lines plus sign off	Nothing apart from acknowledgement of my “recent correspondence”
Email dated 12 February addressed to Sarah De Sade	5 lines	Email to ombudsman@ombudsman.gov.au  sent at 1:02 pm on Saturday 12 February 2022	No genuine response, only email received at 9:43 am on Friday 18 February acknowledging my “recent correspondence”	4 lines plus sign off	Nothing apart from acknowledgement of my “recent correspondence”
Copy of my letter to HCF dated 12 February	5 pages	Attached to email to ombudsman@ombudsman.gov.au  sent at 1:02 pm on Saturday 12 February 2022	No genuine response, only email received at 9:43 am on Friday 18 February acknowledging my “recent correspondence”	4 lines plus sign off	Nothing apart from acknowledgement of my “recent correspondence”
Copy of HCF claim documents seeking payment for Margaret’s Lift treatment provided on 25 January 2022	3 pages	Attached to email to ombudsman@ombudsman.gov.au  sent at 1:02 pm on Saturday 12 February 2022	No genuine response, only email received at 9:43 am on Friday 18 February acknowledging my “recent correspondence”	4 lines plus sign off	Nothing apart from acknowledgement of my “recent correspondence”
Email to dated 13 February addressed to Sarah De Sade	2 lines	Email to ombudsman@ombudsman.gov.au  sent at 1:25 pm on Sunday 13 February 2022	No genuine response, only email received at 9:43 am on Friday 18 February acknowledging my “recent correspondence”	4 lines plus sign off	Nothing apart from acknowledgement of my “recent correspondence”
Replacement page 2 of my letter to HCF dated 12 February 2022	1 page	Attached to email to ombudsman@ombudsman.gov.au  sent at 1:25 pm on Sunday 13 February 2022	No genuine response, only email received at 9:43 am on Friday 18 February acknowledging my “recent correspondence”	4 lines plus sign off	Nothing apart from acknowledgement of my “recent correspondence”
Phone call from Sarah De Sade at 9:13 am on Thursday 28 January 2022	21 minutes 31 seconds	Call from a “Private Number”		21 minutes 31 seconds	There were many complaints about refusal of health insurers to pay for Lift treatments and this matter had been ongoing for some years.  Senior officers were discussing this with the Health Department
Attempted phone call from Sarah De Sade to me at 9:43 am on Friday 18 February 2022	Zero	Call received from “Private Number”	I was driving and unable to answer call	Zero	Zero
Email from Sarah De Sade received by me at 9:43 am on Friday 18 February 2022	4 lines plus sign off	Sent from SarahDeSade@ombudsman.gov.au at 9:43 am on Friday 18 February 2022	I replied by letter dated 21 February 2022	16 pages	In summary, my letter said “Carry out your statutory duty”
Phone call from Sarah De Sade at 10:07 am on Friday 18 February 2022	22 minutes 44 seconds	Call from a “Private Number”	I was not driving and answered the call at 10:07 am	22 minutes 44 seconds	Discussion about Ombudsman decision to dismiss my complaints about HCF

* The date 25 January 2022 appears in error on this letter