COBRA Doesn't cut it for the unemployed!

After consistence struggles with the process COBRA uses, they have cancelled my insurance.

When I started COBRA, my last day of employment was reported and recorded at a LATER calendar date then the date they moved me over to from corporate insurance to COBRA. They stated delays were in 3M's hands because they didn't report the employment change correctly and send in the information. I called 3M and they fixed the issue, this time and stated; ”when the account gets setup it can take TWO MONTHS and insurance should not be discontinued for any reason." FOUR+ MONTHS later, they finally got my insurance reinstated for me to use, HOWEVER, I had to back pay the 4 months I was unable to use the insurance, immediately, over the phone, with a credit card and then send in the current month's payment with the sub and check.

So is this a racket? I'm not allowed to use the insurance and I, the unemployed person, with no income, must pay for a service I didn't get. Okay, so that's the game and there is no way around it, so I paid it and while on the phone I wrote the check for the current month. By the way, they wouldn't allow 'current' payments by phone, if you were wondering. When the phone call was over, I was told my insurance was reinstated, and was given an ID and an 800 number to call, if there were any issues.

After getting off the phone, I stuck the check and payment stub in an envelope, with a stamp, then mailed it. After two days, I ran to the pharmacy to pick up my meds, and was told my insurance was not valid. So, here we go again.

After another 2 weeks (month 6), I received a call telling me that they neglected to contact the RX company, however they put a rush on it and it should be reinstated in 3 hours. I called my pharmacy and they said they would try to run it through again and let me know. It actually took three days for the insurance to go through.

Knowing everything was up and working, and how long it took them to process things, I decided to send in 4 stubs and 4 months worth of payments (months 6-9). I didn't want to experience this mess again. COBRA doesn't have auto-pay, electronic bill pay or anything but manual and snail mail.

I had a doctor's appointment so, I verified my checking account to see if the payments had cleared, it did. I went to my appointment and didn't have any issues. Another week or two passed (month 7) and I received a call from my clinic telling me my insurance didn't go through.

I called COBRA and had to send them copies of the checks they cashed because they had no record of payment. I about 5 weeks (month 8, on the cusp of 9) they found the payments sitting on a person's desk, who was on leave, and they just didn't get them into the system. Funny they were able to always get the system to kick out the denial! In the meantime, I have to continue to make payments to COBRA so that my insurance isn't cancelled and I have to pay the medical bills that COBRA isn't taking care of.

Over the course of 8-9 months COBRA was unable to process anything on time. The final straw was when they didn't process my last check (month 10) and sent me another cancellation notice! This time they didn't cancel the check so, I have no proof. They also lost the form which was stating I wanted my payments reduced with the federal stimulus, which was faxed to them twice and mailed in a copy with each payment and stub I sent them. For real, is there any person unemployed, asking for COBRA that is going to say; “I want to pay full price for my insurance!” what a goofy process! It should just be automatic for everyone, like the unemployment stimulus!

How can we be forced to go to something that is so messed up? Who is monitoring this program? Why is this type of treatment allowed? Why do we need to pay for a service we are not getting; in any privately held business this isn’t tolerated so why is it here?

The outcome of this:

I was unable to afford and get my prescriptions, consistently during this 9-10 months so, being a diabetic, many complications occurred causing me to go onto insulin, to continue to have a life. Insulin (and all the supplies) was 8 times the cost of pills! I found, being diabetic, I am disqualified from all group and private insurance I could obtain on my own. Public insurance, I do not qualify for, because I'm not pregnant, over 65, under 18 or disabled (chronic illness with no cure is not disabled). So, I am on my own!

I called drug companies and found several programs for people without insurance. I also found lab, radiology, and medical services at a very low cost. I was able to pay for everything, without insurance for LESS than my co-pay was, at10%-20% of the bill. So, not only do I not have the insurance premium payment but, I'm spending less money out of pocket, than when I had insurance. I was able to purchase a major medical policy, which is pricy because, I'm diabetic but I was able to find it for a year (90 day waiting period), for the same price as one COBRA premium. AND NO HASSEL, STRESS, or consistence phone calls to get them to do their job. However to understand everything out there and all the legal rules, I did take the state pre-license insurance classes held at the local community college. This gave me enough negotiation edge to get what I need.

Over the last year, I’ve vented my issues to other displaced workers (social networking across the nation and locally) and I have yet to find one person that hasn't experienced some degree of the same challenges with COBRA.

Racket? You judge! Is this intentional to treat people with chronic issues, ongoing medical expenses this way? I suppose because it is government ran, a person cannot take them to court and get reimbursed for all the hassle and money paid for no service? Are there any attorneys out there, willing to look at this as a case? If not how does one pursue changing this system? It pains me to see others, suffering through this same thing and those needing it the most suffer more, as if it is a strategy.

Obama’s plan:

I cannot say anything negative about our White House TRYING to deal medical. It shows me they are aware of issues people are dealing with. That said, I’d like to see them put some time and money into cleaning up all (I mean ALL) the programs they are already running…or in this case is it really called ‘running’? Our White House has some good concepts, but I think the biggest problem is they have no ability to manage the full lifecycle of a program or fund. I’d rather see no program then a program that isn’t properly managed and keeps up with the economic needs of our country. Without a proper process, that keeps up with a changing world and dynamic world, a programs critical path is going to fail and the program will follow suit.

It’s time to stop CREATING ideas and it is time to redesign what we have or replace it. The government’s image needs to show follow through, review, evaluation, and be willing to change or decommission/dismantle anything not working.

In conclusion:

I’d like to say, most of us in this situation are here at no fault of our own; we are just a casualty of the current state of the world. For me it is very difficult to ask for anything, as I’ve always been the giver and I’ve never been unemployed (even during the 80’s, I had plenty of work). This has been a very humbling experience, as well as, highly stressful because of the lack of processes that work.

I am a strategic designer, a process engineer & architect, and a service manager for the last 25+ years. I’ve been unable to find work for 400 days now and would be happy to tackle a program for the government to present the concept/methodology of ‘FULL LIFECYCLE programs/services’, to them. Also, it is silly to think that our government is running programs that are manual. And that if a single person is out of the office, a customer cannot continue to have service because the critical path has a gaping hole in it. Again, the unemployed person/customer is not at fault. It’s time for an upgrade, so nobody is left, without services wanted! Hey now, there’s a great usage for the ‘nobody left behind’ slogan!