I happened to call my health insurance company the other day. Right now I have COBRA coverage and I was checking about converting to a regular policy in June of this year. After asking my questions and just before I was going to hang up, I asked the customer service rep to verify that the date my current insurance would end is June. Boy, was I surprised when she said, "Actually, your coverage has already been terminated".
Oh yeah folks, she said terminated and she said that it was right now. After a long, but at the same time instantaneous, inner dialogue that including a lot of shouting and cursing, I politely asked for an explanation.
And she, oh so politely, explained that my insurance company, had recently changed the way they received electronic transfers and many people had been "dropped" by accident. Odd, don't you think that I being someone who spends a lot on health care should be among the dropped ones? And then to just cancel me rather then try to notify me that they were not taking my money anymore. How efficient they are.
She was nice enough to say I would be reinstated without penalty once they got my money. But they would not accept it right away. No, I couldn't just use a credit card or do a new electronic transfer. I had to send it by ordinary mail. Which means it will take days. Weeks actually, before the 'system' will accept me once again into the fold.
Nice huh? I had to cancel the CAT scan planned for the next day on my lungs. No time to worry about cancer, got to work on this problem right now.
