Yes, I know it’s a thing. So why, after we told them the FIRST time it didn’t apply to my husband did they keep demanding this information?
Did they think that between chemo treatment #5 and chemo treatment #6 something was magically going to change?
THAT’s my point here - a questionnaire about past risk factors is one thing. Repeated demands for information that has already been declared non-existent is nothing but harassment.
Rather like how the insurance company had a “nurse advocate” call - “I’d like to know how Mr. B is doing.”
“He’s dead now, thanks for asking.”
Four days later, another call: “I’d like to know how Mr. B is doing.”
“He’s still dead, please update your records.”
A week later: “I’d like to know how Mr. B is doing.”
“He is still dead. I don’t expect a change in his condition. Why you keep calling me?”
Some of this shit is clearly triggered by automated systems programmed by heartless cads who don’t give a fuck what this sorts of repeats do to people overwhelmed by serious illness and/or grieving. Or maybe it’s to act as a “gotcha” - Oh, you didn’t fill out the 15th sub-rogation form we sent you, now we can deny this claim bwa-ha-HA!
Yes, I am extremely cynical when it comes to health insurance.
For the same reason there’s so many companies which, when you call them,
require you to type or say slowly some sort of ID code,
then require it again,
then when you finally get a human need it again,
and if the human transfers you to a different human they need it again…
part is verification, the biggest part is bad procedures.
The few times I don’t have to repeat the bleeping code I actually thank them. Normally those which don’t need the repeat do ask for something different, so they’re still verifying they’re talking to an authorized person without asking for the exact same item.
Naw, I’m not convinced - I think it’s a way to play “gotcha” and deny services. It’s not a bad procedure for the insurance company. It’s to their advantage to deny, deny, and deny.
Do keep in mind I used to work for the health insurance industry.
I don’t know what they gain by it. What did they gain by approving him for hospice a week after he died?
Yes, there’s stupidity and bureaucracy here, but the fact is, they never had to pay for hospice care - which meant they never had to pay for the services they would have had to provide to me, as his family. So they saved money.
Yeah, just a little bitter here. Still grieving so I’ll be the first to admit I’m not entirely rational about it.
But because the system is set up to deny-deny-deny it also becomes stupid and cruel.
Not sure how best to proceed here. I’ve had bad health insurance companies, and I’ve had decent health insurance companies. I agree that if you don’t like yours, you may want to look for another one.
This. It’s not meaningful to search for the “best” company or the “best” coverage or policy. The [del]best[/del] least bad you can hope for is to find the least bad company with the least bad coverage or policy. I’ve been sticking with the coverage I’ve had for many years because, by all the horror stories I’ve heard, it’s the least bad out there.
Every year I have to shop out health insurance for myself and my employees (as well as the owner). Years ago it was ‘what’s the best plan?’. Now it’s just ‘what’s the cheapest and not shitty’. My broker is very good about steering me away from the shitty plans, the ones that are very restrictive about which docs you can see, which hospitals or medical groups you can go to, which plans require prior-auth from your PCP for seeing a specialist, etc. What that leaves us with is ‘this plan is exactly the same as the one we have right now but the deductible is higher’. What started out as a “reasonable” $1000/$2000 (single/family) deductible has crept up over the years to something like $4000/$8000.
Each year the (single) deductible goes up by about $500. At first it was because it maintains, or close to maintains our and our employee’s costs (same reason we started using deductibles instead of a copay system. But when you get to the point where you’re telling a single 20 year old that if they blow through 3.5k in medical expenses (or a 25 year old with a kid or a wife going through 7k) in a year, does it really matter if it’s 4k/8k? Keeping in mind that it might mean your premium is (making up numbers) is going to go from $75 a week up to $100 to maintain it but $79 if we make the change.
I remember when we first made the switch from copays to deductibles. I got a lot of shit for that one…until I showed everyone what their premium would be if we stuck with copays. The only way that’s worth it is if you have enough office visits/hospital visits/meds that the difference between would cover the higher premium. Most of my employees are young(ish), so generally healthy, not getting pregnant, not married, no kids, etc. They’re doing it because they graduated college, moved out went full time with us and it’s the ‘adult’ thing to do. Barring an accident or an acute something or other (kidney stone, appedecitis) these kids aren’t generally blasting through a 4k deductible, so it tends to work out to their advantage to pay a lower premium and pay a few hundred per year for couple of random (non-well) office visits and scripts. In fact, the only person it makes sense for is the owner but he’d rather not have younger employees paying an arm and a leg for insurance if he can avoid it.