COBRA Hassles

susiestar

Roll With It
husband has handled ALL of the COBRA stuff until today. I am proud of him because until he got laid off he had never been willing to do almost anything with insurance other than giving the card to whomever. This is the first time there has been any real problem OR that he has asked/needed any help from me.

The computer system would not accept payment yesterday. He spent HOURS trying to put the payment through - and not hours where he played games or did facebook or email or whatever and tried every once in a while. Hours where all he did was try to make this payment. Any way it could mess up and refuse to process the payment, it DID.

It cannot have been just us because the wait at the call center was hours long - and once you have waited 61 minutes it dumps you out of the system.

This morning he called to see how to fix it. He got some woman who spoke so softly he could barely hear and had to ask her to repeat things and speak louder, often to no avail on the louder part. She finally told him to write a letter and mail it, rattling off a list of what was needed on the letter. He again asked her to PLEASE speak louder and to repeat what she had said. So she HUNG UP on him!!!!

He didn't even get an address to send the letter to!!!

He came in and woke me up because he was so angry he didn't know what to do. He was afraid that he would call them back and be so mad that they just cancelled everything and wouldn't let us appeal.

He agreed to let me call, and I spoke to a nice person in India who was very helpful. She gave me the info on how to fax an appeal letter and let it slip that they had some major computer issues yesterday. I say it was a slip because she mumbled that she hoped that they were not monitoring this call right after she mentioned the computer issue.

I hate these hassles. husband has a problem every single time he tries to send a payment to these people. He tried mailing one payment only to have it not appear in the system until weeks after it was due, coming out of our account at the same time another payment came out - after the company ASSURED him they would not process the check because he had made that payment via computer!!!

Now we get to keep our fingers crossed that the appeal is approved with-o too much fuss.

I hate insurance koi.

At least I got the info on how much it costs to cover just husband and I. I asked him to get this in May or June. He hasn't wanted to ask if he was asking about anything else because he was afraid they would go ahead and try to change the coverage and cancel everything or something. Which is understandable, in my opinion!

Thanks for letting me vent.

on the other hand - I did get about 7 hours of sleep last night - all in a row!!! And my headache seems to be all the way gone!!!!!!!!!
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
Your husband sounds like Tony. Tony cannot handle making any phone calls unless it is to someone he actually knows. Asking him to call a business or a Dishnetwork or something like that actually ends up with us in a huge fight. We had one of the biggest knockdown drag out fights over how to pay the electric bill because he simply couldnt understand how Billy could pay his part online, Tony could go down and pay our part at the electric company and Cory could pay his part with his card. He simply couldnt do it. He wanted everyone to give him the cash. He didnt understand that you can pay electronically! And omg...the idea that I needed him to call Dish and be in one room so he could relay me info to set up the messed up remote on my tv...that was simply too much for him.

I asked him what he did for those two months I was in the hospital. His answer? Billy handled it all. I swear, if I go first, the man is gonna be in trouble. No wonder he doesnt want Billy to ever move out!
 

klmno

Active Member
A little Occupational Therapist (OT)- have you checked into that fed option to get assistance for COBRA cost once laid off? I don't know the specific eligibility requirements but it supposedly can cut COBRA costs by 50% or more.
 

susiestar

Roll With It
The federal subsidy cuts ours by about 65%/ Without it we would not have had insurance, or gone with-o food, shelter and everything else -including $$ to pay copays.
 

KTMom91

Well-Known Member
I hear you, Susie. We've been dealing with COBRA since February, and even with the subsidy, it's more than our house payment. Hopefully, with just me and Hubby, it won't be so expensive.
 

susiestar

Roll With It
husband was POSITIVE that they wouldn't put any more kids on medicaid because the state is hit hard by the economy, or that docs would quit accepting it. I reminded him of how great it was when we were first on it, and convinced him to try again. It is, once again, fabulous. We actually have MORE access than before we had it, which amazes me, quite frankly.

I am just praying that computer snafus did not mean I am now uninsured. It wasn't a problem with OUR computers, after all.
 
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