Looking4Ward
Full time employment: Posting here.
I retired on 6/1 - and was immediately converted to part time, not eligible for benefits because the company wanted to keep me on the payroll for awhile.
I have until 8/15 to elect to participate in Cobra, which if I did would result in retroactive coverage to 6/1. As long as I paid June and July premiums, of course.
So on 7/7 I applied for BCBS Bronze Plan thru ehealthinsurance.com
The site was very specific, indicating that "Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas only issues coverage start dates on the 1st of the month. Therefore, your application will have a requested coverage start date of 08-01-2014. Please note: Application for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas must be received 15 days before the requested coverage start date."
Application sent. I get three marketing emails from BCBS on 7/10 encouraging me to maximize my use of coverage by registering on their website. Problem is, I need a member number to do so and haven't gotten one yet.
Today, I get a bill in the mail for August 1 thru August 31. But the amount due is double the monthly premium, and shows an "effective" date of 7/1.
I call - and get nowhere. The person on the phone agrees that it doesn't make sense that my coverage would be effective before the date I even applied, but the best they can do is open a ticket with membership and see if they will change the effective date to 8/1. Can't tell me when that might happen or if it will happen at all, because, well, that's the membership department. And she actually told me "besides, if you pay it it's not like you aren't getting anything for it, you're covered for the whole month of July".
I want to pay the bill, but I don't want to pay for a month I don't need coverage (July) and want it to accurately reflect both the date I requested coverage to start and the date the website clearly indicated coverage would start per BCBS policy.
I also expect them to respond in a reasonable amount of time, before the entire month of July is almost over and they then claim I had coverage (that I didn't want).
I'm thinking the best thing to do is to cancel the current coverage and start all over.
I have until 8/15 to elect to participate in Cobra, which if I did would result in retroactive coverage to 6/1. As long as I paid June and July premiums, of course.
So on 7/7 I applied for BCBS Bronze Plan thru ehealthinsurance.com
The site was very specific, indicating that "Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas only issues coverage start dates on the 1st of the month. Therefore, your application will have a requested coverage start date of 08-01-2014. Please note: Application for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas must be received 15 days before the requested coverage start date."
Application sent. I get three marketing emails from BCBS on 7/10 encouraging me to maximize my use of coverage by registering on their website. Problem is, I need a member number to do so and haven't gotten one yet.
Today, I get a bill in the mail for August 1 thru August 31. But the amount due is double the monthly premium, and shows an "effective" date of 7/1.
I call - and get nowhere. The person on the phone agrees that it doesn't make sense that my coverage would be effective before the date I even applied, but the best they can do is open a ticket with membership and see if they will change the effective date to 8/1. Can't tell me when that might happen or if it will happen at all, because, well, that's the membership department. And she actually told me "besides, if you pay it it's not like you aren't getting anything for it, you're covered for the whole month of July".
I want to pay the bill, but I don't want to pay for a month I don't need coverage (July) and want it to accurately reflect both the date I requested coverage to start and the date the website clearly indicated coverage would start per BCBS policy.
I also expect them to respond in a reasonable amount of time, before the entire month of July is almost over and they then claim I had coverage (that I didn't want).
I'm thinking the best thing to do is to cancel the current coverage and start all over.
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