Speechless
I'm pretty sure that Anthem Blue Cross is the most screwed-up large company
on the planet. This is a multi-billion dollar company that handles health
insurance in a dozen states. Here's their track record with me so far:
Last year they changed the PO box where they want their payment. I kept
auto-sending payments from my bank every month to the "wrong box", so they
cancelled me without informing me for 3 months. When I asked the bank why
the hell I didn't see the auto-checks returned, the bank said that they had not
been returned, just not cashed. Sigh. Anthem straightened it out
finally, re-instated me and took a payment on the phone for the past 3 months.
Then, Anthem put me on an auto-payment plan so, even if they changed their
stupid drop box address, I'd be covered – they
would just suck out of my bank whatever they wanted. Meanwhile, I had had
a physical whose claims they rejected, so I called today to straighten it out.
The first thing I found out was that
I was dropped again. I said, "What? Why? How?" The
Anthem lady said that three checks had bounced, so was being de-instated.
I said, "what check numbers", and she read me these long-ass numbers. I
said, "OK, you just tried to cash the three checks that you received 5 months
ago at the wrong address and then told me to stop payment on". Oh, she
said. Then I asked, "If I have auto-payment, how come my payments are in
arrears?" She said, "if we ever receive a physical check from someone, we
automatically drop them from the auto-payment program". At this point I
was speechless. She gave me the number to get my claims covered, and also
the IT Support number, because the Anthem website gives me this weird error
after I log in – which is why I didn't know I was
covered in the first place. I called the customer service number and asked
them to pay for the bills for my yearly physical. That's when she told me
that my plan doesn't cover ANY preventative care. That was news to me, but
I was pretty shell-shocked by then. I called the tech support number and
explained that I was getting this weird error message after logging in.
The lady said, "Oh, you must be using Internet Explorer 7", which isn't
compatible with our system." I said, "You're not compatible with the
standard Microsoft browser that every Windows XP user has received as a standard
auto-upgrade? That ships standard on Vista? That has over 120
million users?" No, she said, "It's got problems and they're always
changing things, and besides, we have to be careful about security". I
said, "It works on my bank's website and the website for all my credit cards . .
. do you think you need to be more secure than them?" She said, "Well, we
have Federal regulations to consider too". "Aren't you guys a
multi-billion dollar corporation?" She didn't answer. "Does
Netscape work?", I asked. "Most of the time", she said. Now, I was
truly speechless.
In the final analysis, I'm not focusing on the price we pay for health care
intermediate, like Anthem. The thing to notice here is the world-class
incompetence. Do you think that any firm in Silicon Valley could survive
this kind of rampant stupidity? Even the Big Three (although Chrysler is
now the part of Daimler that is soon to be dumped)? How can you be this
dysfunctional and still run a business? I suspect the answer is politics.
I once had a conversation with my brother about a conference he attended in
Disney World when he was a drug rep for Big Pharma. Two thousand reps from
his firm descended on Orlando and stayed in the nicest hotels and attended
dinners and held meetings. They cheered together at Epcot as Disney
executed a wonderful fireworks display on their behalf. After the
meetings, they all went home, at a cost of millions of dollars. I asked
what was the occasion, and my brother told me with a straight face that they had
all gathered at the Magic Kingdom to discuss cost control. I kid you not.
Big Pharma is a gigantic fund source for any political campaign on their radar.
This includes Democrats and Republicans. It's the reason that Viagra, that
costs about 40 cents to make, costs $10 to $15. They say that this is
because of "research costs", but it's not research that would pass muster in any
legitimate scientific venue. It's paying researchers to write paper on
their behalf, and sending doctors on cruises to "educate" them (though,
admittedly a lot less of that is possible now), and God Knows What else passes
for research. Viagra is so easy to make that you can get it from Asia by
the barrelful at 10% of its current cost. But, I digress.
One of the reasons I don't have group coverage is that (a) my company isn't big
enough, and (b) in its infinite wisdom, the Colorado legislature has mandated
that any company group coverage has to cover EVERYTHING –
maternity, psychological counseling, chiropractors, you name it. For that
reason, the only group plans available run about $10,000 a year per person, and
you have no opportunity to pay less for less coverage.
Probably 20% of the people reading this blog have no health coverage at all.
The health coverage we have is ridiculously expensive and often doesn't cover
some basic care (my policy doesn't cover colonoscopies or annual physicals, how
smart is that?) I've spent something like $75,000 in the last 10
years on health insurance. The total for all doctor and drug bills in that
time probably don't amount to 10% of that. So where is all that money going?
Countless emergency room visits by the indigent that Reagan threw out onto the
streets? Six-figure last-minute intervention for those who used to just
die quietly at home and hospices? I don't know. I know enough
physicians to know that they're not getting rich, but health care costs have
been running 2 to 3 times the rate of inflation for a decade.With luck, someone will get elected and fix this fucked-up
system.
~~~
Received a new 32 Poems today. Here's some work I liked:
Seth Abramson, The Mines: Once more the black throat keeps / the
better part of its gravid business / ...
Eric Higgins, Monologue: After a long day at the chapel, the pastor
relaxes with a joint as a sitcom starts in the background: When you're
in the womb, there's very little ideology / piped in, then you're born, slapped
on the ass, / called a Boy, a Girl, a Give me a minute here, / ...
Leslie Jenike, Three Go Confessional: Hide the diamonds and
cocaine; a monster with my face / is deep inside her bullheaded dream, dragging
pleasure / behind her by its hair. ...
Kelly Madigan Erlandson, Rarely Have We Seen a Person Fail: I have
not come to sobriety without reason. / The rim of the glass itself insisted.
I was collared by bottles / ...
Hannah Craig, Mushroom Hunting: o homely hunt / o barb and rail / o
here-a-grail / and flock of naked sheep, / and snakeheads with grandmother skin
/ and russula, cello-deep.
See you tomorrow, most likely.