Four years? Your faith in the american attention span is just adorable. Wall street is returning to big bonus fever. A father may have staged his son’s balloon misadventure. Meghan McCain dared to wear a tank top. The NFL kept Rush from buying a football team (just a note, he could still buy the Lions. Anyone but Ford at this point). Roman Polanski is just a plane ride away. Octomom could breed again.
I give it a month, tops.
When I worked in customer service call centers it made all the difference in the world when a person said “I’m sorry, I know this isn’t your fault and I’m not screaming at you, but…” and launched into a tirade. That little disclaimer goes a long way; I’m not inclined to do more than I have to for an abusive asshole even if his/her complaint is legitimate, but I’ll go above and beyond for those who are polite.
If your non profit is Blue Cross, I am not on your side. They have the regulator in their pocket and he approves endless price increases. The economy has gone down and their prices just go up ,up and then up again. The latest is about 23 percent. The commissioner says he was kind to us because that wanted to jack them up 56 . Screw them.
Nope, we are actually an insurance exchange. We work with about 5 different insurance carriers and negotiate lower costs for insurance through various companies and various plans (none of which are BCBS) and we don’t actually provide the coverage, we simply administer the plan and help when we are needed. Was your claim denied? Give me a call and I will see what I can do to convince them to accept it. The pharmacy giving you shit about accepting your coverage or prescription? Let me know and I will take care of it. Unhappy with your plan? I will help you pick a new one that better suits your needs, often times spending as much as an hour on the phone explaining the difference between each and every plan so you can pick the right one for you. Did you forget to pay your bill last month and have your coverage cancelled? Send in your payment today and I will make sure they take you back and backdate your coverage even if you had a claim during that time.
It is a phenominal service really and it costs less than standard group plan coverage but I still get bitched at all the time.
I feel your pain pbbth. I used to joke that my partner and I had the most hated jobs in the country, I sell health insurance and he works in collections. It’s really hard when you do your best for people (along with everyone else in the company you know) but get cursed at for it. About the only time I feel a little relief from it is when someone thanks me for making the process easy or the really rare times when they call you back months or years later because having the coverage you helped them get saved their life or the life of a family member. Those moments really help my sanity.
As a bit of a side note, I used to read the NY Times and LA Times opinion articles regarding health insurance but just can’t do it anymore. One that about had my ready to scream was about a couple here in CA. The article opened with ‘They own and operate two businesses’ and then proceeded to talk about how they couldn’t buy health insurance because of pre-existing conditions.
The main problem with this being, they could buy a small business policy and pre-existing conditions wouldn’t matter. That is the law in CA. I agree that the pre-existing condition denials go too far sometimes, but come on! They have an easy out on this.
The various Blue Cross groups are independent of one another, gonz. The one in New York doesn’t have anything in common with yours except the name.
And that was supposed to help? :dubious: I’m probably more annoyed by nonprofits calling me unbidden.
Yes, for people helping in the trenches I thank God. Really. I have a disabled daughter-3 years old- and she is very, very expensive- she has primary from her dad and secondary from Medicaid.
I haven’t had many offers of help from the people at the insurance company- her primary pays 80 for DME, and Medicaid might pay the rest- but each year since she’s been born she’s punted to the Medicaid HMO, then back to Medicaid.
And, while I understand that it helps them save money, the people at the (state supported) insurance are much more helpful than her private (the primary).
Every couple months, the blasted ‘do you have other coverage?’ letter comes from her primary. Yes, the SAME AS THE LAST 5 TIMES YOU ASKED! YOU TWITS!!!
And, as a sidenote…we knew her dx at 20 weeks. Medicaid, in our state, does not pay to end a pregnancy. Nor, since my spouse works for a state agency, would his insurance. While I had friends who were willing to help, many people do not have that option at that point- don’t think that an abortion at that point is cheap, aside from any other issues.
Anyway. Anyone who cares, and helps with the labyrinth is appreciated. Thank you for caring, pbbth
Eh, I was figuring that as long as Obama was president, there would be focus on getting some sort of universal healthcare, which seems to translate into bashing all insurance companies and employees. It would be nice if you were right!
There is a business that does that? I’ve been doing all of that for free since I retired from insurance two years ago! 
There will be plenty of attention for health care. It is on the front burner with several bills being gone over. There will be a very public vote ,if you watch CSPAN. It is a huge story . Insurance companies are their own worst enemies. They deny coverage and raise rates. That is not endearing . How can you defend them. They are the problem, not a part of the solution. They will still be in the mix due to their political and financial power though. That is too bad.
Yes I know there is plenty of attention on heath care now, I just don’t think that average folk have enough attention span to keep it in the forefront for long, unless something does it for them
Me defending insurance companies - where did I do that? I do remember saying something about insurance companies being simply the current big business being bashed by the media and politicians. Big businesses are neither evil nor good, they are simply a fact of modern life. If you don’t like the way they are operating, work to get that changed. Trashing them all and then expecting the government to take up the slack has never proven to work here.
If you want to wave your fists at a big business and drum up hate, wave them at the gas companies. I’ve never been able to figure out how they aren’t getting into a bunch of trouble over anti-trust.
Where do I sign up? I live in Ohio, have pre-existing conditions, and can’t afford a Small Business policy so instead I have one of those limited insurance thingys that gives me 5 whole doctors visits per year! I’d love to do business with someone like you. Oh, and let’s not even talk about prescriptions…
You explained it to us pretty handily, why can’t you explain it to others?
Acknowledge their anger and frustration, after letting them vent a bit, and calmly and quietly explain you’re going to try and help them. Tell them you understand how important this is to them. Tell them you’ve helped lots of other people, with their difficult problems, and will try your hardest to get them what it is they need.
You seem intelligent and well spoken, I can’t see a problem, really.
If you need to, you can tell them, to help them, you need them to be calm and composed. If they need some time, or want to call back when they are less irate, you understand and you’ll be there, when they’re ready, to do all you can to help them.
I see where the OP is coming from. We in the media have been dealing with this sort of hate for a long time - we’re either privacy invading jackals or politicals shills. And no, it’s not just conservatives who accuse of being the latter.
I often have to explain that we’re just the messenger. If you company, agency, political party is doing something evil, well, we’re just stating the facts.
And we, who work at local daily papers, are nothing like the pigs you see on TMZ. Even if we wanted to be, we wouldn’t have the budget to hire reporters to constantly stalk people.
I am familar with the organization that you work for and I admire them. And I admire you for what you do and for caring so much.
My advice to you is to stop caring so much. When you work with the disadvantaged you need to have a fairly thick skin. You need to disassociate enough so that you don’t “feel everyone’s pain”. Bribing pharmacists with cake is on one side of the line – and a great idea, but paying anything for a client on your personal credit card is crossing that line and you shouldn’t be doing it.
I meant when I was telling other people what job I was currently working at. When I was actually calling people, I’d say which organization I was calling on behalf of–and there were many more calls to previous donors than cold calls.
Side note: There’s nothing funnier than hearing someone furiously backpedal after they’ve gotten all huffy at somebody they think is trying to sell them something… after that person says they’re actually calling on behalf of the Special Olympics.
Because they are exempt from anti-trust laws.
As a “Public Pretender,” I endorse this comment.
The gas companies? Why?