[Bobbi]

#1065796

My husband is a retired medical insurance exec and has offered the following info which may not work, but…. Whoever administered your former health insurance plan is the individual responsible for working with you about COBRA. Sometimes employers farm this out (privatize it) to a "third party administrator." Sometimes this is handled "inhouse" by an HR/Personnel employee. If you have tried this, I apologize for missing that info.

Another tactic if you seem to have run out of options, is to try contacting a locally available newspaper’s "Action Line."
The adverse publicity potential that Action Lines bring to bear, often bring about resolution to problems like this.

[Madame_X]

#1018577

My backstory is here:
http://www.ngdf.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.ph … 576c3bbf73

I called Banking and Insurance and the state dept of labor and my attorney: they told me I was pretty much on my own in this.

The state has no way to file a complaint and investigation? This just ain’t right.

FedEx was here this morning; it was my returned Cobra check for April, along with a printout saying that the subsidy expired on March 31. That is ONE thing….the main concern here is that they did not tell Oxford that my Cobra start date was December 1; therefore, I am still owed 2 more months, even IF I decide to pay the full $480 amount for the next 2 months.

And notice there is NO note from the former employer that said something like "we are working on your issue; still speaking to Cobra about it; hang in there until we get resolution; will get you what you need asap" — or better yet:

ALL they needed to do was send Oxford my December 1 Cobra start date; it would have taken 10 minutes to get a rep, explain what the deal was…and then FAX that info to the rep…and all of this could have been resolved by today!

And now I have to pay for what I need out of pocket and chase them to get my money back, money which doesn’t come easy if you’re unemployed and only getting $418 a week.

And even SO?

It is the principle of the thing: this never should have happened. THat start date should be in their system and since it is not, this is the employer’s fault.

I will call the national Dept of Labor tomorrow but I know what the story will be: the same as it was from everybody else.

[LaurelM]

#1065797

My state has an Office of Insurance Commisioner which deals with these types of issues. I don’t know if your state would have something similar. Good luck.
Laurel

[Madame_X]

#1065798

We don’t have any type of entity that will go after them via the state. ONLY if these thugs hear "sue you" or "you will be fined" will they get moving. Since this is "just me" all I get to do is make phone calls and TRY to get what I need. Great.

This isn’t working:

Whoever administered your former health insurance plan is the individual responsible for working with you about COBRA. Sometimes employers farm this out (privatize it) to a "third party administrator." Sometimes this is handled "inhouse" by an HR/Personnel employee. If you have tried this, I apologize for missing that info.

This is a very small company: an owner, her H (who is supposed to be the benefits admin), two sales guys and an office manager. The OM is the one who is in charge of any type of phone calls or communications in writing to anything insurance-related; the H that is the benefits admin is very limited in English which is why OM takes care of all the communiques regarding insurance.

I for one would like to know why the owner isn’t pissed off that her office manager dropped the ball on this: OFFICE MANAGER DID NOT DO HER JOB. SHe didn’t do her job, either, that time I did not get a Cobra offer letter after I was laid off. All I got from OM was "I didn’t know we had to do it." This is bull, like I said…and they can’t really even GET into trouble for that! THe only thing they’d get is the dept of labor telling them to send it if you complained to them. They don’t get fined they pretty much more or less just get away with it.

I am trying the attorney general’s office. This is ridiculous and a shame and personally, I think these people are playing games with me. Any and every time I have contacted the former company for anything insurance-related it’s a battle bigger than Agincourt.

[Ski]

#1065799

I think the suggestion of your local newspaper or TV station’s "action line" or whatever they call it is an excellent move at this point ~ let THEM call the heavy hitters, they have their personal phone numbers and they can make things happen much more quickly. Get you out of the middle and let them get you what you need. As Bobbi said, the threat of bad publicity is usually a pretty strong motivator.

Call every one of your local TV news stations, they probably ALL have people who do this, and whichever one acts first gets the job. (And if multiple organizations clamp down, all the better.)

[Madame_X]

#1065800

I called Oxford again today. Company has not attempted to contact them; the same information is still in their system.

What kills me too is this: nobody at Oxford is even keeping a paper trail on this one; every day when I call, I have to give them the entire backstory.

My atty wanted to know "do you think Former COmpany is playing some kind of game?" That thought crossed my mind. YOu cannot say it’s sleight of hand or they forgot or whatever — this is over 3 days they have had to take care of this mess and nobody is attempting to do so.

And notice that benefits admin did not bother to try to reach me and say, "Gee, sorry about the mix up; I’ll call Oxford and get this mess rectified; sorry for the trouble"? Nope. Not even decent enough to call here. You can bet Office Manager didn’t even MENTION this to him.

[Bobbi]

#1065801

Well,I don’t understand why they would be dragging their tails about this whole thing unless it is going to cost them money to partially pay for the COBRA. I don’t think that is how COBRA works, though, so I don’t know. Since you have an attorney, you might ask him/her if there is any plausible reason for a company to be so reluctant to do the right thing.

[Madame_X]

#1065802

I would like to know why it turns into a battle and a nightmare every time I contact them about an insurance-related issue. I’ve gone through hell and high water on other occasions. These people are uncooperative and I don’t know why that is.

I don’t even think this is a case of stupidity. Nobody can be this dumb.

Somebody suggested I go there in person again and refuse to leave until they follow through and resolve the issue. And I was thinking — and this is a very very long shot and probably one that I should ditch — of getting a cop to go there with me. The only way these people are going to get it in gear is if somebody in authority who can put the strong arm on them is involved in this.

[Bobbi]

#1065803

Whoever gave you the suggestion to just go there, and refuse to leave, may have given you some very bad advice. It sounds to me like a recipe for you getting arrested: all they’d have to do to get you to leave is call the police. I hear your anger, and frustration. I do understand. My own child had a similar problem. But at some point, we had to accept the very unpalatable reality: there was nothing more we could do. Not having control over something as basic as health care needs is supremely frustrating.

[Madame_X]

#1065804

What do you do, then? You’ve tried every conceivable route; you called whatever state and national entities and your attorney and nobody out of the entire bunch can fine these jokers or even send them a Nastygram to get them moving. That’s the only way to resolve this: get somebody bigger than they are to show them that that entity means business.

Time is money. This month is halfway done. And by rights, all of this should have been a done deal by now.

Like I said, the day after I went there, my Cobra check was returned and enclosed with the check was a printout about the Cobra subsidy from the state website. Huh? did she misunderstand me and THOUGHT I was there about the subsidy ending? NO — THree times I distinctly said what I was there for and STILL no resolution in the right direction.

This is either a game or this is just plain stupidity. I have not yet determined which it is.

And no cover letter with these 2 enclosures — what’s up with that? Are they more or less afraid to put something in writing? or did I just not merit even a short note like "Hope this is what you need; sorry about the check"? Gah.

TO me, no letter or even a note is JUST DISCOURTEOUS.

And you know what else?

NOWHERE in this mess did they even bother to say "We’re sorry"!

[Author]

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