Last year my health insurance provider decided to jack up my monthly premiums by another $700.00 a month. For the record, I made three routine doctor's visits in 2021 and had three rounds of blood tests. That's all I used my insurance for the entire year.
The new premium they wanted was roughly $400.00 more a month than what I've been earning, so my total gross income alone wouldn't cover the cost. I could have asked my guy to help me with the payments, or pulled the money out of my retirement account, but I decided to see if I qualified for government assistance. As it turns out I did, so I enrolled in that healthcare.gov program where they pay part of the cost, and then paid my first, greatly reduced premium.
My insurance provider got confused by this (I'm still not sure why), didn't log the change or give me credit for the first payment, or the one I made before that, and cancelled my insurance policy -- without telling me or sending me any notification -- retroactive to November 30th.
Fast forward to this month, which I spent in complete, ignorant bliss as to my insurance coverage status. I go and have my quarterly blood tests, and then see the doctor a week later to discuss the results. I'm doing better with my numbers, by the way, thanks to increased exercise and some dietary changes. As I go to check out the clerk at the front desk informs me that my insurance is "inactive." That's how I found out they cancelled my policy.
After much effort and confusion, I am insured again. I think. It's been a week, and I have yet to get any confirmation on that. I have one e-mail that says "Thanks for making your first payment" that I got when I made the first payment for the second time, and that's it. I'll have to pay for my January doctor's visit and the blood tests out of pocket because I was uninsured at the time. I also still have no idea why they cancelled my policy.
I am trying to be philosophical about it; I know the healthcare system is a complete mess, and people are out sick and not able to do their jobs. My insurance company refuses to put any information online or give it to me by e-mail, which is their choice. They won't give any information to my guy if he calls for me, and I am too deaf to hear them over the phone. If I want to talk to someone in person -- assuming I could even hear them -- their nearest office is forty minutes away from us and my guy just had minor surgery for a cyst on his neck (thank heavens HE has insurance) so I don't want him to drive me over there, especially as they might make us wait for hours.
I have been paying for health insurance all my adult life, and I have never missed a payment. And this is where I am with it. I am trying to be patient, I am making myself stay calm, and hopefully, I end up with health insurance. But I still don't know that for sure. So I hope these people all end up in Hell.
Just kidding. Hell is probably full now. Anyway, health insurance should not be this much of a headache.
2 comments:
I'm so sorry. I hate the hurdles as well. Jimmy's working and we have Blue Cross, but because I retired, I HAD to take Medicare however, Blue Cross is my primary insurance and they will tell anyone interested that if they'd just call. But they never call so even though I only have Part A because I have to have it, I do NOT have part B and yet, everyone tries to bill my Medicare first. Also, our out of pocket went up again this year so not only do we pay $500 a month toward our insurance, we also pay a $5100 out of pocket deductible our of pocket before the insurance pays anything. So essentially, we pay $11000 a year for insurance. We're still waiting for the phone call to schedule his knee replacement. That will eat up that $11K in a hurry, but we usually don't spend that much a year however, if we don't have that insurance, you better believe we'd end up spending that and more every year.
Can't you put your guy on everything so you can bypass the HIPAA regulations? I have Jimmy and both girls on my stuff and vice versa.
Oh, I feel for you. I've been there myself. Thankfully I'm on Medicare this year. I was paying an exorbitant amount for insurance. I never felt I got my money's worth. It gave me migraines every time I tried to figure out why they wouldn't pay this or that.
I hope you're over the worst of it and they have it figured out.
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