I currently do not have health insurance. This was a surprise to me when I went to the student health center pharmacy to pick up a prescription yesterday and they told me that my prescription was $77 instead of the usual $10 co-pay.
They asked me if I remembered to enroll in summer student health insurance. On a regular basis this might have been the case. I did forget to enroll for insurance once. There were extenuating circumstances however. I had transitioned from a graduate program in which I received a stipend, all of my tuition and fees were paid (including my insurance) by the program, and someone on staff magically made all of our paperwork go through each and every quarter. I switched into a graduate program in which I received no stipend, was responsible for my entire tuition and fees and had to struggle to get all of my paperwork to go through each quarter (God bless the person on staff in my former grad program who made the paperwork go through - I can barely manage myself when working with the graduate school, financial aid, the bursar, etc - I have no idea how they handled the paperwork of 100 graduate students). All that being said to explain to you that I had no idea that you had to enroll for insurance each year since it had always been done for me. I thought that if I didn't opt out I would automatically be opted in. This, apparently, is not the case. However, I was able to explain my special circumstances (read irresponsibility) in an appeal and the health insurance company had mercy on me and enrolled me insurance for that school year.
Based on my previous experience, I didn't want to have to deal with forgetting to enroll for insurance again. I was especially vigilant last quarter because the hubs just started residency and we had to decide what to do about our insurance: should I just enroll in student health insurance and then have a primary and secondary policy for a quarter? Should I buy a temporary 1 month policy to get me from the end of my quarter to the beginning of my benefits period on my new policy? One thing that I knew from growing up with a dad who was an insurance agent was that it is BAD to let your health insurance lapse. When this happens the new policy is not responsible for covering preexisting conditions (including pregnancy) for 6 months. If you have continuous coverage, however, the new policy is responsible for preexisting conditions from day 1.
I examined my student health insurance policy carefully, opted in for summer coverage (making sure that I met all of the credit hour requirements to be eligible for insurance) and let the thought of insurance exit my mind knowing that I had been a responsible adult and had made the best decision about my health insurance coverage...
...and then I went to the pharmacy. I was shocked, based on the special care I had taken in making sure I was covered, that they were telling me I did not have insurance. I was especially shocked since I had already paid my bill for the summer quarter INCLUDING over $500 for insurance. I don't know about you, but I get a little peeved when I pay over $500 for something and then don't get to reap the benefits. The pharmacy employee started looking through their records and they told me that on the front page of the computer system it said I was insured. However, when they went to apply the insurance it wouldn't apply. Well, at least they agreed with me that I had opted in for coverage. Now why wasn't my insurance working? Unfortunately the pharmacy couldn't give me my prescription for $10, so I made a phone call to the student health insurance office. And I made quite the discovery: online classes don't count. Yes, I was taking enough credit hours. Yes, I had opted in for insurance. Yes, I had even paid for insurance. But no, they wouldn't provide me coverage unless I went through an appeal process.
I am usually a calm and polite person, especially when talking to customer service people over the phone. However, a switch flipped and I went off on this woman. "What do you mean online classes don't count?!?!?! I read your entire website to make sure that I would have coverage and now you are telling me I don't have insurance?!?!?! The website said ABSOLUTELY NOTHING ABOUT ONLINE COURSES AND I PAID FOR MY INSURANCE ALREADY AND I CAN'T GET MY PRESCRIPTION AND I AM PREGNANT AND I HAVE PREEXISTING CONDITIONS AND I CAN'T HAVE A LAPSE IN COVERAGE. I don't understand how I can opt in and the only reason that I found out that I DON'T HAVE INSURANCE is because I went to get a prescription AND THEY WOULDN'T GIVE IT TO ME!" She went on to assure me that the appeal process is quick and that my coverage would then be considered to start at the beginning of the quarter so I would have no lapse in coverage. At least my pregnancy and preexisting conditions would be covered.
However, I am currently without insurance coverage. If I got hit by a car today everything would be out of pocket. Furthermore, even after appealing I am sure that student health insurance is going to make my life miserable if I try to go back and submit claims from the first 2 weeks of this quarter while I am uninsured. So thank you, student health insurance, for being such a scam. I think you are the only business in the world that I could pay hundreds of dollars to who would then try to not give me the product I paid for. If I had the time and the money, I would take legal action against you, but I know that you have more lawyers and would drown my lawyers in paperwork making your questionable practices something that I just have to deal with. All that being said, thank God that there will be nationalized health care coverage for everyone soon because if I had any choice other than giving $2200 a year to a company I hate I would do it.
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