Tips to Help You Avoid Cruel Practices by Health Insurance Companies

Let me begin by apologizing for not updating my blog in a while! I can promise that I will be better about updating it more frequently as we move forward.

If you were to ask me about the most frustrating part of living with diabetes, my answer might surprise you. It would not be frequent blood glucose checks, hypoglycemia at inconvenient times, unexpected and unexplainable highs, or even the expense of treating the disease. Instead, my answer would be dealing with some of the crueler practices of health insurance companies.

Earlier today, I received a phone call from Medtronic informing me that my health insurance company did not have a certificate of credible coverage on file and was, therefore, rejecting all claims related to diabetes treatment. My initial thought was “Here we go again,” because this is not the first time that a health insurance company has claimed to somehow lose, misplace, or never receive my certificate. Lucky for me, I was prepared this time. I switched insurance companies last June, and was sure to make phone calls to confirm that all of the necessary documents (application, certificate of credible coverage, etc.) had been received by the new company. After confirming with the new company that all was well, I wrote down the name of the agent and the date of our conversation. In addition, I had my old insurance company mail me a copy my certificate of credible coverage last June, which I filed away just in case something funny happened. You can imagine the surprise of the agent at my new insurance company when I reminded her of our conversation on June 21 confirming that they had received my certificate and that I was currently holding a copy of the certificate and would be more than willing to hand deliver it to her this afternoon if necessary. Somehow, she turned into Houdini and magically found the certificate in the system, so I didn’t have to make the 45-minute drive. 

These things happen to people with diabetes and other chronic conditions all of the time! Because health insurance companies are for-profit, their goal is to avoid paying as many claims as possible, and the easiest way to do this is to simply state that a person has a pre-existing condition with no certificate of credible coverage. Chances are pretty good that if you have a chronic condition, then you have experienced or will experience this at some point. I know how frustrating this can be, so I have provided a few tips for everyone below on how to avoid being swindled by your health insurance company:

1.  Always keep a personal copy of your certificate of credible coverage.
2. Never assume the insurance company has received any documents sent to them by you or another insurance company. Call them in order to confirm and write down the name of the person you talked to as well as the date.
3. Keep all health insurance documents and documentation in a file-folder and consider keeping the folder in a fire proof safe.
4. Make electronic copies of your application for insurance as well as your certificate of credible coverage so that you can easily email these documents if necessary.

I hope that you find these tips helpful. I feel blessed that my experience today had a happy ending, but I would still be fighting it for the next two weeks if I did not have a copy of my certificate!