Since we are losing our current employer-sponsored health insurance I've been shopping around for a replacement policy both on and off the marketplace. What an absolute mess! I've got probably close to 100 hours in and have narrowed it down to two plans... both PPO plans from Blue Cross (evidently the only 2 available that will provide coverage outside of California, because you know, we're the first and only people to ever have property in 2 different states). But a search of their in-network primary care physicians turns up only 7 doctors within 10 miles of us. 7 doctors - in an area that boasts (?) 7,000 people per square mile. The city hired a broker to help us find a plan. Long story short he's been selling policies since November 1st with outdated and no longer current info (his info is dated 2013, I provided him with info dated 2015 that shows some serious changes have been made). I wonder what's going to happen when all these people he sold policies to find out they aren't covered like he said they would be? Covered California agents, when asked for details of the plans on the marketplace, keep telling me they don't know the answers and that I'll have to talk to the insurance companies directly. Wow. That's all I can say, is WOW. Thanks City of Glendale, thanks Obama, for throwing us under the bus.
Healthcare in the good ole' USA
- Thread starter RickyZ
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UPDATE:
So my previous employer and it's current employees throw us retirees under the bus, forcing us off their medical insurance. After hours and days and weeks of run-around study we settle on a plan from Blue Cross that, according to the woman at Blue Cross (BC), includes all our current doctors. So we get the new insurance cards and I take them around to our doctors. Both of Jan's doctors say they won't take it. I assure them that according to BC they do. 'Round and round we go... getting nowhere. I go back home, call BC to get them to talk to these doctors. "They don't take that insurance" BC now tells me. I explain that I have an email from one of their agents showing that they do. They ask me to forward it and they'll look into it.
I then try to log in to Covered CA website to see if there are any options open. Numerous attempts, but it won't log me in. Call Covered CA, spend 20 minutes with the guy trying to get in. Doesn't work. But he does tell me that we have until March 31 to change plans if we want. We just have to get in to the website to do so. We are then 'disconnected' (aka hung up on).
Call another Covered CA agent who right away tells me their website is down - for some people. She agrees that we can change plans, and, better luck tomorrow.
Call Blue Shield (BS), whom Jan's doctors say they take. Confirm that a BS plan comparable to the BC plan does include all our CA doctors except one, one who specifically told us she takes BS. Then I ask about out of state. This plan includes the Blue Card. The Blue Card means that out of state, any doctor who takes any BC plan is covered. Out of state. The BS guy confirms my question that, it means that our CA insurance plan covers more doctors outside of CA than in the state. (This is also what threw the first BC girl off. They are on the Blue Card list, meaning if we lived out of state they would accept our insurance but since we live a few blocks away they won't).
Call Jan's doctor about not being on the BS list. The girl insists they are. I call BS and confirm they are not. Call the doctor and tell them they're not. She insists they are. I insist they are not. Finally she gives up and goes to call BS to verify.
She comes back to me and admits they're not on the BS list. BUT they will take whatever BS pays as payment in full. Which is funny, because where BS will only pay them 50%, BC would pay them 60%. But they won't take that.
Amazing. Freaking amazing. What an ****ed up system. No wonder we pay more for healthcare and get worse outcomes than the rest of the world.
No wonder sooo many desperate people are rallying behind Trump. The inmates are running the asylum, and he's the only person who (however insane himself) offers any glimmer of hope of changing that.
Time to clean house people. VOTE THIRD PARTY!
So my previous employer and it's current employees throw us retirees under the bus, forcing us off their medical insurance. After hours and days and weeks of run-around study we settle on a plan from Blue Cross that, according to the woman at Blue Cross (BC), includes all our current doctors. So we get the new insurance cards and I take them around to our doctors. Both of Jan's doctors say they won't take it. I assure them that according to BC they do. 'Round and round we go... getting nowhere. I go back home, call BC to get them to talk to these doctors. "They don't take that insurance" BC now tells me. I explain that I have an email from one of their agents showing that they do. They ask me to forward it and they'll look into it.
I then try to log in to Covered CA website to see if there are any options open. Numerous attempts, but it won't log me in. Call Covered CA, spend 20 minutes with the guy trying to get in. Doesn't work. But he does tell me that we have until March 31 to change plans if we want. We just have to get in to the website to do so. We are then 'disconnected' (aka hung up on).
Call another Covered CA agent who right away tells me their website is down - for some people. She agrees that we can change plans, and, better luck tomorrow.
Call Blue Shield (BS), whom Jan's doctors say they take. Confirm that a BS plan comparable to the BC plan does include all our CA doctors except one, one who specifically told us she takes BS. Then I ask about out of state. This plan includes the Blue Card. The Blue Card means that out of state, any doctor who takes any BC plan is covered. Out of state. The BS guy confirms my question that, it means that our CA insurance plan covers more doctors outside of CA than in the state. (This is also what threw the first BC girl off. They are on the Blue Card list, meaning if we lived out of state they would accept our insurance but since we live a few blocks away they won't).
Call Jan's doctor about not being on the BS list. The girl insists they are. I call BS and confirm they are not. Call the doctor and tell them they're not. She insists they are. I insist they are not. Finally she gives up and goes to call BS to verify.
She comes back to me and admits they're not on the BS list. BUT they will take whatever BS pays as payment in full. Which is funny, because where BS will only pay them 50%, BC would pay them 60%. But they won't take that.
Amazing. Freaking amazing. What an ****ed up system. No wonder we pay more for healthcare and get worse outcomes than the rest of the world.
No wonder sooo many desperate people are rallying behind Trump. The inmates are running the asylum, and he's the only person who (however insane himself) offers any glimmer of hope of changing that.
Time to clean house people. VOTE THIRD PARTY!