My medical insurance has been terminated.

[innerkitten]

Friday I got a call from a place that has me down for an appointment next week to tell me that they spoke to my insurance and that it had been terminated as of December 31. I thought that was really weird and contacted my husband because we are insured through his job. Nothing has changed at his job and no one has mentioned anything about our insurance changing or ending. He said that the woman who deals with the companies insurance ( she also owns the company, it's a small place ) was out sick. My husband figured maybe there was a mix up with the numbers or something and wrote everything down for me to carry with me. he also called Blue Shield but the sirte was down and the couldn't look us up. Anyway sure enough when I went into the pharmacy today to pick up a prescription they said we no longer had coverage?! I don't think this has anything to do with Obama care ( because we would have had a warning). but more likely his company just not renewing our policy. I'm confused. And my husbands job has not changed otherwise.

 

[amc80]

Do you think they purposely didn't renew? I'd think there would be some sort of requirement for them to give you notice. Either way, that sucks.

 

[movie zombie]

ok, she's out sick.
you've got an appointment.
I think it is appropriate to contact her at home.
just my opinion.
small company or not there is a responsibility to employees.
however, I'd do it very politely and ask about her health first.

 

[ChristineRose]

This has happened to me because BC/BS applied the company's payment to 2018 or some such thing. This was never explained.

It has also happened to numerous client companies because they didn't pay their bills.

I am sure it has nothing to do with Obamacare. Blue Cross might have changed your company's terms, but they wouldn't have canceled it.

 

[innerkitten]

ok, she's out sick.
you've got an appointment.
I think it is appropriate to contact her at home.
just my opinion.
small company or not there is a responsibility to employees.
however, I'd do it very politely and ask about her health first.

I'm going to have my husband to call her husband tomorrow ( he and my husband talk everyday of the week at work ). This is just too weird. If my husband won't do it I will. I promise to be polite even though inside I'm angry.

 

[innerkitten]

This has happened to me because BC/BS applied the company's payment to 2018 or some such thing. This was never explained.

It has also happened to numerous client companies because they didn't pay their bills.

I am sure it has nothing to do with Obamacare. Blue Cross might have changed your company's terms, but they wouldn't have canceled it.

Interesting. I would hate to think they weren't paying their bills. They are a construction company and my husband say's they are doing really well. They also really like mu husband because he's willing to do the work of like four people. So I know they don't want to lose him. They stole him from another company.

 

[innerkitten]

Do you think they purposely didn't renew? I'd think there would be some sort of requirement for them to give you notice. Either way, that sucks.

I have read that they do have to give you notice. So it's strange to me that if they knew it was coming they didn't say anything. I will know more soon.

 

[VapidLapid]

I wonder if it might have been a clerical glitch, some sort of new year roll over thing between the office manager and the insurance company.

Mine was terminated too, but it was because of obamacare. Turns out to be a really good thing. They did give me about 3 months notice. For whatever reason the plan did not meet the standards so the entire plan was terminated. I looked at the plans they (aetna) has for 2014 and found the comparable plan to what I had. premiums went DOWN from $2100 per month to $808.

 

[ChristineRose]

This has happened to me because BC/BS applied the company's payment to 2018 or some such thing. This was never explained.

It has also happened to numerous client companies because they didn't pay their bills.

I am sure it has nothing to do with Obamacare. Blue Cross might have changed your company's terms, but they wouldn't have canceled it.

Interesting. I would hate to think they weren't paying their bills. They are a construction company and my husband say's they are doing really well. They also really like mu husband because he's willing to do the work of like four people. So I know they don't want to lose him. They stole him from another company.

I'm a consultant and we deal with "distressed" companies, so hopefully yours isn't like my clients. But at the same time I see lots of companies that had plenty of money coming in that managed to have none left to pay the insurance bills. If they really didn't pay the bill, I'd suggest Mr. InnerKitten start contacting those other companies that want him back.

 

[perry]

I hate to sound pessimistic; but this is much more likely because your husbands small company decided to stop providing insurance or did not have enough money to pay the bills.

If the company ends its insurance plan - it is not the responsibility of the insurance company to notify employees. It is the responsibility of the company.

While it might just be an innocent clerical error; the odds are much more on the side of an intentional decision to end coverage or not to pay the bills (due to lack of cash). In the later case you will often get a run-around for a few months of excuses.

I wish you the best.

Perry

 

[ChristineRose]

Good news. Sort of.

BCBS has terminated my insurance as well.

I know with 100% certainty that my company has paid their bills, and my HR person had some colorful things to say.

In all likelihood BCBS is just having an unusually bad case of the crummies.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

This is bizarre to say the least. Two of you with BCBS policies have them cancelled with no notice? Are you both in the same state?

 

[innerkitten]

Good news. Sort of.

BCBS has terminated my insurance as well.

I know with 100% certainty that my company has paid their bills, and my HR person had some colorful things to say.

In all likelihood BCBS is just having an unusually bad case of the crummies.

Are you in California too?
I won't know what's going on for sure with mine till tomorrow.

 

[ruby59]

First, is anyone else having to constantly sign back in? I used to go weeks, months without having to do so. Now it is many times per day.

In my home state (Rhode Island) it is UnitedHealth that has been cancelling a lot of policies since Obama Care took effect. Blue Cross Blue Shield has been the only one to stand by us and leave existing policies alone.

 

[ChristineRose]

I'm in Michigan.

United Health Care has been cancelling policies that did not comply with Obamacare and telling people to buy a different policy, often much more expensive but with better coverage. It really doesn't have much to do with people who get coverage through their employers. Large employers either have to offer their employees something that meets the Obamacare standards or pay a fine. My employer has a private agreement with BCBS and they are small, so they are exempt from the standards anyhow. BCBS may or may not offer my employer the same coverage plan at the same price when the contracts expire. I don't think BCBS cares whether an employer's plan complies with Obamacare or not.

This has happened to us before, and it's really just Blue Cross's inability to keep their own books. Hopefully that's all IK has to worry about.

 

[perry]

Actually, a lot of companies had to cancel their previous health insurance policies because those policies did not meet the standards of Obama-care (they did not accept everyone regardless of pre-existing medical condition, they did not extend coverage to children until age 26, they did not cover contraceptive services, etc, etc, etc). Over 95% of all previous "independent" health insurance policies had to be canceled nationwide. Company health insurance plans had to be modified to meet the new conditions (my employers' plan has been modified over the last 2 years so we did not get a singular shock this year).

The question then was did the insurance company still wish to participate in the independent market-place with a health insurance policy the met the Obama-care standards. A good number of them said no. Too much hassle for what they might earn (i.e.; they can make good money with a lot less work/risks/concerns doing other kinds of insurance).

I note that a lot of companies have also decided to stop providing health insurance coverage to their employees due to the cost of a reasonable Obama-care policy; especially in idustries where wages and benifits have a direct relationship to cost of service sold and they would loose significant marketshare if they passed on the increased cost to their customers (and the competitor companies kept their prices the same as they no longer provided health insurance to their employees). A prime example: Fast food restaurants.

I suspect that within 6 -9 months that a lot of people will really be upset with the new health insurance system.

Have a great day,

Perry

 

[movie zombie]

IK, you are handling this so well! better than I would.....sigh.

 

[04diamond<3]

I work in health insurance and it really just sounds like the company didn't pay the bill. If it was anything related to "obama care" his company would have gotten all the correspondence. If you are still having issues getting into BlueAccess for members, call their technical number. Once you're logged in, you should be able to see what the paid to date of the policy is.

 

[innerkitten]

IK, you are handling this so well! better than I would.....sigh.

Thanks MZ. I feel crappy and it's all very confusing so I'm just waiting to find out more tomorrow.

 

[innerkitten]

I still don't know what's going on. I spoke to my husband, who spoke to someone in the office, who spoke to someone outside the office that handles our insurance and they contacted Blue Shield. Just now I got an email that's been forwarded several time all the way down to me saying that the Blue shield site is down or something. So I've been waiting all day to find out what's going on and still no answer. I'm going to contact them again.

 

[innerkitten]

Ah ha! I called again and she had just gotten off the phone with their broker. Blue Shield say's they didn't pay the bill. They say they did and they are checking to see if the check went through. I don't know if the error was because of them the broker, or Blue Shield. But they told me they are fixing the problem and it should be resolved asap. I've asked them to call me when they know more.

 

[amc80]

Well that's good news!

 

[royalstarrynight]

Whew! That's a relief that it's a quickly fixable issue.

Losing health insurance is no laughing matter. You handled it quite calmly. I would had been raising hell.

 

[movie zombie]

glad to have the update, IK!

 

[innerkitten]

Thanks for listening!

 

[asscherisme]

Thank goodness its going to be resolved! What a scary thing to have no health insurance, especially with kids.

 

[chrono]

Thanks for the update. I hope it gets resolved; I was worried for your family because you have young ones at home.

 

[ChristineRose]

My insurance is back. Some sort of BCBS stupidity. I don't know if it's related but here's hoping it's just a glitch either way!

 

[innerkitten]

My insurance is back. Some sort of BCBS stupidity. I don't know if it's related but here's hoping it's just a glitch either way!

Glad to hear it. It is possible that with all the changes going on mistakes have been made etc.