The Husband and I went to the cardiologist today for his pre-bariatric surgery consultation. His EKG was normal and we met Nelson, the doctor’s dog. While The Husband was poked and prodded I lavished attention on Nelson who repaid me by curling up on my feet and going to sleep. The Husband will need to do a echocardiogram and a treadmill test before the cardiologist will sign him off for the surgery but the doctor thinks they will come back clear of problems.
We then went to Michael’s to peruse the Halloween decorations, specifically the Lemax collection. We have a Halloween Town collection that we add at least one piece to each year. What piece we get is decided by a baroque process with much back and forth between The Husband and myself.
Because the cardiologist’s office didn’t require the expected co-pay we were able to go out to lunch, which is a real treat since eating out isn’t in our budget. We went to a BBQ place that The Husband had heard good things about. The food was great, the sauce met The Husband’s exacting standards, and we witnessed a fine random act of kindness. A gentleman treated a young enlisted man and his wife to lunch because “He wanted to thank the both of them.”
The last stop in our day of madcap adventure was CostCo. We carefully figured up what we really needed and how much we could spend. We now have fresh fruit! Half the fun of CostCo, when it isn’t ridiculously crowded, is seeing what they have to offer that day so it was really shopertainment.
On the way home I was thinking we hadn’t had such a good, fun day in a long time. The next thing that popped into my mind was “I wonder what will go wrong?”
Yes. I just had to ask, didn’t I?
Going through the mail after we got home I opened a letter from our health insurance company. Due to non-payment of premium our insurance was terminated. I felt as if I had been punched in the chest. No insurance for me isn’t that big of a deal. In fact I am without insurance for the month of August, with a new much cheaper plan starting up in September. After September I will just be woefully under insured. But back to the big panic. The Husband needs medical insurance. Due to his stroke and other health issues he is on a laundry list of medications and needs medical supervision. On top of that we are in the process of getting him in for bariatric surgery for weight loss. Even if I could find another plan that we could afford that would accept him, there is a very good chance his major health issues would remain untreated because they were preexisting.
Hence, the panic.
I had sent a bank check out and I was hoping the letter and payment had just crossed in the mail. I immediately called member services and the rep confirmed the policy had been cancelled. Because I forgot that the rates went up in July and the bank check, that had been received, was $59 short. $59 is about 5% of the total owed. Much to my chagrin I started crying while on the phone to a complete stranger. In a soggy manner I explained what happened to the rep and asked her if there was anything I could do to reinstate the policy, including my fears about losing insurance for The Husband. Without a pause this woman offered to do a payment over the phone and set it up so there would be no lapse in coverage. She sympathized because her husband also has serious health problems. Maybe they do this all the time. Maybe the letter is a scare tactic when people short pay or don’t pay at all. I don’t care. This woman took the time and made the effort to treat me with kindness and respect. And she gave me an option to solve the problem
Later on I will probably be furious that the insurance company didn’t contact me and give me the option to make up the short. Or include the $59 on the next invoice. What were they going to do with the money that had been paid? Why the scare tactics (If that is what they were)?