Before my separation from my previous firm, I had only one experience with COBRA, and I didn’t like it, however, similar to last time, this time I didn’t have other options: I was terminated without any notice and didn’t have any upcoming employment. That being said, the fact that my previous firm was going to pay my COBRA for the first four months was a relief.
Everything looked easy because I just needed to go to the COBRA provider website and enroll. I enrolled, but the website didn’t know anything about my former employer paying for my COBRA, and nothing changed several days later. I emailed my former HR, but nobody replied. A couple of days later, I received a note in the mail saying that because nobody paid the COBRA premium, my coverage couldn’t be reinstated.
I emailed my former HR again, and they said that they just paid, and everything should be fine. I logged in to my COBRA provider website, and it indeed indicated that the payments were made. However, the Blue Cross website was still insisting that my insurance was terminated.
On top of that, I actually needed to go to the doctor because my back/left leg started to hurt, and by September 17, it hurt really badly, so I couldn’t stand or walk without the pain. A strong painkiller I had for situations like that didn’t help, and in general, I felt the pain was more severe than previous relapses.
No appointments were available with my primary, and they suggested I go to another office to see another doctor in the same network. Then the scheduling center couldn’t find my insurance, as expected, and my assurances that COBRA would apply retroactively didn’t work. I told them that I would self-pay, got an appointment, paid $145, got another painkiller prescription, an X-ray referral, and a referral to an ortho specialist. A half-hour later, the scheduling service told me they couldn’t send a referral because my coverage wasn’t reinstated, and they told me to call when it was.
I returned home, took a deep breath, and called PT Solutions, which is a Haven on Earth and where Cori does his magic. I asked whether there could be any time that afternoon Cori could see me, and they found a slot. I came in and explained all about COBRA and being in between, and they were genuinely sorry and asked whether it was OK to charge me $35 (do not ask! I do not understand how they can charge a co-pay without insurance, but I am telling you, it’s a Heaven on Earth right here, in Rogers Park!). And Cori examined me and told me that there is no new injury; it’s all in my back, which reacted to the stress in such a way. He made some manipulations and showed me some exercises, and told me to come back on Monday if it didn’t help.
I have been doing all these exercises at least twice a day every day, and although I am not completely out of it, things have definitely improved.
I spent the next two days calling the COBRA provider (who said everything was OK and that they would notify Blue Cross, and insurance would be retroactively applied) and calling Blue Cross, who said they received nothing. On Wednesday, a Blue Cross representative called me and asked me to call COBRA again because he had already called them multiple times and verified the email address where they should have sent a notification, and it’s still not coming.
Finally, on Thursday morning, I logged into my Blue Cross account and didn’t see the red note on it. I couldn’t believe it was over, so I called them to verify, and they confirmed. However, I still had to ask them to reprocess a dental claim from September 2 (they won’t do it automatically), and I also have to file a claim for my out-of-pocket manually…
Summary:
- Why there are so many parasites around healthcare?!
- The rest of the world is normal in comparison to us
- There are some angels around us, especially in Rogers Park
And almost forgot: after I made sure that my insurance was reinstated, I immediately signed up for COVID and Flu shots, and got both of them today, so now I am ready to travel!
