Last week I was writing a whole long big rant about health insurance and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois and how they fucked us over and how frustrated I am that they fucked us over and then it seemed to sort of get resolved so I let it go only to find out today that not only had they indeed fucked us over, the choices we made to resolve the issues that arose because of how they fucked us over turned out to fuck us over even more.
I spent dozens of hours researching policies and plans and benefit options. I made choices about policy renewals because of information they provided about provider changes and our options. I coordinated with my providers, contacted behavioral health services, talked with BCBSIL advocates, discussed changes, re-enrolled in the Marketplace and it turns out it’s all been for shit because as of right now we have no medical group which means we have no providers which means we have nothing.
After working with an advocate again today with unsatisfactory results, I waited 10 minutes to have my call escalated despite my rep telling me “they are only going to tell you the same thing” before I asked for a call back only to be told that I needed to wait on the line. I waited another 10 minutes and I hung up.
This sort of issue used to completely shut me down and paralyze me so I was proud of how I have been handling this so far, despite the frustration and the challenge it has been. Now I’m just angry, too angry to answer the phone when they called me back.
I’ll try again on Monday.
A few miscellaneous takeaways:
Don’t say you are sorry for the inconvenience. This is not an inconvenience. An incovenience is a drive through being closed so I need to walk inside to get food. This is way beyond an inconvenience. This is a major problem. I have to see an oncologist regularly for screenings, I can’t have this kind of disruption of services and benefits because of your mistakes and your inability to provide me accurate information.
No one with any authority in Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois has ever spent a moment on their hold. If they had I guarantee the short repeating clip of garbled hold music with the big warbly crescendo would be changed immediately.
If I ask for a call back, you only need to call back once. If I don’t answer you can leave a message. It isn’t necessary, and in fact it is infuriating, if you call me repeatedly over a 5 minute period before finally leaving your message.
If this is the mini rant – you wouldn’t believe how long the original was.
I’m going to go listen to some music…
Your thoughts?