human resources and insurance companies...

When my wife left her former position we had great insurance and we were wanting to continue on COBRA until her new insurance kicks in. Now she left that position well over a month ago and the worldwide corporate HQ for that company is only 35 minutes from my house so the paperwork for the insurance should have been here some time ago. We have called several times a week each week since the 2nd week she was gone and have been told each time not to worry it is on the way.

Now the whole time we have been going to the doctor and getting my meds and they have been approving the medications for co-pay so we figured that what they were telling us was the truth and our coverage was continuing.

Then my trip to the ER last....

The visit the ER was your standard ER visit. Your put in a cold room where everything is super bright and then the poking and prodding starts. I have no problem with needles and even joke and laugh with the staff as they do their job. Perhaps my way of coping, I don't know as that is how I always am when I am there. Now after they finished their exams the doctor wanted the CT Scan so I was taken across the hall to radiology where the tech must have had the A/C set on snow. It was without a doubt the coldest room I have ever been in. Of course the tech was apologizing for the cold (I am a home sick Eskimo according to the wife) and I was telling him not to worry. I know they have to keep it cold for the machines as the computers they use put out a lot of heat as well I had just been given a blanket fresh from the "oven" where they keep the blankets warm. I digress...

When the doctor wrote out all my discharge papers the nurse called my wife for me. I told her to go home and wait for me there as there was nothing for her to do at the hospital other then watch the boys bounce off the walls. ER visits can last 1 hour or much much longer and there is no need to make the whole family suffer through that time. Since we live 5 minutes from the hospital I went to it would not take long for her to come back if need be.

Before she left though my wife had reminded me to ask several questions which would have been fine except with mix of my medications and the ones they gave me created a cocktail that let me sleep for the next 1/2 a day, there was no way I could remember the questions. So when she arrived she talked to the doctor and before I left the doc filled out the prescription for the Phenergan.

Now this is where the COBRA part comes back into play...

My wife dropped me off at home and took my prescription to the pharmacy to get filled and that is where the problem reared it's ugly little head. Apparently our insurance company had terminated our policy for non-payment. Only problem is that we cannot make a payment if we do not have the papers to convert the policy or even better, know what the new premium might be. Of course this was all after 5pm last night so there was no way of getting in touch with the insurance rep from human resources at her old employer.

This morning she took the day off from work to keep an eye on me as while I am not as bad as yesterday I am still not feeling to great but she also started calling the folks in HR. Of course no one was there to take the call and she had to leave a message which 2 hours later had still gone unanswered. About Noon I asked her to call again and this time she was able to get someone, although she had to basically demand they put her in touch with the right people.

Once again they claimed the papers had been sent sometime ago so she calmly explained the situation and that their "it's in the mail" BS was not going to fly. I needed to get my meds and without the co-pay I could not afford them (the phenargan is $4 a pill, DAMN!) as well that would mean my entire trip to the ER last night was not going to be covered and that was not going to fly, especially since we have been on them for weeks about this information.

It took her some time on the phone and of course HR then had to call the insurance company to get it all squared away but they called a little while ago and I am back on the policy. I was able to go get my meds as well they made sure that we have until Nov 30th to get the paperwork back to them with my premiums. She also took my wife's email address and is going to send her the documents in PDF format so we should have them sometime this afternoon.

My problem with the whole thing is that this could have all been taken care of many weeks ago when my wife had to go to corporate on 2 separate occasions after she left the company. They knew she would be there to do some final outprocessing with HR and Payroll yet they did not think of having those papers there for her to sign then.

I know I could have told this story in 1 or 2 paragraphs, but where is the fun in that? My wife handled it much better then I would have. Generally I am calm when I am in those situations but when I am in pain and need my medications my tolerance for stupidity and passing the buck is less then zero and I am all too willing to shoot the messenger.

I just "took" one of the phenergan, I got lucky mine or not taken orally, and it is literally kicking my butt.