My job changed in January but I still work for the same employer, although my health insurance changed slightly because I switched from working on a government contract to a non-government contract. Apparently somebody fat fingered something somewhere and now my health insurance company says my policy ended on 2/1/2021. I told my employer, but they say I am still “active” and they’ll “keep me posted.” WELL IN THE MEANTIME I’M UNINSURED! I can’t get my medications, one of which is very expensive and coming up for renewal soon. Health insurance company is telling the pharmacy I’m uninsured.
I don’t know what to do since these two different entities won’t talk to each other. One says I’m cancelled and the other says I’m not.
Funny how they paid my claims in March even though they say I’m cancelled as of 02/01/2021.
You need to keep pressuring your employee benefits department at work. As the Insurance company will do nothing without their authorization. Ask your boss and the benefits group if they want you to start submitting medical bills to the company for reimbursement while they are waiting to fix it.
Thanks. Still dealing with it. It’s been a whole week and doubtful it will be resolved by tomorrow. I guess I’ll be lucky if sometime next week I’m able to get the older migraine preventive that my insurance ironically insisted I be changed to. Going to be late. I did pester HR again today but not sure how long this “emergency” process is supposed to take. My telling them that I can’t get my Rx doesn’t seem to be lighting a fire under anyone’s butt.
I had a similar thing happen when I moved across state lines. I agree that your employer needs to fix it. Keep bugging them. Sucks that it is causing you to miss a prescription. Luckily I just had some bills that showed up and I had to not pay for a while until it got sorted out.
This. It’s their fault, and they have to correct it.
I would think that if all else fails and they can’t convince the insurance company to keep you, they could fix it by terminating your employment and then immediately rehiring you and offering you sign-on benefits.
I hate insurance being tied to work. Why anyone at all thinks that this is how healthcare/insurance should work is just beyond me. It’s a terrible system that needs to end.
I got injured at work once. Went to the ER and got treated. While I was there, I stupidly gave them my insurance information, thinking my HR will pick up the tab.
When I was billed, HR kept telling me I need to talk to the ER, and the ER kept telling me I need to talk to my HR. I kept pleading with them to talk to each other to no avail.
I finally just said fuck it, and let the bill go unpaid, and eventually had it removed from my credit rating.
What’s “stupid” about that? Isn’t that how it’s supposed to work? What’s stupid is that this system seems to fail at this most basic function so often.
Really, HR shouldn’t be making these kinds of potentially life-altering decisions beyond whether someone should or shouldn’t remain employed by the company and keeping a company compliant with employment law. The system of employment-based insurance is the suxxor.
Agreed. While the debate about Universal Health Care usually centers around people without insurance at all, I’ve heard far too many horror stories of US citizens who have health insurance also being completely screwed because of some technicality.
How this got spun into a “But muh freedoms!” argument is mind-boggling.
Totally agree. The “freedom” to be prevented from accessing health care is what the GOP has conned its constituents into supporting, having managed to turn the idea of universal health care into a scary boogeyman as per usual.
Even with my health insurance account intact, I was still one of the under-insured. That’s all I can aspire to now, getting my coverage reinstated so I can go from uninsured to under-insured again! Woopie! Gotta love the USA.
No other way to explain it other than being suckered by pro-capitalist propagandists. I’m hardly a Marxist but I don’t think the average American realizes how badly they’re brainwashed into siding with corporatism. It’s beyond just a matter of being misled or misinformed; there is a stigma if you aren’t ideologically aligned with corporate dogma.
Well, still no resolution. Second weekend uninsured now. Can’t pick up my prescriptions. Still can’t get my migraine preventive, and it’s past due. I’ve had a headache every day the last few days because it always wears off at this point, and this time I haven’t been able to redose, so, yeah. Without anything else to help me, I had to take Excedrin Migraine, which will probably work wonderfully but drop me into a rebound headache spiral.
So, thanks a lot, USA and Texas. Hope you’re happy. I work full time but I guess that’s not enough to be worthy of health care. Shoulda been born rich! Sorry for the bitterness, but this is just full on rant at this point.
I called my employer again on Friday and they are apparently talking to the insurance company through a broker. WTF? They have sent a bunch of paperwork, they claim, so I don’t know why nothing happens.
ETA: Not to mention that I can work successfully if my migraines are treated properly. That’s what Republicans are all about, right? Work, work, work! Jobs, jobs, jobs! And how anyone who isn’t independently wealthy is a sleazebag if they don’t work! But it’s gonna be pretty interesting to go to work with untreated migraine…
Gonna go begging to my neurologist on Monday to see if I can wheedle a sample migraine preventive dose. Wish I had thought of that sooner but never thought this would go on so long!
Who are you talking to in HR? I would suggest that you escalate this to the Head of Benefits, and if possible, physically sit in a chair in their waiting room until you get them to talk to you. Try to remain present while they contact the provider to resolve this. Don’t leave until you are satisfied. It may be uncomfortable and seem confrontational, but what they are doing doesn’t appear to be working, so you need to be more demanding.
It is important that you don’t be loud or accusatory, be calm and professional (lest they focus on your behavior, rather than the issue).
Yeah, I don’t want to seem super unreasonable and demanding but this is kinda important. I’ve been emailing the head of benefits but not getting anywhere. Still cancelled as of this evening.
I’m not sure how long it’s supposed to take to correct this kind of issue but doesn’t more than a week seem unreasonably long? Is it just because I have preexisting conditions that I notice it more?
