(this is what I imagine an insurance company looks like)
I got a notice in the mail yesterday from Anthem Blue Cross, the insurance company. This is what it said, verbatim:
Dear Sophie I :
Re: Important Changes for Your Coverage
I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your membership and to let you know that we continue to work hard to make health care affordable and to meet your health care needs in important and innovative ways.
Rate Changes
Your rate changes are effective 03/01/2009
Your medical plan's current monthly premium rate is $399.30, and your medical plan's new monthly rate will be $499.40.
...
You are important to us. We know that you appreciate the benefits of your Anthem Blue Cross coverage...as well as the peace of mind that goes along with it.
Sincerely,
signature
Joe Ruiz
Vice President and General Manager, Group Business
Anthem Blue Cross
Such a nice letter, right? Especially given that the service provided by Anthem has been so, well, let's just say ERRATIC for the last five years. Maybe even NONEXISTENT? I don't even want to bring up that old anger toward health insurance companies. It runs deep and awful. Sophie's policy is exorbitantly expensive because she can't be covered otherwise. The rate quote above, now 25% higher (and don't you wonder what the extra $.10 is for?) only covers her, not the rest of our family.
Don't you wonder where exactly these insurance companies are? I mean physically. Where are the buildings? Where are the workers? Where is Mr. Joe Ruiz, Vice President and General Manager? I have a feeling that Anthem is buried deep in the earth somewhere, its subterranean offices peopled by robots or lobotomized terrorists. Perhaps that's what they're doing at Guantanamo. Because I'm basically a pacifist but would be hard put not to resort to violence in an insurance company if I saw it, say, on Wilshire Blvd. And I'm sure that I'm not the only one.
If blogs are monitored by Homeland Security, rest assured, you fine patriots, that I'm essentially powerless. And while the powerless are often the most dangerous, retribution is really only in my head, dripping into my fingers and this screen.
Rest assured, Mr. Ruiz, wherever you are that my "peace of mind" is intact. I wonder if yours is.
I wish things were different, too!!!!
ReplyDeleteHow I hear you. Oh, how I hear you.
ReplyDeleteLet me know if you want to start a posse.
We just got a note that our BC PPO 1500 (for our little family of four) is
ReplyDeletegoing to go from $1,100. a month
to $1,350. a month effective March 1st. WHERE DO THEY COME UP WITH THIS SH*T???
According to Google, the headquarters of Anthem Blue Cross California is at One WellPoint Way Thousand Oaks, CA 91362-5035. I suspect this is an upper-middle-class suburb and the headquarters has no access to public transportation. Wilshire Boulevard is just too accessible for an organization like this.
ReplyDeleteI love that the letter is addressed to Sophie. Perfect.
ReplyDeleteGeeze. And now this. Sleep much, Mr. Ruiz?
ReplyDeleteCan you get a Medicare waiver for her in California? Or is the cap too low as it is in Maryland?
ReplyDeleteBut I digress. Insurance is a crooked game. The whole idea is bankrupt. What, you get insurance because you hope not to get sick? And then if you do, it's still "insurance"? And not "care"?
I hear you.
Our insurance was raised over $100 in a month and we had to cancel. I can see why peoples lives are ruined by medical bills. I hope it all works out.
ReplyDeleteThis is infuriating and all too common. I feel nervous every year when they change policies--and ours sucks right now. But I know it can get even worse. I'm so sorry.
ReplyDeleteexactly.
ReplyDeleteand that's what i think insurance companies look like, too! that is, when they are entirely hidden underground...
We have Anthem Blue Cross (through California Healthy Families) and we have had to fight them for EVERY LITTLE THING. I hate them. But then, other companies aren't much better. Before this we had Health Net and they were awful too. :( At least we have CCS, which does pay for a lot of stuff that BC doesn't.
ReplyDeleteI think I have my posse right here with all of your supportive comments. Hopefully, the way our country deals with health insurance will change, but until then I guess we'll just have to deal with it!
ReplyDelete