Sunday, February 25, 2018

How Can This Be?

It is the middle of the night and I cannot sleep.  What makes your brain wake you up with information that you have not even thought about, at all?  It happened at about 1:30AM and by 5:30AM after tossing and turning I got up to check to see if what I was thinking was true.  It is.

What awakened me was the thought that I did not remember seeing that my Medicare supplemental
insurance premium had been deducted from my account.  Not only was it not deducted this month, it has not been deducted since December 2016. 

No, I have not changed my account number or anything.  Yes, I've received notices about premium increases.  The next one goes into effect May 2018. 

Since nothing has changed in my status, I had not given it a thought.  What the heck in my brain woke me up to tell me this?

Even the place where I am going to have my knee surgery checked my Medicare and Medicare Supplemental coverage status and all is good.

Now the dilemma is, do I notify the insurance company that they have not been deducting the premium and face the fact that for non-payment they will cancel my coverage?  Where do I come
up with $2,077.05 to pay the back premiums?  And, how do I do that to prevent the coverage from
being cancelled?  Do I cancel my surgery scheduled for March 14th for fear that afterward the supplemental policy will not pay?

Oh my, I wish my brain had not decided to let me know of this mess!    Any suggestions readers?
Anyone ever had anything like this happen?  How did you handle it?  Inquiring, but a tired mind, wants to know..........

9 comments:

Barbara Lane said...

What a quandary! I'm sorry to say I have no wise words to offer - I'd be spinning about it just as you are. Thankfully (however stressful it may be right now) your middle spoke to you in time to get it straightened out before your knee surgery. Isn't it fascinating how things drift to the surface of our consciousness when we're still and wide open (as when sleeping)? White light the whole situation and trust it will work out.

Babs said...

Yes, Barbara, our consciousness is amazing. I swear it never occurred to me that the premiums were not being deducted. I have had insurance with this company since the early 1980's! I've checked and double checked everything and I'm amazed that the doctor's office has been given approval for surgery as indicated by a phone call on
Friday. Who knows?

Thankfully, I guess, it is Sunday and I can't go off on a Wild Goose chase and make the wrong call to someone.....like the insurance company. I truly do not know what step to take next other then to go forward and leave for Houston on Thursday...White light and trust will get me through this day............Thanks.

Steve Cotton said...

There really is on,y oneanswer. You need to call your insurance company to find out what has happened. If you do not, there is a good chance the insurance company will notice the gap when they are presented with a request for payment. If there is a gap, you may need to reschedule the surgery. And that may be during yournext open renrollment period. It sounds as if you are paying with a direct deposit to your insurance company. The culprit could be your bank. Good luck. My sister-in-law had a similar problem last year and had to go a full year without coverage.

Babs said...

OMGosh, Steve that is what I am afraid of.........I don't think I can go til next November without surgery as I am in significant pain 24/7. Yes, it is a direct deposit, but nothing has changed since I started the payments!

Honestly, I wish I had not been made aware of this by my brain! What a mess......

Peter Kouwenhoven said...

I'm with Steve, if there is a gap, the insurance company will jump on the chance to not pay. Maybe check with the bank first to see if the payments have, in fact, been made without stirring up the sleeping dogs at the insurance company. I hope all will work out well for you, but you must act quickly. Good luck Barbara.

Cheers, Peter.

Babs said...

Good idea Peter. Maybe it went into someone elses account! Yes, I know the clock is ticking and I'm leaving Thursday morning and the new renterof my house is moving in! ALL is ready for he and his wife!

Michael Dickson said...

I would let the sleeping dogs doze till after the surgery. Straighten it out then. You may have to pay, but at least your knee will be fixed. That's the most pressing issue.

alcuban said...

I would have given you a brilliant legal/ethical/medical suggestion, but alas, you jumped the gun. But anyway, I'm glad you figured out something and hope you can proceed with the operation. If we had single-payer insurance like most civilized countries you wouldn't be having all these hassles.

Your quandary, though, reminded me of something. As it often happens with married couples, one handles all the banking, paperwork, insurance and other just sits looking pretty (?). In our case, Stew takes care of all that and to this day I have no clue how it all works. Your dilemma has forced me to review all that stuff with Stew as soon as tomorrow. Who knows, maybe he's absconding with all the money and putting it in an offshore account like all of Trump's buddies. Ha.

Good luck with the operation. And if you keep having all those harrowing dreams, just take a good shot of tequila before you go to bed.

Al

Babs said...

Well, Al, I wrote a long long response, then realized I had not written it here on the blog, thankfully. It was waaaaaaaaaay too much information. Especially the part of what happened the one time I drank tequila in 1978.

The bottom line is "review all the stuff Stew does know". Maybe he is tired of doing it.