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John's employer moved to just one health insurance provider. I actually don't have a problem with that, except that couldn't the one they kept be the better one? Nope. So we had to switch. At first, I didn't think it was going to be a huge difference, but there are a lot of little charges that we now have to pay that we didn't before.
For example, the first time John didn't know that his heart was being weird and he went to the urgent care place who sent him by ambulance to the ER, we only paid the ambulance co-pay. Had they not admitted him that time, we would have had to pay the ER co-pay as well, which is pretty standard.
This last time that John didn't realize it was his heart thing and went to the urgent care place who sent him by ambulance to the ER, we also have to pay the ambulance and, because he was not admitted, the ER co-pays. Fine. But whereas we never had to pay a co-pay at the urgent care place before because our previous insurance company allowed it be the same as if we'd gone to our primary doctor, John had to pay a $35 co-pay. Because although they technically take our current insurance provider, the insurance company still calls it out-of-network. We will also, once we get a bill, have to pay co-pays on a bunch of the tests that had to be done for John.
Furthermore, our previous nonexistent co-pay for primary and ob/gyn visits are now $20 each. And despite the fact that John has been seeing his cardiologist for two years and he handled his case during this recent hospital visit, we still had to get a referral, which isn't something we've had to do before. Also, the current insurance provider refuses to pay for my Claritin because I can get it over the counter. Of course I can get it over the counter, but the whole reason I have a prescription is because it's very expensive over the counter, duh.
The only good thing that has come from this forced switch is the cost of John's allergy medicine. He was taking Allegra, which is a "tier three" prescription so we were paying $35. Even when they switched it to generic Fexofenodine, it was still $35. Apparently, though, with the new insurance, the generic is on the lowest tier and it now costs only $5. So that's a big change and yes, a nice one, but I don't think it makes up for the rest of this crap.
Now I have complained here about some annoyances I've had with Community Blue this past year, but to be honest, most of those problems stem from the fact that Kaleida (one of the local hospital systems) has idiots working in their billing department. Community Blue generally took care of it for me upon calling. Independent Health is still certainly better than insurance plans that many people have, but I want my old one back, thank you very much.
Part 2 will be arriving shortly in a locked entry.
For example, the first time John didn't know that his heart was being weird and he went to the urgent care place who sent him by ambulance to the ER, we only paid the ambulance co-pay. Had they not admitted him that time, we would have had to pay the ER co-pay as well, which is pretty standard.
This last time that John didn't realize it was his heart thing and went to the urgent care place who sent him by ambulance to the ER, we also have to pay the ambulance and, because he was not admitted, the ER co-pays. Fine. But whereas we never had to pay a co-pay at the urgent care place before because our previous insurance company allowed it be the same as if we'd gone to our primary doctor, John had to pay a $35 co-pay. Because although they technically take our current insurance provider, the insurance company still calls it out-of-network. We will also, once we get a bill, have to pay co-pays on a bunch of the tests that had to be done for John.
Furthermore, our previous nonexistent co-pay for primary and ob/gyn visits are now $20 each. And despite the fact that John has been seeing his cardiologist for two years and he handled his case during this recent hospital visit, we still had to get a referral, which isn't something we've had to do before. Also, the current insurance provider refuses to pay for my Claritin because I can get it over the counter. Of course I can get it over the counter, but the whole reason I have a prescription is because it's very expensive over the counter, duh.
The only good thing that has come from this forced switch is the cost of John's allergy medicine. He was taking Allegra, which is a "tier three" prescription so we were paying $35. Even when they switched it to generic Fexofenodine, it was still $35. Apparently, though, with the new insurance, the generic is on the lowest tier and it now costs only $5. So that's a big change and yes, a nice one, but I don't think it makes up for the rest of this crap.
Now I have complained here about some annoyances I've had with Community Blue this past year, but to be honest, most of those problems stem from the fact that Kaleida (one of the local hospital systems) has idiots working in their billing department. Community Blue generally took care of it for me upon calling. Independent Health is still certainly better than insurance plans that many people have, but I want my old one back, thank you very much.
Part 2 will be arriving shortly in a locked entry.
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Date: 2008-01-30 10:50 pm (UTC)From: