I am a graduate student. I have no grants or scholarships, and hence live on my stipend as a TA. This means I do not have a great deal of disposable income to throw around.
So when the Health Services department of my university apparently decides to throw ~$250 of my money down a fucking hole, I tend to get a little pissed off!
What’s that, you say? You want context? Alrighty. Flash back to the end of August. I enroll my wife in the university’s student health plan as my dependent. This costs a whopping ~$2500 a year, but is (a) apparently as cheap as any other source of individual health insurance in the state of New Jersey, and (b) legally necessary, as having health insurance is a condition of our visa. So I fill out the forms, get confirmation via e-mail that they were received by Health Services, and go on about my business.
Flash forward to the beginning of October. I notice the first installment of the fees have been deducted from my stipend. About two hundred and fifty bucks. Note how this installs confidence that my wife is indeed enrolled in the plan. Note also that I clearly should have known better :mad:
Flash forward to the first week of October. I receive a letter from the company that actually runs the insurance plan, asking for more information about my wife. I make the assumption that this letter is in regard to a claim we filed at the end of the summer (during the previous academic year) as it arrives at the same time as other mail concerning that claim. I fill in the information, and on Friday I put it in the mail.
Flash forward to yesterday. I try to fill a prescription for my wife. I make sure I’m using a pharmacy on the preferred provider list, and I bring my Prescription Drug Plan Identification Card with me. But apparently there’s a problem. “Your wife isn’t listed on this plan.” Well that’s just odd. I mean, I enrolled her, didn’t I? I paid to enroll her, didn’t I? This must be some kind of misunderstanding. Surely a phone call to the insurance company will clear this up.
I made that call today. “This plan is listed as ‘member only’; your wife isn’t enrolled on it.”
That’s when the horrible realization dawned on me. That letter…the one I received the first week of October…that wasn’t in regards to the claim from the summer. It was in regards to enrolling my wife in the plan for the new academic year. My wife isn’t enrolled on the plan, and probably won’t be until the insurance company receives and processes the letter I mailed Friday.
So why the hell has Health Services department already taken $250 of my money???
And the coup de grace? When I got off the phone with the insurance company, I naturally went down to Health Services. Thought I’d ask a question, you know, make my displeasure known in a calm but firm manner. Do it in person for that extra-special “I’m not leaving this office until you satisfy me or drag me out” touch. But wait…
The Student Health Insurance Plan office is only open from 9 to 12 in the morning.
What the hell??? I could buy a used car with the money I’m dumping into this plan, and this is the service I’m getting??? ARRGH!!!
[Math Geek’s head explodes…]