A quick primer for the non-US readers: in US a lot of small business owners like us buy our policy from ACA Exchange, which is a government site. It presents us with policies from various private insurance companies, we pick one, it lasts a year, then it expires and we have to repeat the process. The private insurance carrier assigns our policy Member and Group numbers.
Our current policy is with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas. It’s set on automatic bank draft, because BCBSTX has a history of claiming to not receive payments when they are made in any other way. If the payment isn’t received, they cancel the policy.
Yesterday
Email.
Member ID – 92509677301
This is to let you know that your monthly payment amount has changed. Your new payment, scheduled to be taken on 09/18/2019, will now be $19,411.56.
Remember you can always log in to www.bcbstx.com and view your payment history or make updates to your payment options.
This is the member number for the policy that expired last year billed at the current year’s rate for 9 months. They are going to autodraft it.
Went to the website.
Another email.
Member ID – 925096773
We are sending you this reminder that your payment is due on the last day of each month. Please make your payment today to avoid being late and a possible disruption in coverage.
Not our member ID number. My name, but not the right number.
I call to member service and get a nice call center lady from India who absolutely cannot help me, because she’s been trained to answer basic questions and this is some sort of whatthefuckery she has never seen before. She transfers me to exchange.
Exchange, listening to everything: Okay, this is illegal and they can’t do that. The policy wasn’t cancelled. It expired. Call them tomorrow during business hours and try to go up the chain of command as high as you can.
Today
Member ID – 925096773
We are sending you this reminder that your payment is due on the last day of each month. Please make your payment today to avoid being late and a possible disruption in coverage.
Another email, with the member number from yesterday, which I haven’t seen before.
Website still inaccessible.
Me, calling to Member Services.
Representative, listening to the tale of woe: Let me put you on hold.
…..
…..
…..
Rep: I’m sending this to be fixed.
Me: What do you mean, fixed?
Rep, obviously not wanting to answer the question: This is an issue.
Me: What do you mean? Are you going to attempt to draft $19, 411.56 from my account?
Rep: Honestly, I don’t even see it. Look, there is an issue that’s affecting about 1,400 customers from the exchange. It will be fixed. Keep using your old member cards. Everything is fine.
My plan was to post a pretty post about my new African violet which has just bloomed.
And here is the Le Carousel, which is still not cherry, but is very pretty now in full bloom.
My flower joy is now quite diminished, for obvious reasons.
It’s pretty, right? ::sigh:: I guess I will wait till 18th to see if they try to draft $19K from our account.
Gordon’s idea sounds pretty good, but at the risk of getting on his bad side, I have to say that I think he has at least one ulterior motive. I think he’s just angling to finally get a house with a moat. LOL
It seems that until our (US) elected officials are required (“shall” not “may”) receive the same {the least friendly/worst coverage) medical insurance as any of those they “represent” the situati0on won’t change. Unfortunately, as the elected officials make the rules and aren’t likely to fund what adversely affects themselves this is unlikely.
I’m feeling a bit spoiled having Kaiser right now.
Are your auto-drafts for the current year plan still being removed? Was the payment at the end of August/beginning of September taken? I would worry that the “glitch,” in addition to billing you for nine months of 2018’s plan, also stopped taking payments on 2019’s plan, which could cause you to be disenrolled.
It couldn’t hurt to make a printout of the invoice and payment history for the current year in case you need it. It sounds like they know they had a problem with their billing software, but you want to stay on top of it til they resolve the issue, preferably with no overpayments or membership issues for you.
Just in case, this might be a useful site: https://www.tdi.texas.gov/consumer/index.html
Former BCBS employee
+1
I’d pay for the stop payment at the bank just in case it comes through. It’ll be a nightmare trying to get it refunded.
The U.S. Congress IS required to use the Marketplace for insurance and I think they all make too much for subsidies.
Pretty sure I would need immediate medical attention for the heart attack I would have if they told me they were going to auto-draft $19k. ???? Fingers crossed that it gets cleared up quickly and correctly!
+1
ikr.
I’m like ‘fuuuuuuuuu…’
Hell, if it was 19k per year I’d still lose control of my bladder.
Lovely flowers and such pretty colours. We were on holiday in Florida last year and a visit to the hospital was nearly thirteen thousand dollars . Our insurance eventually paid it but we had a few threatening letters from the hospital even though the hospital was in contact with our insurance company.
I would panic at the thought of someone cancelling my insurance and would be checking daily just in case they accidentally pressed the wrong button on the computer.
I can’t understand why you don’t have some kind of health care like we do in the UK or like Canada.
I do hope that they fix this problem you have soon.
As long as the private insurance companies bankroll the election campaigns for US politicians, things will not change for the better.
It is a shame that even a modest improvement like the ACA is being attacked now.
I am on Medicare. It matters to me.
(I have tried to keep this as non-political as I can. My apologies if I have not succeeded. Please feel free to delete.)
OK. One of the (many) major reasons why I am glad the folks immigrated to Canada.
Sorry. It is sad that you are held hostage by your insurance company for health care. We have problems but if any one I love has any wrongness, I never, ever think how much it will cost to get it taken care of. We just go to emergency and know that we will be looked at — even if it takes some time, which we do complain about.
How can a First World country have such a Third World or Worse health care system?
Whatever you do, never get rid of old bcbs insurance cards and proof that you had it. They retroactively took back what they paid for my mom’s cancer surgery 10 years later and insisted she never had insurance with them . They magically discovered all the proof right after notarized copies of all the cards, Bill’s, eobs, and proof of premium payment was sent through a lawyer
Wow. By ten years most people would have thrown out the paperwork. This is scary. Glad your family still had it all!
You’re correct. Never throw away your old insurance cards. I keep all my old medical and my car insurance cards, going back years, in file folders. Just in case. You never know if you might need it.
Yes, ABSOLUTELY keep old auto insurance cards. We ended up owing almost $15,000 in “back taxes” to [undisclosed state] for an old car (which we owned for less than two years) almost twenty years ago, because we couldn’t prove that we didn’t live in that state at the time, AND we didn’t have auto insurance records going that far back, AND neither did the insurance company! Needless to say, I refused to pay the taxes, but this scenario isn’t all that uncommon.
Wow. Why couldn’t you prove that you didn’t live in that state?
The only documentation they would accept was proof of having our car insured in another state after we moved. Neither we nor the insurance company had kept proof because it had been more than ten years in the past. Why would we need it?
Oh, gods, this reminds me of a fun tax situation I went through.
First, my new accountant (I’d just moved to the state when I hired him, but he really had been recommended…) prepared everything, gave me the forms, gave me the slip to send in… and didn’t actually e-file. So the check I send in was deposited, I thought everything was fine, and then a few years later (in the middle of going through spine surgery, while working on my doctorate and really not having the cope, I start getting all kinds of dire warning from the IRS. Who of course also contacts my broker.*
So. Eventually things settle down enough that I figure out how to deal with this. (Look, the surgery was rough, and I never did take time off from graduate school. And most of my spare energy was going to dealing with insurance companies, even though I had decent enough insurance through the university.) All the papers are sent in, and while it takes a long time to get processed, the IRS decides that yes, they never should have taken that money, and they also owe me returns from a couple of other years.
…at which point the state of Ohio steps in, and says that I owe them back taxes from the years before I moved there. See, there was no record of me paying income taxes in any other state. (Because I was living in Washington, which doesn’t have a state income tax.) So most of the money the IRS owed me was seized by Ohio. So then I get to prove that I was living there. Which is easy for the bit where I lived in my house. However, neither I nor my landlord can find the rental agreement for the housebarge I lived in after I left my ex-husband. And my landlord kept all the utilities in his name. And my bank had since been bought to other banks multiple times… (This did eventually all get settled. Though one of the checks did get mailed to the ex-husband, who claimed to forward it, though it was never seen again.)
* Amusing note – keep in mind, I’m most existing on a tiny graduate stipend at this point, for all that I have investments. Just to deal with the immediate situation, I chose to pay, and pulled most of my investments out of my European portfolio… two weeks before Europe really started crashing. There was a bit there when I could say that the best part of my investments were the part that were being mistakenly held by the IRS.
You can thank the Democrats and Obama for this mess as they passed this travesty, of course none of them pay for it or need to use it. It’s really sad that health insurance costs as much as a house payment on top of a gigantic deductible. Obama care is nothing but a Ponzi scheme. Good luck getting the mess sorted out.
No politics on this site please.
Let’s not start slinging political mud here please.
Yeah, we were so much better off without the Affordable Care Act and trying to qualify and afford insurance with no pre-existing conditions. Hint: they didn’t exist.
This is inaccurate. Obama wanted something closer to what he promised during his campaign, but the Repubs blocked him at every turn. What you ended up with was basically Romneycare with Obamas name on it.
This isn’t what is important though. The powers that be want Democrats and Conservatives (citizens not politicians) at each others throats. You need to work together since this is something that will benefits all the regular hardworking joes.
Conservatives and Liberals here in Canada don’t agree on a lot either, but our health insurance is something nobody is willing to give up.
Lisa, you seem to have the most accurate view of the mess.
Please don’t post your political agenda here. This is one of the very few places I can go today without fear of being told how the world is ending from one side or another. I, as well as everyone else I know, am perfectly aware that there are huge problems that need to be solved. The difference between this blog and others is that for the most part we all agree that good always triumphs over evil in the end. We also believe that everyone deserves a happily ever after. Your opinions about who is to blame are just not helpful. What good comes from rehashing history and pointing fingers? If you want to make a difference, then DO something. Help someone. Thank someone. Be grateful for your life and your blessings. Tell us about that….. I love cats too! Tell me about how we’re alike- don’t try too create barriers!
Dear Obama, thank you that I have medical insurance. Nobody would insure my family before you passed ACA. Would vote for you again!
Ilona
My daughter was told she was uninsurable and she had trouble getting a job because no company would insure her. The relief was ….. When the ACA was passed. Thank you Obama.
+1
+1
+1
Agree!
You Go Girl!!!
The USA biomedical coverage is so, so broken. I am so sorry you are having to deal with this whatfukery. The ACA is the one bright spot, and giving it more teeth would be nice.
+
Obama’s health plan saved my daughter’s life. Period.
+1
The ACA allowed my sister to get insurance for the first time as an adult, when she was still a poor artist. (Now she’s a fairly well off artist, but still – central exchanges are great.)
It was only a first step, but…
+1,999,999
Catlover: I thank Barack Obama everyday for the ACA!!
+1 Me, too!
I do miss, back in the sixties, when health insurance companies had to be nonprofit.
+1
+ infinity
And hospitals too. What a disaster taking them private has been.
This comment was redacted for breaking the blog rules. – Ilona.
My plan would be to make sure there was no way 19k “could” be drafted from my account. Once they’ve got it, they wont give it back unless you make them =S
My folks and sister deal with the effery that is the tejas exchanges. It is not fun times.
Agreed. Once they have it, it’s almost guaranteed you’ll have to take legal action to get it back.
Maybe talk to your bank and see what options you have on that end?
It’s tales like this that make me so very thankful I live in Australia. It’s not right that health care should come with so much uncertainty. I hope it gets sorted for you soon. The flowers are stunning!
Wait until you get Medicare! https://twitter.com/akkitwts/status/1169817087646171136?s=20
This dog is HILARIOUS!!!????????????
Oh my God, thank you for this !!!!! Lol
+11111
Come to Australia, we have Medicare, and kangaroo paws
I am so thankful that I live in a country where no one has to worry about medical insurance.
My mother after listening to me read this to her, says to call the insurance commissioner. Also she deals with insurance companies daily.
Filing a complaint with the state insurance board usually gets results quicker than other options.
Im so sorry you live in a world where you need to deal with this and feel thankful for our shitty healthcare here in Slovakia. I never worry if I get taken care of, just when, never worry about any costs except for meds too.
The corruption when it comes to medical insurance in the US is unbelievable. Look, I would never tell anyone to vote for anyone specifically, but if your choice candidate refuses to support Medicare for all, you should be moving on. I don’t care if you are Democrat, Conservation or Independent, you should be putting the candidates’ feet to the fire.
Our system in Canada isn’t perfect, but I’m very thankful for it whenever I hear the medical horror stories coming from the US. People dying because they were denied treatment. The medical bills people receive even though they are supposed to be insured. The bankruptcies. It’s heartbreaking.
Wow that is unacceptable and so stressful!!! I have nothing good to say about the US medical insurance industry.
I’m actually in the emergency room right now. Avoided coming here for two days because I was and am terrified of the bill that’s going to come out of this. I tried to go to the doctor but they said there’s just no appointment available so had to wait until today and then they ended up sending me to the ER anyway…
Horrible that people have to worry about affording bills vs getting necessary medical treatment.
One good thing from this is that I had time to finish Sapphire Flames 🙂 in the waiting room. What to read now?!
Read Ben Aaronavith’s Rivers of London series. So good.
Should be Aaronovitch’s
Thank you! I’m being admitted so will have some time to read!
If you’re into audiobooks the Rivers of London has an amazing narrator.
+1
Re the ER, I have had good luck with the Urgent Care facility in the next town (the one in our town is across the street from the fire station, and if you need care that urgently you’re better off going straight to the EMTs, because the urgent care place here sucks). They can take care of most things that are not fire-engine emergencies, and it’s a lot faster than the ER. Of course since you ended up being admitted, the ER might have been a good call in your case. Enjoy the Rivers!
If you like HEA contemporary romance, Lucy Parker’s London Celebrities series is great fun. Snarky, great dialogue, solid writing.
Good luck at the hospital!
I finished SF but even reading other books I like, I keep drifting back mentally to SF and SOB. Plot speculation, anticipation of when we will see the next one. Re reading while other titles languish because they just arent good enough. Its
not that I got ahold of the latest Ilona Andrews. The books got ahold of me. They dont seem willing to let go. LOL
Insurance sucks.
But I do get a big smile on my face every time you post an African Violet photo. My Grandma’s mom ran a florist shop and grew most of her own flowers in her greenhouse. My Grandfather was a rancher and farmer. My Grandma was always upset because of her “black thumb”. But the one thing she could grow like nobody’s business was African Violets. They were all over her house. She passed a decade ago, so I love little reminders of her in the world.
Really good book by Karen Addison, The Goblin Emporer. The names make my brain hurt, and it’s more Patrick Rothfuss in the pacing, but about every two years I have to go back and read it again.
To be honest health care in the USA completely and utterly freaks me out. As a child of the NHS in the UK I can’t understand how anyone copes with finding an appropriate policy, paying for it and monitoring it to ensure cover. So sorry you are having to deal with such incompetence.
The flowers are lovely, I especially like the purple one.
This is why my husband and I work at jobs that have health insurance benefits …..
While I’m happy to be able to access insurance through our employers, I’m awfully grateful that Ilona and Gordon have chosen to be writers, and think it’s ridiculous that they have to go through hell to get medical coverage. We are the only first-world country that puts profits for shareholders above the health of our citizens. Incidentally, my family was traveling in Belize this past spring and my husband was injured while we were exploring a cave. The local ER docs stitched him up and sent him next door for a bottle of antibiotics. All gratis for non-citizens. Belize is a poor country but their healthcare is top-notch. Makes one wonder why our very wealthy country can’t do better.
+1
And that wonderful how Belize treated you.
Call your BANK! … Tell them what’s going on & to refuse to accept the draft, if it should occur. I have always found my banks (and credit card issuers) to be helpful: they actually want to keep my business.
Let me tell you. Insurance is horrible on the Doctor’s end too. My husband regularly spends 2 hours A DAY to get basic test approved, for cancer! This started summer of 2017 {hint, problem WASN’T Obamacare} . They turn down EVERYTHING automatically. They also set the price for a procedure and drug, {and rarely pay that rate to the doctor} and then make the docs resubmit over and over to get less than owed, knowing the Docs will just eat the last 10 or 15% rather than pay for paperwork. AND they have gone back and retroactively decided they payed too much {even tho it was the amount agreed at the time} and subtract that amount from current reimbursements.
So basically, insurance companies are screwing EVERYONE, Docs and patients.
Pretty Flowers!
Holy moly! If I received those notices, in Maine, I would be on the phone to the insurance commissioner and the AG’s office and maybe the local newspaper. Don’t know if that’s how it works in TX. Good luck!
I haveAetna BlueCross insurance. I set up a reoccurring monthly payment through my on-line banking system. You have to call the BlueCross number on your statement, tell them that you’re setting up payment through your banking system and ask for the correct account number to ensure that it goes through properly. If you do this they can’t charge you $19K for a monthly premium because you’re controlling the funds, not them.
Politics aside, all insurance companies are evil by nature. I am insured by my employer, and relatively speaking (for example, compared to an illegal immigrant working at McDonalds) I have pretty good insurance. It’s still evil, and the company goes out of its way to make sure that no one understands a word it’s saying ever. It would be so awesome not to ever have to try and figure out the Gordian knot that is medical billing and insurance payments and co-payments.
Thank you for the lovely, lovely pictures of your African violets.
I find them terribly tempting, but realize that even if I could grow them, my cats would eat them. The only thing safe seems to be a variegated ivy, since it evidently tastes bad to them. This is good as it is also not good for their health, according to the SPCA list of poisonous plants for cats.
I am completely in agreement with you on the whole WTFery front. It does not have to be hard, it should not be hard, to have decent health insurance. Or even decent health care.
Our current system is a disgrace. The only thing worse is what we had before the ACA, which was an open invitation for the insurance companies to lie, cheat, and steal both from the patient and the doctor or hospital. But the investors loved the profits.
It makes me sick – which I cannot afford.
Oh the joys of dealing with foreign call centres- we’ve all been there and FEEL your pain. Loving the African violet pics ????
I have BC/BS TX. The problem I keep having, is that BC/BS TX is not part of or affiliated with BC/BS in the other 49 States. I have to make that distinction everytime I am asked for my Health Insurance. My insurance ID is unique and significantly different. If the pharmacy or other requester calls for approval they ask for the generic BC/BS and not the Texas Company. Havoc follows.
Good thing to note.
From a banking perspective, you’ll most likely need to alert your bank on the same day as the withdrawal, if they do try it. It would need to be returned as Not Authorized (you don’t really want stop payment because that could get you cancelled with BCBS and since it’s their fault it really should be Not Authorized). If the account is a personal account (using a SSN) then you’d have 60 days, but I’m guessing it’s a business account (using a EIN or TIN) so you’d only have 24 hours. You’ll have to sign at least 1 form (a WSUD), but depending on the bank, it might be more. If it is a business account, it’s a good idea to check it everyday, if you don’t already, to look for errors. Non-consumer accounts don’t generally have the same fraud protections as consumer accounts. Good luck! ????
And yet, BCBS did not make the Medical Loss Ratio required by the state of Texas last year, so they’re issuing premium refunds to individual members who paid them last year.
Maybe it’s a $19k refund?
Every time I hear of experiences like these I thank heaven that I moved from the US to Canada in my 20s. I pay a small amount for provincial insurance annually on my tax returns, but don’t have to fuss with bills or worry that I will lose my house if I get sick. There are restrictions – like I can only have a routine eye exam only every 2 years – but that pales against the psychological relief from not having to worry about finances.
It also seems like our doctors spend more time practicing medicine than dealing with arcane billing systems (70000 codes in the US) or collections. I feel for the people in the US when leaders seem to prioritize military spending takes over the health of its own people.
I think your problems have more to do with your state than the ACA. In California most people I have spoken with are very happy. In AZ people are having trouble too because of bureaucratic red tape. And in WA the marketplace seems to be working well so that thousands of people who could not afford medical insurance now have coverage.
I am sorry about your insurance problems, but you can afford health insurance. Too many Americans couldn’t afford it without the ACA.
Violets are fun to grow and they seem flourish in my sunny kitchen.
First, I didn’t blame the ACA. Second, you’re right, I can afford health insurance. What I can’t afford is the extra $20,000 bill for insurance policy that does not exist.
This is one of those cases where I wonder if the person skimmed the post and didn’t actually read it.
Beautiful flowers! I’m jealous of your green thumb 🙂
There is only one solution to your problem – you need to move north! Ottawa is a lovely city, and it only snows about 7 months of the year. There are no scorpions, although sometimes the elk get lost and meander through downtown. And almost one million tulips bloom each May for the Tulip Festival!
Make sure to check the sender’s email address to make sure the domain is one you recognize (e.g. from xyz@bcbstx.com and not from xyz@hotmail.com). Also, never click on the links in the e-mail. I vaguely recall reading something on their site about phishing.
Yeah, having health insurance is better than not having insurance, but not all health insurance is equal! I like to believe that I would have options, at least, if I was using the ACA exchange.
My previous job used a state-run program that was…better than nothing. Their main issue was(is?) they don’t like to actually PAY. So when I wrecked my knee the 2nd time they just kept lying to me and saying that they would or had paid. Thought I had it taken care of before I got deployed to the desert w my Guard unit in ’09, only to have to go after them AGAIN while I was deployed w my .mil address n all. So they tell me it will be taken care of. 1 month after I get home, I start receiving collection calls on my cell! I talk to my insurance, they say they paid –it’s probably a scam. I check w my hospital, they say they have no record of the bill (turns out that’s cuz they sent it to the collection agency), so i believe its probly a scam. UNTIL i get the Judgement Notice!!!! Livid? Why yes I was! So then I raise 8 or 9 kinds of hell, finally get an insurance rep to pay their part so I can pay my part. Aaaaaand they stuck me with the court fee ($50) but at the time I just wanted to get right w my local hospital, who never deserved to get screwed that way.
So I like to believe, if I was on the ACA exchange, I could get a better company than that 1!!!
First: I’m so sorry you are going through this. I know they will get it fixed, but you may feel the need to murder a few people before they do. I suggest doing it to fictional people– it’s too hot to dig holes in Texas right now.
Second: Your flowers are just beautiful. My mom always watered her African Violets with diluted coffee water. She said the acid was good for them. I make no claims for or against this plan, but Mom’s violets bloomed like nobody’s business.
God bless and I hope all your annoying insurance hijinks get handled quickly and painlessly from here on out.
Good gravy I’m so sorry that happened to you! Even though some here are clumsy I hope you feel our support and appreciation for your candor and sharing. Love the plants. I hope they send you some freebies becuz I didn’t know about them and now I do and bought stuff. Finally not one up just common world weirdness. New neighbors moved into our quiet neighborhood. They offered seller $100000 above asking price 30 day escrow. Turns out ex husband was MAJOR gangbanger kingpin. They had party drive by shooters 5 in car discharged 60 rounds. No one hurt. BUT THEY SHOT MY CAR! Thru the headlight bounced around inside engine nicked transmission killed a.c. compressor. Damages $7600-8000. Mechanic will not agree to gunshot because of fear retaliation so no insurance coverage. Can cover but will really really REALLY hurt for 2+years to recover. My stomach hurt all day. We will survive this krap. Eyes up. Forward!
That is so scary and I’m glad nobody was hurt!
If you took it to a dealer away from your area (I know, a pain) could you get them to go with the truth? Also, you could try having your insurance send an adjuster to look at it instead of having the auto shop do it. Sometimes that gets better results, but it depends on the insurance company too. Good luck!
Thanks for good info.
Well, our social and healthcare insurance is a universal health coverage handled and owned by government, not a private one. Cheap, relieable, and if the citizen is broke, the government will bail us out and pay for our healthcare. Currently, I pay 8 usdollar a month for it, equivalent with 4 times average cost of dinner. Sooo cheap. And for the past 7 years I have the healthcare, I already hospitalized 2 times with total cost of around 30.000 us dollar.
That’s insane. You should put this post on their Facebook page. I’ve noticed that companies *seem* more open to communication and resolving an issue when it’s there for the world to see.
That is just so wrong.. But just to make you feel better these insurance problems are over the other side of the pond as well. We had an insurance expire and we went with a different company instead of renewing it with the same people as we found a cheaper offer. And because it expired we didn’t think we had to personally notify them. They renewed it automatically without asking or even notifying and continued to charge us so we were double insured and they wouldn’t cancel it because it renewed. Does that make sense? Because it didn’t for me. Took us 6 months of arguing back and forth to sort it.
Post this on their Facebook page. You may get action but if nothing else it gets documented. I have had good luck resolving issues this way, but with insurance companies, who knows.
Maybe also the Texas insurance commissioner?
Time to move to Canada? But not Ontario, their Conservative government is trying to privatize healthcare.
I am so sorry you are going through this. I feel your pain. You’re screwed one way or another – pay the bill and lose an enormous amount from your budget, don’t pay the bill and lose your insurance. If it were me, my stomach would be a fountain of acid. I have no advice. All I can say is God help you and bless you.
I’m so sorry this is happening but I have to say I was laughing so hard at your descriptions that I could barely type!! I forwarded this to my daughter who handles insurances for a doctor’s office so she could laugh, too. BCBS is famous for the website, premiums and billing crap. I never can get info from it. There’s a US federal law that insurance companies have to spend a certain percentage of premiums paid to them on patients care or rebate some to patients(can’t remember percentages). My husband has BCBS thru the marketplace and he received a lovely letter stating “Thank you for trusting us with your health plan needs”. then “The good news is we paid out less on medical costs than we expected in 2018. So we’re giving you back a portion of your 2018 plan premiums”. Now, mind you, his premiums were about $700/month because of an unexpected income windfall. The check they sent was for $32.94!! Sad but it did make us laugh.
As for the African Violets, they are gorgeous!! I have a black thumb(my daughters always laugh and tell me that) but years ago, I had a dozen African Violets blooming like crazy, growing like crazy. I learned how to split them, talk to them and not over water them, The spot in my house was I believe a north facing window. It got some late day sun. The minute we moved to a new house, they all died within 2 days!!! I’m not kidding. I had the same type of light, watering, etc but they died from the shock of moving. Yours are so beautiful, enjoy them!
I am laughing because it is futile to argue with people who think they have you over a barrel. The policy numbers are not yours, so simply call them and cancel the policies with those numbers. End of fight. Someone else will get notices of their policies being cancelled, but you’re out of it.
Alternately, call and tell them you want to talk about the policy with the number they used, but do not tell them your name. Tell them you got a bill for policy number xxx and you need to discuss it.
Because I was born and raised in the USA, when I get a call center person from India, I say I need to talk to someone who speaks English as a first language (because Americans never learn foreign languages and nuances of speech demand that I get an explanation I can understand) and I refuse to discuss it with someone who cannot understand what the problem is. The real problem is that people in India do not deal with situations we run into with our country’s rules and laws and business dealings. They really don’t see the problem from our point of view. The reason they are answering those phones is that they get paid very little because there are no jobs where they live. Never imagine they answer those phones because it’s fun. Just a thought here for Ilona, won’t work for everyone: When you get someone who can’t or won’t answer you because that person does not understand English well enough to be answering that phone, try talking in your native language. You’ll get someone else higher up the chain who just might actually have a clue.
If they take money for that policy out of your account — or even if you get the bank to not allow it and they TRY to take that money — call law enforcement (maybe you need an attorney to do it) and have them cited for attempted theft. Definitely contact the regulating board in your state immediately. Get someone well above their heads involved, and the fight becomes a struggle between two huge agencies.
I spent years arguing with an insurance company about an emergency surgery my husband had. They paid it at first, then they called me well over a year later demanding that money back because it was “unauthorized elective surgery”. I had no clue what they were talking about. I told them no, I wasn’t paying, hung up the phone. It took two years before they actually had a person with an IQ higher that the average turnip call me, at which time I told the person to please explain to me how that surgery was in any way, shape, or form “elective”. “What was elective about it?”, I asked. “It was cosmetic,” I was told. “What do your records say that surgery was, exactly?” I asked. She flipped some stuff around, looked it up, and said, very quietly, “Oh. Partial amputation of two fingers. I’ll change the classification.” Click. Moral of the story: Stand your ground.
Just incidentally, I am currently “on Medicare” and it pays for just about nothing. To get any real benefits from it, you have to get a “Medicare Advantage Plan”, and then you get flat rates you know ahead of time for what you need. So far, I’m winning, because my meds used to cost me more than the premiums for the Advantage Plan, and they are free by mail with the plan. Also, Medicare is not free. So I pay for Medicare, I pay for the plan, and then I pay flat rates for the care I need. No matter what, medical care is expensive, but without it, where would we be?
My father did not use credit. He bought a riding lawn over for cash. He got a credit card bill from Sears.
He went in person, since this is before major online stuff. They admitted they saw the purchae and assumed clerical error made up a credit card and number and sent him a bill.
Just in case.
What the heck?!?! So illegal!
I have BCBS TX through ACA. All I can say is yup. I have suffered many times at their hands. Commiserations.
What may be happening is that the email system is just sending to the wrong person. This sounds like a software bug to me (especially since they can identify the number of people affected). Sounds like the email system probably broke for a couple of days (and may now be fixed?); the email system is probably not linked up to the bank account charging system, so they may have just had an error in one.
I can understand in that case why they might be cagey about giving a straight answer; that sounds like a scary privacy issue.
Not to say that you shouldn’t take precautions, though.
A few years ago I get sudden asthma, am kept in hospital. I get c-diff infection. While lying in isolation, my leg hurts.
I have developed an artery blood clot. . I may lose my left foot.
Billing calls me, in hospital.
Sorry but your (retired coverage) medical benefits plan has a lifetime limit of $250,000. You used it up and have no insurance left.
They cannot get clot to dissolve. I need operation to remove it. I still may lose foot.
Terrorized. Crying. Lifetime of medical coverage woes hits again.
The billing office calls back. The new Obamacare does not allow them to put a limit!!!!
I have insurance!
I would vote for Obama forever.
Big scar on leg, I have that foot.
What a nightmare…
USA is such a wonderful country, but Us healthcare system is horrible.. I can’t imagine how anxious and scared I would be if I were a US citizen. Illness is hard enough as it is, so having to worrying over debts on top of that….
I would have an ulcer by now. Wow. Is there any way your bank can put a limit on an automatic draft, so that your account it not overdrawn?
Notify your bank of this and the amount and make an arrangement so that no autodraft greater than x amount can go through without notification and call to you. I have done this with bank of america- praying you can do it too! And so you know it isnt any less crazy for us doctors- if medicare decides at any point in our entire career they paid us too much for something they can demand they money back and the doctor cannot fight it- its in our contract as a medicare provider ????????
My commiserations Ilona, what a nightmare. My son and family are in Seattle and work pays their medical insurance but I’m always appalled how much even a short visit to the drs office costs over and above the insurance. Here in the UK things may be going to hell in a handcart, but the NHS is always there- the ER is always open even if we have to wait; anyone who needs medication for life is certain to get it; we don’t have to worry about seeing the GP, tho we may have to wait a week or so to get an appointment unless it’s really urgent. I don’t think people realise just how lucky we are, that in the midst of the greatest political upheaval in living memory, our healthcare remains dependable and free (altho some new and very expensive drugs maybe only available privately) despite diminishing funding.