Age: 29
Zip: 11739 (was in 11784 until my most recent job)
Income: $60k
Long story short, I had two jobs ; one (Company X) which ended in 2019 and a retail job with Home Depot just to get me by during the pandemic until I found new work. In between I was on COBRA twice. I live in New York.
I’ve been eligible for my new employer’s plan since September 1st and have dumped Home Depot’s COBRA. I also dumped the COBRA policy with Company X once I started with Home Depot full time.
Anyway, apparently the original policy with Company X has been supposedly active since 2019 when I left. So in theory I paid all that COBRA money for nothing (of course, had I not paid it, once the insurance companies figure it out they’ll come after me otherwise so I did it right). And the policy IS STILL ACTIVE 3 YEARS LATER!
Both Company X and Home Depot had Aetna, so I guess there was a glitch in the system and it worked fine. Now I have United/Oxford. United/Oxford is telling me that they’re my secondary insurance because of the active Aetna policy is my primary and their hands are tied until I have it terminated. I’ve been calling them back and forth for months trying to get a clear answer but I could only talk to low-level call reps who didn’t know what was going on; I couldn’t get anybody high level by asking for a manager. I finally got to someone helpful by leaving a very negative review after a phone call and telling them to call me back for more info (in which case, I told them not to count it against the original representative, but that I need upper level help)
Unfortunately I cannot terminate the Aetna policy myself. That needs to be done by the HR person at my old job. I’ve called him months ago as well (before the earlier mentioned call) and asked him to terminate it. He said he’d work on it but seemingly brushed it off.
Meanwhile I’m sitting here getting huge bills from doctors because this isn’t being taken care of.
The phone rep from Oxford suggested that I contact the NYS Department of Labor. I’ve been calling and they just hang up on me telling me they’re overwhelmed with calls and to try later. The only other way to contact them is pony mail. But apparently my name goes on “a list” (what doesn’t these days?) according to my mom (a CPA) for having contacted them. So I’m not sure how that’d impact future employment. I can’t get the HR guy to answer the phone lately so I left a message on his machine threatening to call the Department of Labor. No response as of this afternoon. I recently got a bill from the hospital for almost $1500 for a 10-day hospital stay. I’m not sure how much of that would’ve gone towards my deductible on my new plan or what not; I’ve seen doctors, received medication, and done other things while all this was going on and been “managing,” sometimes having to pay out of pocket. At this point I’ve considered bringing them to small claims court. I’m beside myself what else to do. I’ve been dealing with this since SEPTEMBER, it’s January!
submitted by /u/churning_medic
[link] [comments]Age: 29 Zip: 11739 (was in 11784 until my most recent job) Income: $60k Long story short, I had two jobs ; one (Company X) which ended in 2019 and a retail job with Home Depot just to get me by during the pandemic until I found new work. In between I was on COBRA twice. I live in New York. I’ve been eligible for my new employer’s plan since September 1st and have dumped Home Depot’s COBRA. I also dumped the COBRA policy with Company X once I started with Home Depot full time. Anyway, apparently the original policy with Company X has been supposedly active since 2019 when I left. So in theory I paid all that COBRA money for nothing (of course, had I not paid it, once the insurance companies figure it out they’ll come after me otherwise so I did it right). And the policy IS STILL ACTIVE 3 YEARS LATER! Both Company X and Home Depot had Aetna, so I guess there was a glitch in the system and it worked fine. Now I have United/Oxford. United/Oxford is telling me that they’re my secondary insurance because of the active Aetna policy is my primary and their hands are tied until I have it terminated. I’ve been calling them back and forth for months trying to get a clear answer but I could only talk to low-level call reps who didn’t know what was going on; I couldn’t get anybody high level by asking for a manager. I finally got to someone helpful by leaving a very negative review after a phone call and telling them to call me back for more info (in which case, I told them not to count it against the original representative, but that I need upper level help) Unfortunately I cannot terminate the Aetna policy myself. That needs to be done by the HR person at my old job. I’ve called him months ago as well (before the earlier mentioned call) and asked him to terminate it. He said he’d work on it but seemingly brushed it off. Meanwhile I’m sitting here getting huge bills from doctors because this isn’t being taken care of. The phone rep from Oxford suggested that I contact the NYS Department of Labor. I’ve been calling and they just hang up on me telling me they’re overwhelmed with calls and to try later. The only other way to contact them is pony mail. But apparently my name goes on “a list” (what doesn’t these days?) according to my mom (a CPA) for having contacted them. So I’m not sure how that’d impact future employment. I can’t get the HR guy to answer the phone lately so I left a message on his machine threatening to call the Department of Labor. No response as of this afternoon. I recently got a bill from the hospital for almost $1500 for a 10-day hospital stay. I’m not sure how much of that would’ve gone towards my deductible on my new plan or what not; I’ve seen doctors, received medication, and done other things while all this was going on and been “managing,” sometimes having to pay out of pocket. At this point I’ve considered bringing them to small claims court. I’m beside myself what else to do. I’ve been dealing with this since SEPTEMBER, it’s January! submitted by /u/churning_medic [link] [comments]Read Morer/HealthInsurance