Health Care Reform - a small personal story
There are a lot of stories out there about the need for health care reform...actually insurance reform.
I recently retired and in doing so I knew I would have to go on COBRA until November when I would be eligible for Medicare. I also knew that I would be paying almost $700/month for it.
I was supposed to get the COBRA information in the mail but after several weeks, there was nothing. It seems that since the company I worked for had been sold there was a new health insurance broker (another middle man?) who probably hadn't submitted my need for COBRA.
I became aware of that when the pharmacy, trying to refill my meds, called me asking for my "new card". Silly me. I thought that since I was paying (at least when I got the promised coupons) for the same coverage, I would use the same card. Nope. Since COBRA hadn't gone through I would have to pay full price for medications - one med would be more than $400 for one month. So I asked for one week of the most important meds since I was getting ready to pay out almost $700 for the first month of coverage.
Then I worked with the company's Benefits Manager to overnight the information (and my check) so I could get the card. ASAP and then get the rest of my meds ASAP.
There is something wrong with insurance companies needing brokers.
There is something wrong with health insurance being connected to having a job.
There is something wrong with one medication costing more than a car payment.
There is something wrong...
I recently retired and in doing so I knew I would have to go on COBRA until November when I would be eligible for Medicare. I also knew that I would be paying almost $700/month for it.
I was supposed to get the COBRA information in the mail but after several weeks, there was nothing. It seems that since the company I worked for had been sold there was a new health insurance broker (another middle man?) who probably hadn't submitted my need for COBRA.
I became aware of that when the pharmacy, trying to refill my meds, called me asking for my "new card". Silly me. I thought that since I was paying (at least when I got the promised coupons) for the same coverage, I would use the same card. Nope. Since COBRA hadn't gone through I would have to pay full price for medications - one med would be more than $400 for one month. So I asked for one week of the most important meds since I was getting ready to pay out almost $700 for the first month of coverage.
Then I worked with the company's Benefits Manager to overnight the information (and my check) so I could get the card. ASAP and then get the rest of my meds ASAP.
There is something wrong with insurance companies needing brokers.
There is something wrong with health insurance being connected to having a job.
There is something wrong with one medication costing more than a car payment.
There is something wrong...
posted by Mitzi at Saturday, April 14, 2012
2 Comments:
I was very fortunate when I retired from Air Products to have coverage turn over seamlessly via the Cobra option. Unfortunately, in your case - and for most folks - that does not happen and you get stuck in that never-never land where, like you said, meds cost more than a car payment. It's insane. And inhumane.
Great Post, thanks for sharing ^_^
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