How should I interpret this?

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I'm working with a lawyer from the TLDEF on an appeal of the denial of prior authorization for SRS, but they seem to be having somewhat cold feet about it. They said it is a question of whether TLDEF is willing to put its name on the appeal; he has to have approval from his supervisor to do that. He said he would let me know by Wednesday next week whether or not TLDEF will be sending it.

He says that TLDEF is not that interested in these types of cases because they only solve the problem for one plan and there's a slim chance of a lawsuit.

He says that he is planning to start his own private practice by January and assured me he would continue working on my case at no charge.

He says he wants to try something called structured negotiation, where I would attempt to gain approval through negotiating with my employer to get the insurance to pay.

I have no idea where to turn or what to think of all this information and why it all came out in this call.

A structured negotiation is a deliberative process where all parties involved in a claim are able to find consensus about how much they are each willing to share the costs and work of settling a claim without resorting to a costly and risky lawsuit. In your case, it would probably involve determining the actual costs of your plan SRS, and then determining how much obligation each of the parties has in fulfilling their promises. This means that you might be expected to accept less from your insurance policy in exchange for some payment of the SRS. Your employer could help exercise some influence with the insurance company, and if you, your family and friends offered to pay a higher co-payment, then all parties might agree to approve the SRS. Failing approval, you could then pursue a lawsuit against your employer and its insurance company.

Structured negotiation is a good step in the right direction because it shows that you are willing to work with everyone to accomplish your SRS.

Thanks for the explanation! For now, it seems like something for further down the road. It might require taking a loan from my retirement account, but whatever gets me there!

Right now, the lawyer is checking with his boss to see if he can put TLDEF's name on the grievance letter and will get back to me by next week.

TLDEF's name won't go on the letter, but the lawyer is still going to type it up for me and send it to me by the end of the week. After that, we wait, AGAIN!