cute fuzzy bunny
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
EDIT: okay, that was weird...post wanted me to fill in the poll AFTER I finished typing the text and submitting, but I wanted the options I had in the text for the poll items and clicked the back button...then it wouldnt let me repost for 30 seconds, then wouldnt let me add the poll...so second post I guess... BLAH!
Wow, I think this is my first new thread on the new board software. How exciting!!!
So back to our ongoing and seemingly never ending health care issue...
For those who need the "Previously on...CFB...." (dramatic music): Wife is changing jobs, her old health care stopped 4/1, we have a cobra offer for ~$1340 a month, our new health care should start on 6/1, and the new health care provider doesnt care about preexisting conditions. Presuming the new policy actually starts on 6/1, we'd also have no gaps in continuous coverage since the gap is less than 63 days.
So here's the new pickle. Wife was sent home with a sack of books, papers and other odds and ends. I read through it all. Seemed very confusing as to which medical policies they had and with whom...three choices, separate books for each, some seemingly specific to her company, some generic, no prices, no forms.
Set that aside, since they already said she wouldnt be eligible until 6/1. Based on our prior job experiences, companies enrolled you to your benefits or sat down with you to fill out the forms.
Well, of course she mentions it a few weeks ago to the benefits guy and he tells her she was supposed to find a form in that pile o' stuff (which wasnt there), pick her care (without IMO any decent information or pricing), and submit it by 5/1. It was 5/3.
So she is then told that she's too late to submit, will have to wait for open enrollment in October, but they can have the CEO write a letter to resolve the matter.
To make a long story short, said letter has been written and sent twice, she'd been bugging the HR guy daily, he assures all will be well, but whenever she talks to the insurer she gets the same "sorry, but you were late and cant enroll until October".
This smacks of my recollections of corporate shenanigans where everyone screws around and consumes 20 hours of time and at the last moment, a diving catch makes someone a hero, everyones worked up, and nothing changes to the process to make it work better. Seems like a lot of people at this company are having the same 'problem'.
So we have some choices.
1) buy cobra, eat the huge cost (2700 right now to assure we're covered to 6/1 and 1340 a month thereafter)
2) buy a policy just to cover our son and eat our own medical costs out of pocket
3) try to apply for a policy on our own, using hippa and our certificate of creditable coverage, which of course expires on 6/1...and I dont know if we just have to APPLY by then or have been accepted by then.
4) Issue an ultimatum to the employer to assure that they'll cover her by 6/1 or she walks for a company that will cover her by 6/1
5) Stop worrying about it and let the corporate wheels continue to grind to their inevitable conclusion.
At this point, 3 months of Cobra costs more than buying our own meds out of pocket for a year.
One other interesting tidbit was the HR guy telling my wife that they HAVE to get her health care because its illegal in california to have an employee and not offer them healthcare benefits. Which sounds great but is something I never heard of before.
Wow, I think this is my first new thread on the new board software. How exciting!!!
So back to our ongoing and seemingly never ending health care issue...
For those who need the "Previously on...CFB...." (dramatic music): Wife is changing jobs, her old health care stopped 4/1, we have a cobra offer for ~$1340 a month, our new health care should start on 6/1, and the new health care provider doesnt care about preexisting conditions. Presuming the new policy actually starts on 6/1, we'd also have no gaps in continuous coverage since the gap is less than 63 days.
So here's the new pickle. Wife was sent home with a sack of books, papers and other odds and ends. I read through it all. Seemed very confusing as to which medical policies they had and with whom...three choices, separate books for each, some seemingly specific to her company, some generic, no prices, no forms.
Set that aside, since they already said she wouldnt be eligible until 6/1. Based on our prior job experiences, companies enrolled you to your benefits or sat down with you to fill out the forms.
Well, of course she mentions it a few weeks ago to the benefits guy and he tells her she was supposed to find a form in that pile o' stuff (which wasnt there), pick her care (without IMO any decent information or pricing), and submit it by 5/1. It was 5/3.
So she is then told that she's too late to submit, will have to wait for open enrollment in October, but they can have the CEO write a letter to resolve the matter.
To make a long story short, said letter has been written and sent twice, she'd been bugging the HR guy daily, he assures all will be well, but whenever she talks to the insurer she gets the same "sorry, but you were late and cant enroll until October".
This smacks of my recollections of corporate shenanigans where everyone screws around and consumes 20 hours of time and at the last moment, a diving catch makes someone a hero, everyones worked up, and nothing changes to the process to make it work better. Seems like a lot of people at this company are having the same 'problem'.
So we have some choices.
1) buy cobra, eat the huge cost (2700 right now to assure we're covered to 6/1 and 1340 a month thereafter)
2) buy a policy just to cover our son and eat our own medical costs out of pocket
3) try to apply for a policy on our own, using hippa and our certificate of creditable coverage, which of course expires on 6/1...and I dont know if we just have to APPLY by then or have been accepted by then.
4) Issue an ultimatum to the employer to assure that they'll cover her by 6/1 or she walks for a company that will cover her by 6/1
5) Stop worrying about it and let the corporate wheels continue to grind to their inevitable conclusion.
At this point, 3 months of Cobra costs more than buying our own meds out of pocket for a year.
One other interesting tidbit was the HR guy telling my wife that they HAVE to get her health care because its illegal in california to have an employee and not offer them healthcare benefits. Which sounds great but is something I never heard of before.
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