Warning: Long detailed, I'm sure you don't care, but I need to get it off my chest, insurance rant following.
I hate insurance. Not the part where I pay money and then they cover my medical bills. That is actually pretty great. I hate the red tape, jump-through-hoops, you'd-better-never-switch-lest-you-hate-your-life part of it. This isn't even an Obamacare rant. In fact, if Obamacare fixes these issues, I might actually actively like it.
A few years ago Yellow worked for Company X. We had Insurance A. Then Company X decided to merge with their parent company and switched to Insurance B. As far as insurance switching goes, it was relatively painless. I had to remember to switch every time I went to a medical anything visit (which is a pain when you add kids to the mix), but it was doable.
Then Yellow was poached by Company Y. So we switched to their insurance, Insurance C. Except we had a waiting period before we could actually *get* their insurance. Of course, Dragon Baby got stitches a half hour before Urgent Care closed on the last night Insurance B was valid. That was fun. And then, like a month or two later, Company Y decided they were getting big enough to upgrade insurances! [sigh] So for the third time in about 4 months, I had to update all of our records, this time to Insurance D. It was so aggravating to go to a doctor and have to figure out whether we had the updated insurance info or not.
Does it end there? Of course not. We had a pleasant year or so of the same insurance. I think I was lulled into a false sense of security. Because then Company Z poached Yellow and we, once again, switched. Now to Insurance E. It came with yet another waiting period (THIS IS THE PART THAT I HATE WITH A FIREY PASSION) during which Yellow stepped on rusty nail and had to get a tetanus shot. (I did too, but it didn't break the skin which is a huge blessing as I'm probably allergic to the tetanus vaccine, so I'm way overdue for one.) And I had to question every time one of my kids got sick with a fever for several days... "Should I take them into the doctor and pay $70-80 (price after cash discount) just to have them tell me that it's viral and there's nothing they can do. But come back and pay that again if it doesn't get better in a few days?" (Note: I could have gotten Cobra, but we figured it would be cheaper to pay for all these doctor's visits in cash, then if we got something big we'd retroactively enact Cobra.)
We finally were eligible for insurance, but didn't have our cards yet, when both girls had their well-child visits, which included vaccines. So we did it, then a few days later I took in my insurance card, and now, months later, I'm still getting billed for it. And we're talking $400+. For one child. We took two. [sigh] We went through the same thing with our dental insurance, but somehow all of those just cleaned up slick as a whistle. But medical? Not a chance.
I hate the system. Hate. Specifically, waiting period. I was insured beforehand! Why must you make me wait?! It's not like we switched jobs just so we could get insurance. We had good insurance. Heck, we took an insurance cut to go to this last job. [deep breaths] Ok... I'm done now.
Insurance
Re: Insurance
I hate insurance, too. I am going to be One of Those People who will probably just go without when I turn 26 and until I get married. I never go to the doctor's, anyway, ever. Dental insurance is pretty great, though.